Time Will Tell (Maybe #3) Chantal Fernando
New Adult Romance
Released February 9, 2015
Self Published

Reviewed by Sheena

Favorite Quote:  “I love you, too, Trillian,” he whispers back.  “I want to love you, worship you, and ruin you in the best and worse way.”  Then his mouth is on mine again.

New adult novels are hit and miss for me.  Either they are too heavy on the angst, like nauseating angst for being angsty’s sake.  Or they are just too hokey for my tastes.  Then you experience an author who takes this sometimes polarizing genre and blasts it apart.  The writing is so interesting and engaging and the characters so relatable and multi-dimensional that suddenly who cares what category it falls into, it’s just damn good.

Trillion is a young woman on her own, whose mother is a vagrant and evil to her core and her father has recently passed away.  Best friends with her neighbor Zach and under the protection of his father and their motorcycle club, The Wind Dragons (fantastic tie in with these dudes!) Trill is a woman who practically  radiates goodness and love.  On a wild whim, she decides to flirt with a stranger in town but is shocked back into her shell when he shows her his bastard, woman hopping ways. Xander is running from his own pain and familial tragedy and blows into town looking to let off some  steam and find a pair of legs to crawl between.  What he didn’t expect was to be blindsided with his attraction to the beautiful Trillion, and pissed off because he can’t have her because he believes she belongs to his buddy Zach.  Thankfully, Zach gives Xander the green light with a warning to treat his friend right.  Annnnd then the story really begins.  Trillion is a lovely soul, kind and well-loved throughout her community.  She does not just fall into Xander’s arms as she (thanks to his early actions) views him as a playboy and she does not want her heart broken.  The more Xander works to convince her that he is for real, the more he begins to believe it himself and his honesty and willingness  to be transparent and make concessions for Trill’s benefit, really endeared me to his character.

Their courtship is fast and sexually explosive but not without its hiccups.  They each live hours away and the distance wreaks havoc with Trill’s sense of trust and security.  Most of their issues beyond the long distance were manufactured in Trill’s head.  She has some hang ups with Xander’s past that I initially understood but grew to believe she blew a little out of proportion.  Thank gawd Xander, while loving her like crazy, did not totally roll over and allow her ruin their fledgling relationship with her sometimes unfair judgements.  Another aspect I appreciated was how family horrors and pains are woven into the story so it is not just a new-agey romantic jaunt.  Time Will Tell deals with some serious family issues without weighing the tone of the book down one bit.  The emotional and verbal abuse Trill received from her mother was horrid.  There is a short list of the worst mother-of-the-heroine-villains and I guarantee you Trill’s opportunistic and narcissistic mother is on it.  It was a victorious moment when we see Trill stand up to her mother, knowing she is not lacking in love and finding strength in the bond she shares with Xander! Hoorah!

The realism that the author embeds in this story was refreshing.  The relationship was not perfect.  The heroine, jumped to conclusions, the hero was quick to anger .  Watching Trill and Xander work through their shit felt genuine.  Hilarity ensued when she tried to make him jealous, pearls were clutched when he showed her what bad girls get from their bad boys when they try to make their man jealous! *fans self* Yes!  There was an occasional plot point that was a head scratcher but by the time I worked out what was not working, I was on to something that worked perfectly in the story, my misgivings easily assuaged.

I started the Maybe series after enjoying Fernando’s Wind Dragon’s motorcycle club book, Dragon’s Lair, and though it definitely can stand alone, the series is really such fun escapist reading that  I would be remiss if I did not suggest you give the series a read.  Besides, there is a spoiler for one couple that appears in Time Will Tell that will be a bit of a bummer if you read in reverse order *tears*.  Fernando has become an auto-buy for me.  There is nothing better than reading a book and feeling as if you were a towns person on the wall watching the story unfold.  I know this town and these people and I just got the warm and fuzzies when I read Time Will Tell.

 Grade: B

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