4 Smooches!
Synopsis
One choice can ruin everything…
When a stop at a shady motel puts Brandon Parker face to face with his best friend, Mary, for the first time in over a decade, he almost didn’t believe it.
He’d never stopped searching for her, but even a career in law enforcement couldn’t help him find a woman who wanted to stay invisible.
When Mary Benson ran away at eighteen, she did it with good reason. A man was in the hospital because of her, and the people she loved were in danger. She had to leave to keep them safe.
Mary’s guilt was her consolation. She’d lived with her decisions and accepted the hand dealt to her. But Brandon was about to shuffle the deck in a way she never expected.
One thing was for sure, he thought she’d be happy to see him… and he’d never been more wrong about anything in his life.
Review
This is one book that managed to surprise me right from the very beginning. Just as I had it all figured out in my head and had it written off as another highly predictable second chance romance novel Anna Brooks made me hang my head in shame. Mary is living the life of a terribly neglected girl, unwanted and considered a cumbersome nuisance by her continually intoxicated parents, her home life has become an unstable and unsafe one at the tender age of seventeen but through it all she has her best friend Brandon and his wonderfully caring family. Just as these two realise how deep their feelings for each other run Mary’s life is threw into utter chaos and turmoil, resulting in her young life altering in a drastic way that causes Mary and Brandon to be separated from each other for years.
‘“And about one year after that first kiss, I had plans. So many fucking plans. I knew it would be hard. I was gonna go to college, but with the knowledge you were mine. And I was yours. We’d visit each other as much as we could. I was finally going to have you. The things I was going to say to you were fucking carved into my mind. I rehearsed them. Literally said the words out loud.”’
Anna has a great balance of innocence and sweetness in her writing as she portrays the complicated and unfurling relationship between young Mary and Brandon but at the same time showing you how ugly things can be behind closed doors and away from the concerned eyes of those that love you. The tension and uncertainty in Mary’s situation spins out of control when she makes what she thinks is a sacrifice to keep those she loves safe and out of danger. The entire first part of the book is filled with suspense and heartache and doubt and is so well written that you can’t help but feel for all concerned. It’s only when we get to the years later part that the book wavered from its solid foundation a little. There were some things I found a little difficult to comprehend (I won’t state what as it would be a pretty big spoiler) and it just seemed a little far fetched. The other thing that annoyed me to no end was Brandon’s immediate possessiveness towards Mary after the first day of seeing her again but the one thing that saved that situation was Mary had a back bone and wasn’t afraid to tell Brandon exactly where to stick his attitude. After the initial meeting however the story picked back up with a more mature love story taking us on a ride of hot sex, messy emotions, learning to forgive and forget and a brand new danger lurking in the shadows.
It was a very clever book and nicely written with a lot of engaging characters, not just the hero and heroine, but the supporting characters too. I sincerely hope that Anna is going to give us the details regarding Travis and Charlotte’s complicated relationship and hopefully Kelsey gets her own happily ever after as well.
~Nicole
