Synopsis: "Charlize 'Charlie' McCloud, young widow and mother, is seemingly content with her secluded life on a sprawling Texas ranch. Her moonlit horseback rides provide the perfect dreamscape to obsessively reminisce about her college sweetheart—her first and final love—Cash McCloud.
When intern Hunter Bowie arrives on her ranch to work for the summer, his engaging persona threatens Charlie's treasured reliving. Her interest in moving on as departed as her late husband, Hunter's youthful exuberance and guitar revives dreams she once laid to rest.
Hunter's presence stirs up everyone around the ranch, including her late husband's older brother, Cage McCloud. A near replica of Cash, Cage's very existence is a painstaking reminder of how much she has lost.
Unintentionally revealing the truth about Cash's death, Cage sets off a firestorm of emotions, ultimately propelling Charlie to face her future—hopefully one that includes him."
My Review: I really enjoyed the setting of the story, the author stuck true to the setting she used along with little details about the college rivalry. The story and the characters had plenty of back story, a little too much at times with all the flash backs. While I enjoyed the story and the different character elements, occasionally it would get overly descriptive. Also, in my opinion the story went on a little too long with a few too many imagined roadblocks and conflicts. There were many times towards the end that I thought the book could have ended perfectly but instead there was another conflict thrown up to push the characters away before bringing them back together. I think this one just needs a little more editing and polishing. There is a link at the end of the book to the song that the characters write in the story which was lovely.
When intern Hunter Bowie arrives on her ranch to work for the summer, his engaging persona threatens Charlie's treasured reliving. Her interest in moving on as departed as her late husband, Hunter's youthful exuberance and guitar revives dreams she once laid to rest.
Hunter's presence stirs up everyone around the ranch, including her late husband's older brother, Cage McCloud. A near replica of Cash, Cage's very existence is a painstaking reminder of how much she has lost.
Unintentionally revealing the truth about Cash's death, Cage sets off a firestorm of emotions, ultimately propelling Charlie to face her future—hopefully one that includes him."
My Review: I really enjoyed the setting of the story, the author stuck true to the setting she used along with little details about the college rivalry. The story and the characters had plenty of back story, a little too much at times with all the flash backs. While I enjoyed the story and the different character elements, occasionally it would get overly descriptive. Also, in my opinion the story went on a little too long with a few too many imagined roadblocks and conflicts. There were many times towards the end that I thought the book could have ended perfectly but instead there was another conflict thrown up to push the characters away before bringing them back together. I think this one just needs a little more editing and polishing. There is a link at the end of the book to the song that the characters write in the story which was lovely.
My Rating: While I really enjoyed the characters (especially Cage), the overly descriptive and extended story took away from my enjoyment a little. It ended up being a middle of the road book for me. I give it a rating of Two Paws and a Stump Wag.
Just Not Ready Yet was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.
You can find out more about Brooklyn James and her work on her Goodreads Page or Website
You can also obtain your own copy of Just Not Ready Yet in digital or print version from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
Well it looks good. That's a shame it got a bit bogged down in things in the end.
ReplyDeleteIt was good just a little too many potential ending points and extending of the story.
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