Monday, June 3, 2013

Review: Before Now by Cheryl McIntyre




Synopsis

Park Reed is a bastard in every sense of the word. He hasn't always been this way. But after his heart was broken by the only girl he ever loved, being heartless gets him through the day and allows him to fill his nights with the nameless girls he has no intentions of seeing again. He now lives his life following his ever-growing list of “life lessons.”

Lucy Braden is everything Park is not. She’s sweet, caring, and an all-around nice person. She tries to follow Lucy's Rules to Live By everyday.

When Park moves in with Jessie, which happens to be the floor below Lucy, Jessie's one stipulation: Lucy is off limits to Park. The problem with that is Lucy is determined to be a good friend to Park and see past the drinking and random girls to find the man beneath it all. The other problem: Park follows his own rules.

*This is a New Adult novel. Recommended for 17+ due to sexual situations, harsh language, and drug and alcohol use.

Before Now is a companion novel to Sometimes Never, and many of its characters are in Park’s story. However, it can be read as a stand-alone book.



4 Star Review

Park Reed was dumped. We first met him in Sometimes Never, as Hope’s quasi boyfriend. Once Hope met Mason, the die was cast. Park was devastated. Clearly he cared more for Hope than she felt for him. He found comfort in his favorite things; drinking and whoring. Along the way he managed to screw up, drive drunk and almost kill his best friend, Guy.

“I leave the party, and my girl, to take Jessie’s sh#t back to him. That’s it. This simple fu*king act that I’ve done so many times before. Only, when I come back, I’ve lost my girl. My best friend has betrayed me, and the new kid has everything that’s mine.”

Months later, Park is living with a good friend, Jessie. In the apartment above, lives Lucy and her best friend Bree. Jessie and Bree have a friends with benefits relationship. Park feels an instant attraction for Lucy, which means she is off limits to him. Besides his own reservations, Jessie has made it plain as he can that if Park messes with Lucy; he has no problem kicking him out. Park resists and retreats. Lucy likes Park, in spite of his reputation of loving and leaving.

“Calm your ass down. I’m cool. I promise, I won’t touch the hot hippie chick in 3B. All right?”

Eventually, hormones win out and they stop fighting what they feel for each other. But of course they clumsily attempt to hide their relationship. Park is a master at self-sabotage and we can expect no less from him here. If he pushes Lucy away by reverting back to his old ways, then she can’t hurt him right? Never mind the collateral damage to Lucy and just to add to the pot, Hope is back in town for a visit. Of course Mason is with her, no small amount of stress for Park right?

“I can’t make sense of all the questions swimming through my head. Why is she here? Why won’t he move? Why does she have this effect on him? Is he in love with her? I need to know what she looks like. This girl that affects him in so many ways.”

Park screws up royally, and the fall out is life threatening for him.  Lucy can’t help but worry about him, but forces herself to stay away.  Has Park learned his lesson that maybe taking a chance on Lucy won’t backfire on him? McIntyre has written a well-rounded story with great secondary characters. Chase and Annie are friends that bicker constantly (maybe trying too hard to act like there isn’t something else going on), Bree and Jessie and good friends with great lines softening the sometimes heart breaking story line. Guy, Hope’s foster brother is still as cool and wise as ever, would love to see this guy find his HEA. In Sometimes Never, I didn’t really care for Park, he seemed liked a shallow ass hat who partied way too much and seemed incapable of moving on from Hope. In Before Now, Park is such a tortured soul who has spent his whole life trying to find someone in his life that he can count on to stick around. My heart hurt for him and I loved the alternating POV’s between Park and Lucy. I really enjoyed this book. Hopefully, there will be other sequels about the secondary characters.

“I’ll get this right, Lucy. I’m going to make a lot of mistakes. I always will, but I’m trying."



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