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4.08 AVERAGE
4.08 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really loved the love that Jude and Sophie share. A love that transcends all things, even adversity and family issues. I liked the twists in this book and the fact that they overcome obstacles that seem too big to navigate.
emotional
hopeful
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Oh, this was really good!
Jude, a recovering addict and ex-con, returns to his hometown and into the orbit of his ex-girlfriend, Sophie. She is living at home, taking care of her mother and trying not to anger her abusive father. I loved how Bowen depicted Jude's recovery and his reconciliation with Sophie.
Jude, a recovering addict and ex-con, returns to his hometown and into the orbit of his ex-girlfriend, Sophie. She is living at home, taking care of her mother and trying not to anger her abusive father. I loved how Bowen depicted Jude's recovery and his reconciliation with Sophie.
i thought i was going to either chuck this book at a point or skip to the end, i'm glad i kept on going. It was a really sweet book. i loved , loved loved the character Jude in this book. He was honest with his struggles and every single thing he had done and i was just rooting for him to win. Now Sophie i wasn't really enamoured with at first. her ex basically had his life in the toilet and she kept moaning about, i'm so angry with you, you abandoned me, why didn't you write to me, i had nobody to talk to. i mean ugh!! get a diary. Her character did get less annoying and get her act together though but sheez!!
Bonus part: The sex partssss in the book were yum... :)
Bonus part: The sex partssss in the book were yum... :)
We got a little bit of a peek of Jude in the first book. Now after the picking season is done at the orchard he is going back home to figure out his next steps. He moves back in with his Dad who is a mechanic and also an alcoholic. While Jude is trying to remain clean and sober, he is trying to also start over, helping to re-build his fathers auto repair shop.
While attending an NA meeting, the pastor there invites him to dinner and volunteer at the local church. That is where he sees his ex, the sister of the man he killed that sent him to prison. She can't possibly ever forgive him. What he didn't expect was that she never really got over him. Her home life isn't as great as it seems either. She can't help her pull to Jude.
I really enjoyed his story and it was very accurate in terms of the addiction and the aftermath of getting clean and sober. I loved their connection even when Jude didn't think he was worthy of anyone loving him, and how she pushed him to give them a chance.
The ending was a surprise but also believable, but also unbelievable. I loved Jude's redemption story, and seeing him find his footing.
While attending an NA meeting, the pastor there invites him to dinner and volunteer at the local church. That is where he sees his ex, the sister of the man he killed that sent him to prison. She can't possibly ever forgive him. What he didn't expect was that she never really got over him. Her home life isn't as great as it seems either. She can't help her pull to Jude.
I really enjoyed his story and it was very accurate in terms of the addiction and the aftermath of getting clean and sober. I loved their connection even when Jude didn't think he was worthy of anyone loving him, and how she pushed him to give them a chance.
The ending was a surprise but also believable, but also unbelievable. I loved Jude's redemption story, and seeing him find his footing.
started out strong but the last two-thirds were a mess 💀
2.75 stars
There wasn't a lot to this book. I was going to give it 3 stars until that Denny thing happened at the end...
Sophie and Jude were high school sweethearts. He was the bad-boy-turned-junkie and Sophie was the police chief's good girl. Her family especially her dad and brother Gavin, had always been against their relationship, always making snide remarks about Jude's poor upbringing. One day, Jude and Gavin ended up in Jude's car together. Only Jude made it out alive and he was incarcerated for manslaughter.
I wished the book established Sophie and Gavin's relationship better. There was only a scene of Gavin being mock-protective of Sophie but other than that, they didn't really have any interaction. I guess that would somehow explain her blase attitude about his death but come on, Gavin's not a passing stranger to her, there should be more of an emotion toward his death. It seemed like Sophie cried more for Jude's imprisonment than Gavin's death. It just wasn't nicely done.
But Jude's back in town now and they bumped into each other at the church's soup kitchen. Jude was there after her Narcotics Anonymous meetings and Sophie's just there to help. We learn that Sophie's father was that typical abusive cop husband and father, and one day Sophie needed a reprieve so she sought out Jude for some sex. They kept seeing each other again once a week. Sophie also wasn't conflicted at all about seeing her supposedly brother's killer, she was like an emotionless robot with a single "I love Jude" programmed in her head.
Sophie then started digging into Jude's case. Jude wouldn't tell her what Gavin was doing with him for the longest time, but soon enough he cracked and told her that surprise surprise (not), Gavin was a drug dealer and wanted to sell drugs to Jude's junky friends. Sophie found inconsistencies in the police report and dug for more information. She dug around her father's drawers and found photos he had hidden, there was also evidence of him tampering with the report. Her father caught on and pulled a gun on her. Her absent-minded mother finally got a grip on herself and hit the dad with a lamp.
After everything's settled, there was a subplot of Sophie being in a competition with her coworker, Denny, who was in love with her. And the most unnecessary thing was revealed, that Denny somehow moved Jude up a list to be approved for drug rehab right after he was released from prison. Because of this, Sophie got the job instead of Denny. Like why? Why do we need Denny to do this?
I don't think the book needs to have this many pages, they were all wasted on... nothing substantial. The story wasn't anything groundbreaking and the characters weren't well written.
Also, sidenote: the woman narrating the audiobook sounded way too jovial for everything.
There wasn't a lot to this book. I was going to give it 3 stars until that Denny thing happened at the end...
Sophie and Jude were high school sweethearts. He was the bad-boy-turned-junkie and Sophie was the police chief's good girl. Her family especially her dad and brother Gavin, had always been against their relationship, always making snide remarks about Jude's poor upbringing. One day, Jude and Gavin ended up in Jude's car together. Only Jude made it out alive and he was incarcerated for manslaughter.
I wished the book established Sophie and Gavin's relationship better. There was only a scene of Gavin being mock-protective of Sophie but other than that, they didn't really have any interaction. I guess that would somehow explain her blase attitude about his death but come on, Gavin's not a passing stranger to her, there should be more of an emotion toward his death. It seemed like Sophie cried more for Jude's imprisonment than Gavin's death. It just wasn't nicely done.
But Jude's back in town now and they bumped into each other at the church's soup kitchen. Jude was there after her Narcotics Anonymous meetings and Sophie's just there to help. We learn that Sophie's father was that typical abusive cop husband and father, and one day Sophie needed a reprieve so she sought out Jude for some sex. They kept seeing each other again once a week. Sophie also wasn't conflicted at all about seeing her supposedly brother's killer, she was like an emotionless robot with a single "I love Jude" programmed in her head.
Sophie then started digging into Jude's case. Jude wouldn't tell her what Gavin was doing with him for the longest time, but soon enough he cracked and told her that surprise surprise (not), Gavin was a drug dealer and wanted to sell drugs to Jude's junky friends. Sophie found inconsistencies in the police report and dug for more information. She dug around her father's drawers and found photos he had hidden, there was also evidence of him tampering with the report. Her father caught on and pulled a gun on her. Her absent-minded mother finally got a grip on herself and hit the dad with a lamp.
After everything's settled, there was a subplot of Sophie being in a competition with her coworker, Denny, who was in love with her. And the most unnecessary thing was revealed, that Denny somehow moved Jude up a list to be approved for drug rehab right after he was released from prison. Because of this, Sophie got the job instead of Denny. Like why? Why do we need Denny to do this?
I don't think the book needs to have this many pages, they were all wasted on... nothing substantial. The story wasn't anything groundbreaking and the characters weren't well written.
Also, sidenote: the woman narrating the audiobook sounded way too jovial for everything.
Another one, that'd classify as not REALLY steamy, but more of a romance almost "beach read"... definitely NOT my usual reads.
That being said, I did enjoy the 2nd in this series, visiting Jude, the recently released inmate and addict who worked on the apple farm in book 1. Looking ahead it looks like each book is another character from that original, so I'm sure I'll check them out in the future.
That being said, I did enjoy the 2nd in this series, visiting Jude, the recently released inmate and addict who worked on the apple farm in book 1. Looking ahead it looks like each book is another character from that original, so I'm sure I'll check them out in the future.