This one is a straightforward second chances (twenty years
thence) romance.
When teen hormones hit basketball player Gina Granbury she finds
herself obsessing over cheerleader, Ashleigh Pence. At a party, Ashleigh
seems to be flirting with Gina. Before long, Ashleigh invites Gina for a week
long holiday with her family to the beach. And young love catches fire. For the
rest of their time in school, Ashleigh and Gina are overtly best friends and
covertly in the throes of a flaming (and we mean flaming as in seriously hot) affair. They go to college together
and for apparently no reason, Gina breaks up with Ashleigh, totally devastating
Ashleigh’s. The last Ashleigh sees of Gina before transferring is Gina sleeping
with every possible woman she meets.
Twenty years thence, Gina is co-owner of a small advertising
firm and Ashleigh is a drawing-huge-salary-but-not-happy-with-her-job attorney.
It is now school reunion time. Both are reluctant to go unwilling to face the
other. As the popular girl and also Prom Queen who still visits the small town
frequently, Ashleigh cannot quite not go. Having already skipped the
ten-year-reunion while in a haze of serial womanizing, Gina is goaded by her
friends to go, and she does.
When they meet again, Ashleigh and Gina discover the sparks
still flying hard and fast between them.
The chemistry between Ashleigh and Gina is fantastic. The plentiful
sex scenes are delicious. The young love completely heartwarming.
However, the depth and extent of the love each one has is
terribly skewed. Gina’s love is small and contained, lacking depth and is self-preserving.
It is love that is expressed by staring but not doing anything else. It is love
that allows her to break up with Ashleigh (who is literally head-over-heels in
love with Gina) on hearing a rumour, making the decision unilaterally and not
allowing Ashleigh a dialogue or giving ‘them’ a chance. It is love that feels
it perfectly alright to lapse into radio silence for months and emerge to make
a lacklustre gesture of sending a photograph of a rising sun with a message ‘Come
see me’ – really?!
On the other hand, Ashleigh’s love is all-encompassing and
fearless. It is huge. She is the popular girl who takes all the risks. She chucks
her social circle to be with Gina. She is more than willing to come out while
they are still in school. Both, when they first get involved and when they meet
again, Ashleigh is the one who always takes initiative, risking her heart and emotions.
And finally, she is the one who changes her entire life for Gina.
With everything else so right about the writing
(particularly the flashbacks and the sex scenes), this book left us
dissatisfied with the immense imbalance in the feelings.
⭐⭐⭐★
