Dani grew up an army brat, moving around constantly and never making great friends. The only constant in her life was she and her mom’s trips back to Minnesota every summer where she would hang out with her mom’s best friend’s son, Alec who was kind of nerdy and a little soft. They promised they’d always stay in touch, until they didn’t. Five years later and Dani and her mom are back in Minnesota. Her parents are going through a divorce and they will be living with her grandpa for the final few months of her senior year in college. Here she is the new girl again but at least she’d have her friend Alec, right? Only that nerdy little friend has turned into ‘Zeus’ the semi-god who is taking their high school hockey team to the finals. They meet again as strangers and everything is super awkward. When an unlikely series of events has them fake dating they finally face what happened to their friendship and if they can overcome hurt feelings and face the truth.
Lynn Painter sure knows how to paint a great back story for her characters. Dani’s emotional journey from loner who doesn’t want to trust anyone to gradually entrusting her heart to Alec again was really well done. This young adult novel had all the feels of an adult romance without the spice. Dani had all the emotions of an adult and none of the stupid behaviours that come from being a teenager. Alec, was the more juvenile of the two, but that seems par for the course on where young girls and boys are emotionally at that time in their lives. I think Dani also had so much more to forgive and move on from- not just her past with Alec, but the divorce of her parents, and reconnecting with her once close grandfather. The author portrayed all of these things beautifully and I bought into all the plots and sub plots.
Not to say that Alec was one dimensional, because he wasn’t. However, he held onto his grudges much more than Dani so it was easier to get caught up in her journey versus Alec’s. I do love a great hockey story though, so his push to win a championship and move on to college or go pro created conflict for his character that was separate from his feelings on what happened with Dani in the past. I do wish he hadn’t been given the nickname Zeus though, I just hated that moniker. No high schooler is god-like, no matter their athletic prowess.
I really enjoyed this story and Lynn Painter has quickly become a favorite author. No matter if it’s YA or an adult romance, her story’s deliver, and her characters are always real. She’s become a must-buy for me. ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
I received a copy of this book through NetGalley for an honest review and it was honest!
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