Title: Then Came Love
Author: Patricia Pelicane
Publisher: Total-E-Bound
Genre: Contemporary Romance
eBook ISBN: 978-0857152503
Publication Date: August 2, 2010
Length: Short Story/Novella
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Book Blurb:
Could they survive the pain only those who love deeply can know?
She hated him beyond measure. After a year of torturous separation her feelings had only grown in strength. When would he leave? She couldn’t allow him to know her most carefully guarded secret. She couldn’t allow him to ever know.
He was tired of waiting for her to come to her senses, to return to him, to realise she’d made a mistake. She was the love of his life, he was taking what she refused to give. Fight him or not, she was his and was always going to be only his.
My Review:
This is fantastic short story about two people who are have let anger get in the way of their love. The story addresses the damage that we can do only to those that love us and that we love in return. The two characters are are well developed and the dialogue between them reflects where they were in the past and where they are now.
The heroine of the story, Jackie Parker, is a young woman who is attractive, smart and making some changes in her life. She is in the process of moving closer to her grandmother Stella and her husband Raymond due to their age and health. While she is visiting her grandparents, they get a seemingly unexpected visitor in Raymond's nephew Richard Grayson. Jackie and Richard have a history, they were engaged a year ago and Jackie had broken off their engagement the day before their wedding. She holds a lot of anger towards Richard and also has a huge secret that she is keeping from him.
Richard Grayson is a very handsome and successful man who has come to visit his grandfather and his wife. Now that he has come face to face with Jackie the purpose of his visit changes as he too has a lot of anger, he's angry at Jackie for both throwing away their chance at happiness and for refusing to let him explain or apologize for what she had perceived as a betrayal. Of course, he also has the problem that he's still desperately in love with Jackie and that no one he has dated in the last year has been able to help him forget her or the pain she has caused him.
As the story develops we find out that issues from Jackie's childhood and her father have created a lack of trust towards men as a whole, which is a contributing factor in her relationship with Richard and part of why she hasn't been willing to listen to him. Jackie also knows that she will have to tell Richard her secret because moving closer to the family will mean that they will all know- her lack of trust leads her to believe that telling him will spoil any chance that they have at any kind of relationship.
Since I don't want to give spoilers I will say that Richard discovers Jackie's secret and that it does lead to more tension but the chemistry between these two characters is too hot to ignore. Both Richard and Jackie have to decide if they will let the past dictate their future. I will say that the ending is well done and that Jackie and Richard's future looks good. This is the first story that I have read by Ms. Pelicane and I look forward to reading more of her work.
My Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars
FTC Disclosure: The book reviewed was purchased for review by the site owner.
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