A Reason For Everything by Nita Johnson
Plot:
Happily married Willow has two adorable children and she loves her life.
One day she returns home early and she finds her beloved husband mid-intercourse with their neighbor.
She’s shocked and devastated but she doesn’t let him destroy her and their children.
Willow knows she will survive it all and she takes refuge at her grandmother Nan’s house to adjust to her new reality.
While trying to rebuild her life at Nan’s, she meets Jesse and she doesn’t know it yet but maybe, just maybe...there IS a reason for everything.
Personal Thoughts:
I was in the mood for a super sweet story and I jumped in.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t get past the insta-love 🙁
The story conveys a positive message about the importance of self-respect in a relashionship and I truly loved how awesome Willow’s grandmother, Nan, was.
I tried getting over the absurd insta-love but:
▪ By the 30% mark Jesse has met her TWICE and he has everything figured out:
“Yeah, the time I spent with those three today made me all the more determined to make that beautiful lady all mine. I wanted her and those kids, something in me just clicked today and I wanted them, to provide for them, to love them.
They always say when you meet the one you just know. Well I damn well know I’ve met the one. Sounds possessive but whatever it is inside me makes me want to be with them. I just have to bide my time until she’s ready to date again and I’ll be there but for now I am happy to just be her friend.”
▪By 45% Jesse is in Willow & Nan’s life roughly two weeks and Nan too knows these two have found true love in each other:
All I’m saying, Willow, is this. Rob might have been your love the whole time you were together but he abused that love when he slept around behind your back. Jesse has the potential to be your forever love, your soul mate. Something in him calls out to you. Just as you call out to him. I can see inside just how much he cares for you, so I’ve not a doubt in my mind that what he told you in there,” she pointed in the direction of the kitchen, “was completely and utterly the truth.
Great speech but in the actual context sounds way over the top.
Two weeks they’ve seen each other in passing 6 times at most, ONE date with kids in tow and they’re soul mates??
I just can’t buy it.
I usually don’t enjoy these kind of stories and here it bothered me as well.
Jesse seems awesome with her children, he’s sweet and protective, wants to support and cheer Willow up when she needs it…all great.
I just didn’t feel their relashionship genuine and believable.
She’s vulnerable and intends divorcing her husband of 10 years that cheated on her without shame or remorse, she has to take care of 2 vulnerable children, she doesn’t have a job or a house to call her own and she hasn’t even contacted a lawyer…
In this situation even a rebound hookup would be hard to manage!
HOW am I supposed to believe the true love/soulmate thing?
I just can’t.
The writing is not bad but, in my opinion, it feels amateurish.
There’s “too much telling instead of showing” and the same events are often told in back to back chapters in Willow and then Jesse’s point of view.
It soon becomes repetitive and annoying.
⭐ DNF @ ~46% ⭐
~ My Ratings ~
Writing: 2 /5 Not a fan. Felt a bit amateurish to me.
Plot: 1 /5 It’s the main reason why I DNF the book. Unoriginal and poorly developed
Hero: 3 /5 Sweet and caring, unbelievably perfect, even more unbelievable because the Insta-Love happens.
Heroine: 3 /5 She’s been cheated on and even if the life she knew crumbles around her, she doesn’t give up her self-esteem and she “keeps on swimming” as best as she knows how. Again, In my opinion the Insta-Love thing ruined the good message about her experience.
Secondary Characters: Fun and crazy grandmother, a.k.a “spitfire” Nan, in the house!(4 /5) The heroine’s children a very mature 10 years old son and a 5 years old daughter (4 /5)
MC’s chemistry: At 46% I had yet to feel some chemistry between the two lovebirds. 1 /5
Triggers: Heroine’s husband caught twice cheating, No cheating involving the MCs , just a misunderstanding.
A Reason For Everything by Nita Johnson
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