His life has been a constant carousel of tragedy and disappointment, including his love life. Of course, applying the term “love” to Garth’s conquests is a gross misuse of the word. Some people were made to give and accept love, and others weren’t. Garth Black redefines the “others” category. He’s made a vow that the day he meets a woman who could sucker him into falling in love will be the day he runs away.
Garth’s plan has one flaw. What happens when he’s already fallen hard for a girl before the warning signs and red flags go up? What happens when the love he’s avoided his entire life brings him to his knees? What happens when Garth Black lets the dirtiest four letter word he’s ever known into his dark, lonely life?
This cowboy’s about to find out he can control some things, and he can’t control others. Number one on the what he can’t control list?
I'll be the first to admit that Garth Black was not my favourite character after reading Lost & Found. In Near & Far we already got to see a little bit of this other side of him and this one was just the icing on the cake. There is definitely more than meets the eye when it comes to this tough Cowboy.
Garth hasn't had the easiest life so far. No mother and an abusive drunk father who never wanted him, made Garth choose for a lot of alcohol and women. The only thing he ever had was two best friends, but he screwed that up by sleeping with one and thus betraying the other. Though that slightly got better when Rowen entered town, so now he at least has Jesse back. Now he will need to convince Josie that the night they spend together wasn't a mistake.
One thing I absolutely didn't saw coming and it had such a great impact on the story and Garth. He loses his father and with that everything else he owned. Garth isn't one to take on charity, but when Josie drags him out of his truck, inside her home, he knows he can not say no. Now Josie's parents aren't Garth's fans, so he knows he has to be on his best behaviour. Which is difficult when spending so much time around Josie, makes his feelings for her flare up again. Denying the attraction between them gets harder and harder.
Garth has never been wanted in his life, so he is convinced that Josie deserves better than him. Josie doesn't agree of course and when they give in to each other, it is only the beginning. Pretty much everyone is against what they have going on and will do anything to stop it. I really liked the way Garth started opening up and gave love a chance.
After reading all this, my heart really went out for this poor boy. The things he has gone through and endured are heartbreaking. I really loved the way Josie looked at him. When everyone one else saw trash, she saw a guy with the biggest heart and loyalty to envy. It was also very swoon worthy to know that Garth has loved Josie since he was five, though even then he believed she deserved more. I am just very glad that Garth got his happily ever after.
If he wasn’t so charming, his sunny disposition and incessant grin would get old. Fast.
Falling in love with the broken girl who had at first seemed immune to anything resembling love was the best thing to happen to Jesse since the Walkers adopted him when he was five.
As Jesse’s life continues at the ranch and Rowen begins making her mark in the Seattle art community, they wonder where the middle ground is. Or if there even is one.
As push comes to shove, they’re forced to make choices neither are eager to make, and Jesse and Rowen have to face what their lives might look like without the other.
Can two people with such tragic pasts and different presents expect a promising future together? Whatever the answer, they’ll need a lot more than love to make it.
Review:
We're a couple of months later when Lost and Found ended. Jesse and Rowen are still very much a couple and while Jesses is still on the farm, Rowen is in art school at Seattle. Now we all know long distance relationships aren't the easiest, though they make it work. Every couple of weeks one of the two will travel over for the weekend. It certainly isn't an ideal situation, but it's the only one possible right now.
Rowen is loving her life as a college student. All her arts classes are the best, she works at a fun donut shop and has the best/weirdest roommate ever. Not to forget there is Jesse. Every time she sees him her heart just melts with happiness. She has definitely come a long way since the first book. It is very clear that she has become stronger and gained a lot of confidence.
From the first moments we laid eyes upon Jesse in Lost and Found, I was smitten and that still hasn't changed. He is still the sweetest and most caring cowboy. Of course he isn't perfect, because that protective streak he has going on here, might get him in trouble. Though the way that boy looks at life and people with such optimism, is very admirable.
This time we get to see how much Jesse still struggles with his past. The nightmares are getting worse, but to the outside world he portrays a happy face. Add the fact of the distance between him and Rowen, it is all becoming very strained.
Jesse's past took me a bit by surprise. We got to see a little bit of what happened, but now you get to discover more and it is just horrendous. It once again shows what a wonderful human being he is, having to go through that and still be so good.
The only thing is that he tries to hide his struggle from his family and Rowen. He has always been there for her and now that it is time for her to return the favour, he denies her that. It all starts to weigh on their relationship.
So I really loved the change we got to see in Rowen, she has opened up so much. I also very much loved to see this other side of Jesse, that vulnerability, making him mire human/real. The secondary characters were once again amazing. Garth is back and more sarcastic and "mean" than ever. Alex, Rowen's roommate, is a different species on her own, there are no two people like her. She definitely brought the humour in the story. Then there was Jolene, I could not stand her, but that was the purpose, so job well done. And lastly Jax, Rowen's TA, a total douche and created a lot of unnecessary tension.
There was one part I did not like very much and involved a homeless lady. Somehow Rowen is convinced this woman has the answer to all her problems, when to me it just seems that she is crazy. It definitely came with a twist I did not see coming until the very last moment.
Overall Near and Far was a great sequel. I really liked the development in Rowen and Jesse's relationship and the ending was simply right. Once again some awesome characters and I can not wait to read Garth's story!
I was so glad to be chosen to participate in Nicole William's Book Tour (tour schedule), certainly when I got to read her brand new book (came out today!!!) Lost and Found. The cover drew me in immediately and well it's Nicole Williams, so you know you going to want to read this!
There’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling.
After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.
Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.
Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.
When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.
Review
Lost and Found starts of very strong, I mean literally from the first sentence (very important sentence) to the very last one, I can only say one thing; amazing! Having read so many New Adult novels lately they can sometimes start to blur together, but it's books like these that confirm why I love reading so much.
"I thought rural was synonymous with hell"
Rowen is freshly graduated and put on a bus heading for Montana, where she will be working on a ranch for an entire Summer, so she can prove to her mom she's worthy to go to art school. Having been called a freak for pretty much her entire life, even by her mom, has made her defensive, which is understandable. Using sarcastic comments she avoids giving real answer and tries to push people as far away from her as she can. The relationship between Rowen and her mother is very explosive and slowly learning what situation and upbringing she comes from makes it so easy to relate and admire the girl she becomes by the end of the story.
"If I had to pick two words to describe Jesse, those would be the ones: warm and welcoming. And attractive."
What Rowen didn't expect to find in Montana was Jesse. The hottest 19-year-old cowboy in the tightest pair of Wranglers you will ever meet, even earning him the Universe title. Right away he catches her by surprise. Besides his extremely good looks (with a major focus on his butt), the guy is nearly perfect; he's funny and witty, smart, doesn't back down easily, loves with his whole heart and more, loyal, deep, good hearted...the list could go on and on. So obviously Rowen has no idea what to with him when he shows romantic interest in her.
"Rowen Sterling: Putting the wise back in wiseass. I think I've found a kindred spirit."
That statement is more true than Rowen first realizes. She has her demons and has always showed this through her style of clothes, the permanent scowl on her face and if that didn't scare of people, her attitude would do the job. Unfortunately, at least that's what Rowen thinks, Jesse sees right through her, pushing her to open up to him, trying to make her understand nobody's life is perfect, neither is his.
"Every morning we get a chance to be different. A chance to change. A chance to be better. Your past is your past. Leave it there. get on with the future part, honey."
Still Rowen has been so used to not just pushing people away, but making them run for the hills, she isn't prepared for Jesse and his family. Seriously what the hell do they put in that water over there. Rose, Jesse's mom, is so wonderful, supportive, loving and full of wisdom that if my mom wasn't so cool I would definitely want her as my mother. That woman is a freaking genius. She gets to Rowen simply by showing love for her and being there for her and sprouting advice that would be the envy of any psychologist.
So Rowen arrived as an angry, nearly bitter girl, but slowly with a lot of love, some smoldering kisses from a handsome boy and just some plain hard work, she maybe can become someone who can be proud of herself and no longer has to be afraid to let people get close to her.
"No guy said or felt those things for me, because I wasn't the kind of girl who deserved to be adored. Or cherished. Or whatever it was that Jesse was expressing."
There is one part of this book I didn't like that much and it's that Rowen is kind of convinced she's not good enough for Jesse. With him being the golden boy of the town and she's thinks they invented the word screw up just so they can describe her, it brings the story down. The growth in all this is wonderful and it's not as heavy as in other New Adult books, but it's just something I have an issue with. Mostly because I usually find it so in contrast with the character's attitude towards life.
Besides that I absolutely loved Lost and Found. The chemistry between Jesse and Rowen, the easy bantering and even their "philosophical" conversations made it nearly impossible to put down the book. Seriously if it wasn't that I had to work, I would have read in one breath. Also my family kept giving me weird looks while I was reading it, because I kept grinning the entire time with a chuckle once in a while. Lost and Found is one those books that I will recommend to anyone interested in the New Adult genre and I will probably re-read it a couple of times.
I have a feeling I could talk for hours about this book and how Jesse is my new BBF etc. so I'm just going to give you a couple of more quotes (half this book is highlighted!) and let you back to your reading.
"I do know one thing - it's a waste of time trying to figure out the male brain since most of them are lacking one."
"In addition to his other forms of divinity, the man was a kissing God."
"He was the type of guy a girl spent her whole life asking herself, What if?"
"We have to take what we want because life sure as shit isn't going to freely hand it over." He kissed the skin just above my collar bone. "And I want you."
"Ultra-relaxing aura, ah?" And here I thought my boyfriend was a cowboy, not a hippie."
"Cowboy's in my blood, but my heart's all hippie."
Who do you picture when you read about Jesse? I was thinking something along the lines of him or him or him or him...
