Review: Wanting Forever by Diana Gardin

**I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review**

3/5 Stars

 

Synopsis per Goodreads:

For Sam Waters, it's Aston Hopewell. Talk about a girl out of his league. But he's just a hired hand, happy to keep his head down and work hard on her father's ranch. With a warrant out for his arrest, he can't afford trouble.

Everyone thinks Aston's life is perfect, but she knows the truth: nothing is as it seems. The only one who gets that is Sam. He understands her in a way no one ever has. But even he won't tell her everything-until the night that changes their destiny forever .

My thoughts on this book:

 

I had a hard time with it..I think because of the Ever/Sam thing, of all the characters in the book, two characters touched me, and they weren't even the main characters.  Ever and Reed.  Ever, because of everything she went through, the book only touched on it, yet the horrors that can't even be imagined. Reed because he's the tortured musician, in a family of corporate types that don't understand him. 

 

I spent most of the book with a sour taste in my mouth, for lots of reasons.

1) Sam even leaving in the first place

2) How does an employer not do any sort of background check? especially if he's gunna be living around his daughter? Not to mention basically hand him a future on a silver platter?

3) The lack of forgiveness in regards to the Ever situation, and the fact that it never resolved, that he was just going to walk away from it, despite a long friendship, and have a relationship and move on with his life and be all that he can be, without a backwards thought.

4)There were some side stories of cheating regarding the parents, that I couldn't figure out the purpose of, it didn't help the plot or storyline in any way, other than cast Aston in this unforgiving light.

 

I think that if some sort of resolving act had happened regarding Ever, I would have felt better about the book, but the fact that the author made Ever into this little waif that rose from the ashes and found her life, just to be cast out for doing the SAME thing Sam was doing, finding happiness.  You have Ever in the very first chapter, which is where I imprinted and attached myself to HER not Sam or even Aston, I kept wondering when she was going to come into the picture again, what was happening with her.  Also, I found myself disliking Sam.  He was self absorbed, and incredibly selfish.  Yeah, he ran to protect Ever, but even with the conclusion of the case of why he ran, he didn't even look back to see how things resolved truly.  I can't give too many words to reveal spoilers, but the whole situation, I think my feelings on this subject cast a bit of a shadow around the book, disliking the main character.  If Ever comes out with a book, or Reed comes out with a book, I'd read them, but otherwise I was disappointed with this one.