Links by Lisa Becker
Released August 1, 2017
Desert Breeze Publishing
197 pages
Reviewed by Tracey
Favorite Quote: Well, you spend hours every day hanging out with a bunch of guys talking about washing your balls… Really, if you think about it, lots of golf vernacular is so sexual — all that talk of threesomes, strokes and holes, and shafts and grips.
Blurb: Charlotte Windham, a nerdy high school prodigy who tutored classmates to earn money for college, escapes her geeky past to become a celebrated novelist. During a chance encounter at a Los Angeles restaurant 15 years after high school, she reconnects with her secret crush, Garrett Stephens, the popular star athlete and teen heart breaker. Garrett, still leaving broken hearts in his wake, is now a successful professional golfer who recently suffered a possible career-ending shoulder injury. As he and Charlotte spend time together, developing a friendship based on mutual respect and comfortable companionship, can Charlotte forgive the past and can Garrett reform his lothario ways for a chance at love?
This was a very light read that can be finished, pretty much, in one sitting. I’ve never read Lisa Becker before, and it was an okay read. Not great, but not awful. I went into this book thinking it was going to be a Sabrina story. Where Garrett’s family was wealthy, she wasn’t. There were two brothers, one a useless playboy and the other the serious, smart one that Charlotte would eventually end up with. Nope. She went after the dumb one.
She tutored Garrett and his twin brother Marcus in high school, and never had a solid relationship with a man since then, because her crush on Garrett was too intense. I have a hard time believing that a crush you have at fourteen can affecting you so deeply (especially an unrequited love) that you can’t have a good adult relationship. Maybe if there had been a responding attraction from Garrett, but he was just awful to her at the time. He called her names and made fun of her. That attitude would probably make a lasting memory, but I don’t think it would be a happy memory.
“To Charlotte, he was a god of perfection (unless you counted his lackluster academic performance).”
Well, he was perfection and he was an ass to her.
Charlotte and Garrett meet up again, accidentally, at a restaurant. Garrett, of course, doesn’t recognize her (Sabrina again). She enjoys the fact he doesn’t know who she is. These are Garrett’s first thoughts on meeting her again:
“I glance down and notice full, round breasts, slightly wide hips and thick thighs. Not my usual type, so I’m pretty sure I haven’t slept with her. At least I don’t have to worry about that embarrassing scene.”
This guy is a charmer. When he does finally recognize her, he calls her “Glasses”, which was his insulting name for her in high school. His whole internal dialogue throughout the book makes him very unlikeable. Charlotte’s internal dialogue shows her to be very, very insecure and low in self-confidence. This is a shame, because Charlotte is a very accomplished woman. She has written a bestselling novel that is widely acclaimed, with the movie rights being sold, blogs and reviewers bowing down to her talent. It is stated she has been on all the talk shows, interviewed widely for her book and been to the White House. Despite all of this, her character is drawn as supremely insecure. I know that all of us have insecurities, but I like to see some strength and fire in my heroines…and Charlotte has none of this. Charlotte’s BFF in the book is Fiona, now Fiona captured my interest immediately. I really wished she was the heroine of the book…she would have given Garrett a run for his money…well, honestly, she would have kicked him to the curb. She was smart, strong, confident… and she just made Charlotte look sad. Fiona gives Charlotte that smart advice about Garrett.
“Then you need to get over it now. Sorry for the tough love, hon, but you need to move past the fantasy of this man and find someone passionate and amazing who is deserving to love you for all of the great things you have to offer including your messed up childhood and your incredible success today.”
Now, in a normal romance, the heroine would still be hung up on the loser guy, and the hero would be the one your friend would encourage you to take a chance on. Not here. The hero is the loser, and she’s still hung up on him. When Garrett finally remembers Charlotte, these are his insightful thoughts.
“She’s aged well, although I’m having trouble really remembering what she looked like back in the day. It’s not hard to recall the glasses and braces though, which thankfully are gone, revealing wide brown eyes and a mischievous smile.”
Well, braces normally do disappear, and I’m sorry…there’s nothing wrong with a woman wearing glasses. NOTHING!! He tries to tell her that he thought she liked being called ‘glasses’ back then. Rationalize much? Then he asks her if she’s gay, because she told him she went to an all girls college. The level of stupidity that Kane gave this character just kept climbing as I read, because, you know…only gay people go to all girl or boy schools.
There were a few mentions of Charlotte’s size. From her own internal thoughts, and Garrett’s internal thoughts concerning the size of her thighs. Then we come to this quote:
“As I lean to grab them, I realize I’m wearing too-tight yoga pants, hardly flattering on my size ten thighs…”
Really? Is a size ten now shamed in books? I don’t think women authors should be size shaming other women…especially women who pay good money to read their books. Then at 47% into the book, we find out Charlotte’s mother is in a rehabilitation home after having had a stroke the year before. Halfway through the book, and this is the first mention of this? No visits, no worries, no caring about this issue at all. 47% of the book is Charlotte oohing and awwing over an immature dick. At this point, I started skimming. Technically, I finished the book, because I did turn the last page. But, I absolutely didn’t care what happened to either character.
Grade: D
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