After getting involved with Dylan, the bad boy of the Dixon High Swim team, Charley decides to stay close to home for college. It’s just safer that way. Later, she realizes it’s a mistake, just like dating Dylan. She decides to put the past behind her and leave the small hick town of Grassy Pond. There is only one problem; she makes this decision three weeks before the fall semester begins.
Charley packs up her Honda and heads to Southern College. On the morning she’s about to leave, Cash walks back into her life. He has been her best friend since they were four and is the only one who knows the REAL Charley. She leaves her farm in Grassy Pond with all kinds of “what if” questions.
Charley decides to live her college career to the fullest. She finds a great group of friends, joins the swim team, and meets a guy named Joe. He’s got eyes that make ya wanna melt!
At college, she encounters a new problem. Charley has been away from home for only forty-eight hours before she breaks the two promises she made to herself. Will she be able to overcome her past? Find new love? What will happen with Cash now that he is back in her life? Will she find what she is wanting in Jackalope Joe? How will her first semester of college end? Joe, Cash, or alone?
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As we make our way to the door, Georgia slips on the gravel. She starts laughing and the rest of us do as well once we help her up.
“Y’all, I think the ground and curbs are out to get me. I mean they come out of nowhere. The next thing I know, I’m on my ass again!” Georgia is a hoot. She always makes light of situations.
Hank’s Tavern is not exactly what I pictured. It’s an old, worn down, wooden shed. There are five parking spaces in front of the restaurant section of the place. The rest of the parking is located across the road in a gravel lot. It’s gravel, no pavement anywhere. The bouncers are dressed in jeans and Hank’s Tavern t-shirts that fit just a little snug around their arms showing off their muscles. They ask for our IDs, take a brief glance, and in we go. I will have to say, the guys don’t get in quite as easy. They get patted down and driver’s license checked. Sometimes it pays to be a female.
We enter through another set of glass doors and immediately cigarette smoke and stale beer hit my nostrils. The room is open except for a few pool tables and the bar. It is dark, lights are flashing, and the music is bumping. We do exactly what any group of girls would do, walk straight to the restroom. You have got to kidding me! No door really! There is no freakin’ door on the last stall. After taking a few minutes to get over the negative stall door and freshen up, we walk out and head straight to the dance floor.
I have to say that this is exactly redneck meets ghetto fabulous. Whoever thought a place like this would play Mystikal, Dr. Dre, Lil Wayne, throw in a little “Downtown” by Lady A and Old Crow Medicine Show? We have the best time just dancing in a big group. I notice Crystal and Lucas on the floor; she smiles and waves before continuing to do things she should be embarrassed to be doing in public. I am so thankful that I don’t have to deal with that in my room. That is one benefit to her dating a Resident Assistant… he has his own room.
By midnight, Hank’s is packed. I decide to grab a bottle of water, and as I’m about to pay, I hear that oh so sexy voice.
“I got that.”
“It’s okay, Joe. I got it.”
“No, I insist. I was an ass earlier. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad. It’s the least I can do.”
“Damn straight! I’m proud of who I am and where I’m from. I just hate when damn Yankees come down here and then try to make us look like hicks. You don’t like the way we live, then don’t cross the Mason-Dixon,” I say as playful as possible. It did tick me off earlier, but I don’t want him to think I’m a bitch.
“I swear I won’t do it again, and nobody is gonna pick on you eating squirrel but me,” he says with a smile.
“Okay, I’ll give ya that.”
“So Squirrel, you wanna dance?”
“Mr. Scaredy Cat, I’d love to.” He takes the water bottle from me and leads me to the dance floor.
Charley was on top of the world. She was a rising star on her swim team and was dating the man everyone at her high school wanted. Dylan was the bad boy of the Dixon High School swim team, and Charley was so excited to have this man as hers. That is until he pushes her too far one night, leaving her crying and in the arms of her best friend Cash. Cash has always been there for Charley, but Cash has always had feelings for Charley, ones that she's never really acknowledged.
Cash returns to her the day she's leaving for college to tell her how he really feels about her but knows that she needs to go off to college and experience life outside of their small town. It's here in college that she meets Joe. She promised herself she wouldn't make college all about boys and that she would focus on studying and trying to move on from the hurt Dylan caused in her life. But she experiences new problems while away at college, ones that will put in jeopardy her safety.
College was suppose to be a break for her, but with her heart caught in between the two men in her life, Joe and Cash, who will she choose and can she find love? Is she willing to give Cash the chance he deserves or is it too little too late for them?
This book just jumped right into it. There was no introduction to the characters it just went wham and the next thing you knew Charley was in her room crying with Cash. Don't get me wrong that's not a bad thing. I struggled a lot with Charley and the way she is in this book. Her personality, the way she can't seem to decide which man she wants to be with. You would think her choice would be easy right? Cash Money has been there for her pretty much her entire life, so it would make sense for her to give him a chance to be with her when he makes it known that he has feelings for her. But no, she goes off to college and finds herself caught between Joe and the man who makes her feel safe and comfortable, Cash. I also have to say this, if you are thinking this is an adult novel, don't review it based off of that because in reality this is more of a YA novel. Sure I usually read New Adult or Contemporary but for what it was it wasn't that bad and I will be reading the sequel. I just had a lot of issues with Charley as a whole and the way that even though she kept pushing him into the friend zone, Cash just seemed to keep coming back for more. I hope Charley grows more in the next book, she's got a long way to go. For that reason and for the fact that I almost closed it a few times because I just felt like this was something I would read as a teenager, I give it four stars. It was a good book, but just was missing that something extra.
***ARC provided by author in exchange for a honest review***
Casey Peeler grew up and still lives in North Carolina with her husband and daughter. Her first passion is teaching students with special needs. Over the years, she found her way to relax was in a good book.
After reading Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neal Hurston her senior year of high school and multiple Nicholas Sparks’ novels, she found a hidden love and appreciation for reading.
Casey is an avid reader, blogger (Hardcover Therapy,) and now author. No Turning Back (Full Circle #1) is her debut novel releasing September 30th. Finding Charley (Full Circle #2) will release spring 2014.
Her goal is to one day be an author who is recognized nationwide like Jamie McGuire, Colleen Hoover, Tiffany King, and Amanda Bennett.
When Casey isn’t reading, you can find her listening to country music, spending the day at the lake, being a wife and dance mom, and spending time with friends and family.
Her perfect day consists of water, sand between her toes, a cold beverage, and a great book!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/caseypeelerauthor
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