Tell Me by Abigail Strom
Released: October 1, 2017
Contemporary Romance
Montlake
Reviewed by Mandi
This book has a lot of cute moments – a very cute hero and heroine who are friends but firmly friends – no hanky panky. Anne of Green Gables is mentioned a lot and Jane owns a bookstore! She is more of a dreamer where Caleb, our hero is an adventurer. He travels the world taking people on adventures. Jane thinks he is crazy – the thought of a simple hike holds no attraction to her at all. Caleb grew up on a farm, so he also has a cowboy vibe going on – wears a stetson, jeans and boots. AND his home base is in New York City. So he is a jumbled adventurer, cowboy, city slicker… maybe all of that felt a little forced..but he is cute and a charmer and won me over.
Caleb runs his travel business with Jane’s sister, and the three of them are super close. Jane also lives and works in New Yorck City and one day wants to write a book. She loves imagination and living in her head. Caleb loves experiencing things first hand and is an adreline junky. Opposites for sure – but Caleb looks upon Jane with lust. She has placed him firmly in the “brother” category, and as Caleb starts to listen to his heart, he realizes his feelings have turned romantic towards her. He doesn’t know what that means in terms of their lifestyles, as he travels many weeks out of the year – but that doesn’t stop him from attempting a courtship. He soon learns that trying to court a girl who doesn’t realize she is being wooed, is difficult.
This is all adorable and cute and I was there for it.
And then.
Then an event happens. No, it’s not cheating or anything like that. But it’s a sad event and I wasn’t’ expecting it and damn it. The event itself wasn’t a deal breaker for me, but it completely changed the tone of the book. We go from adorbs to sad and heavy. The emotions and journey are done well. Very well. But I also feel like the romance gets lost in all of the heaviness. It takes a back seat and while there is a solid HEA at the end, the romance overall could have been bigger. I’ll put what happens in a spoiler tag – but otherwise I’m not going to expand on it.
I think some will love this book – but I can also see other people having a negative reaction. I feel right down the middle – adorable first half. Too much sadness in the second half.
Grade: C+
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