As Rory grew up, she had a best friend who knew everything about her. She and Hallie were as close as sisters, perhaps even closer. One thing Rory tries her best to conceal from Hallie, though, is that she's hopelessly in love with Houston, Hallie's older brother.
The girls head to college, the same school Houston attends, and Hallie's love continues to expand. By now, Houston has noticed that Rory is no longer the pipsqueak tagging along with Hallie. She is a beautiful young woman, and Houston is not - nor does he want to be - impervious to her appeal. He begins to fall for her, too.
But then an unspeakable tragedy occurs, and Rory and Houston's nascent relationship ends. Heartbroken, Rory returns home and tries to heal.
Now it's five years later, and Rory's attempts to figure out what and who she wants to be largely consist of fits and starts. She's working at an upscale grocery store and receives a promotion of sorts, which entails helping coordinate the opening of a wine bar. To her shock, Houston is the owner of the wine business with which the store is partnering, and he will be working on the opening as well. When she first sees him, all of the old feelings return, followed quickly by renewed sadness and frustration because Houston does not recognize her.
At least not at first.
That he is attracted to her all over again is a moot point to some degree because Houston is married. But when you've yearned for someone with the intensity with which Rory has yearned for Houston, news of a marriage doesn't merely stun; it devastates.
Still, Rory and Houston have to work together, and before long, they find the preceding five years evaporating as their feelings for each other return and are maybe even deeper. Houston is married, though, however unhappily, and Rory does not want to be That Woman, the woman who cheats with a married man.
As if Houston's marriage is not enough of an obstacle, there is the matter of a secret Houston has been keeping from Rory. It's about a five-page letter he has, one that will answer Rory's questions but, Houston fears, cause her tremendous pain.
There are times, while reading this, that Rory will infuriate you. She's a "one step up, two steps back" kind of girl, and I occasionally wondered why her pal Kenny puts up with her. She knows what she should do. She knows how she feels. She knows. SHE KNOWS. She knows things she refuses to acknowledge that she knows. She is, in a word, frustrating. But Houston loves her, and that, I suppose, has to be good enough for me.
This is the first in a trilogy and, as its title indicates, tells you how Houston and Rory begin to come to be an "us." Cassia Leo's storytelling is engaging and engrossing, and it immerses you in her characters. You feel Rory's pain, still raw five years later, as well as Houston's agonizing dilemma. These two love each other, and their love is founded on a lingering youthful innocence. The five intervening years have sent them spiraling in directions they could not predict, and they have to not just reconnect, but reestablish who they are together.
One area that needs no work is their physical attraction to each other. Let's just say that you can see why Rory has been unable to forget Houston. You won't be able to, either, thanks to the way Leo writes the sexy times. There is some deliciously hot headboard rocking, faithful readers. Oh, yes, there is.
The book ends on a cliffhanger, sending you off to Book 2. Check out The Way We Fall and get to know Houston and Rory and their tortured romance.
Review copy provided by the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.
Published on VoxLibris.net
@VoxLibris
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