Finding You
by Lena Hendrix
After eight years in the Marines, I’m still looking for the mysterious woman I’ve obsessed over since her first letter. When she shows up in my small town, I’m thrilled. It turns out she’s my brother’s best friend--and the girl he’s always loved-- now I’m caught between the two people who matter to me the most.
I’m a Marine which means honor and duty runs deep. Joanna is off-limits. That would be a whole lot easier if she hadn’t already agreed to helping run my brother’s fishing guide business for the summer, forcing me to work side-by-side with the woman I’ve fantasized about for years.
I can keep her at a distance, push her away, man up. But she draws me in without even trying and I can’t get enough of how she makes me feel. I’m stealing moments with her and I know it’s wrong. She may not be my brother’s girlfriend, but I know a landmine when I see one.
Does being an honorable man really mean I have to let her go?
Spice Level: 3.25/6 | Story Score: 6/10 | Rating: 3.5/5 |
I’ve been excited to read this author for so long, but nonetheless kept dragging my feet. I’m pretty sure I saw the second book in this series on TikTok so I added it then, once again, thought I should start at book 1. And maybe I should’ve skipped this one. But really, it had a million things I like: bit of an age gap, brother’s best friend, former soldier, letters, tough girl…I just thought I’d love it.
And I liked it. I did.
But that’s about it. I understand the concept and I get the overall issues being dealt with…but they weren’t enough for me. Will I try this author again? Yes. I will because I didn’t hate this. I just think it was incomplete but maybe it gets better.
-SPOILERS-
First off, I understand the FMC saw a picture of the MMC and had a crush on him. So she wrote him letters. I understand that he got them, loved them, and they helped him through his tours of duty. HOWEVER, I don’t understand the appeal of her letters- because we’re only given a vague idea. I don’t like that he never wrote back. I don’t like that this was supposed to be a big enough connection to build other things on when all the writing was one direction and with no response. He’s cute and she writes a good letter. That isn’t enough for me. It is absolutely a great foundation, but they didn’t BUILD on it.
Second, the FMC was way too easy on the MMC after each time he got all ridiculous. Why do all these women just think with their vaginas? Explain it to me. I get that she had a crush and that she had low self-esteem in the dating department, but geez. He doesn’t get to kiss you, fuck, you, or anything in between and then just shut it all off until he wants to turn it on again.
Third, the MMC obviously has PTSD. I don’t like that it’s not faced or really even mentioned head-on. I don’t appreciate that it was a tertiary storyline because it was something that greatly impacted the story.
Fourth, I waited a whole fucking book for the big reveal of the little brother being gay and all that…and it was like a two sentence scene. It was the primary storyline! The whole fucking book. ‘Ooooooh nooooo, I like my brother’s girl’ and then bam! ‘I’m gay’ and it’s just breezed right over because now self-loathing is involved. Fucking stupid. I WAITED FOR THIS.
There were several other things that made me want to yell at this book, but I’m like three books past this at this point and I’m already blocking them out of my mind.
Standalone | 298 Pages | Trope Challenge: Best Friend's Brother |
Watching Jo the way I was certainly wasn’t very honorable, but she held my gaze as she took a long drink of water, and right then I knew. I would risk everything to be with her.
- Lincoln, Finding You by Lena Hendrix
Find it on:
Comments