Jeremy Asher

I don't generally go for romance novels, which is exactly what this is, but this one was really quite well done. I started it out of boredom one evening and then couldn't put it down. It's tastefully written and has good characters. My only complaint - it's a series and leaves with a not-so-concluded feeling. Suppose that makes sense, though, right?

Life only gives you one first kiss.

And when Jesse Malone kissed Sarah Ramsey, he thought his life would change, but not in the way that it did. An unlikely childhood romance between a poor boy and a wealthy girl began the day Jesse decided to do the impossible and cross the creek. A love was born, one that would become their shelter, protecting them from the storms of their lives, until the day Jesse witnessed his mother’s murder, forcing him to leave his childhood home…and first love. show more

Ten years later, life has finally gotten better for Jesse. He has a loving family, a charming pet shop to run, and one semester left before graduating with a degree in architecture. Everything is great, until the day fate intervenes and his long-lost love walks into his shop and back into his life.

Sarah, engaged to a budding attorney, is struggling to keep everything together. Her father, diagnosed with terminal cancer, is running out of time. Sarah races to build their dream business while planning her wedding in time for her father to walk her down the aisle.

Their brief encounter starts a series of events that neither Jesse nor Sarah expects. After a decade of running, Jesse is now forced to face the demons from his past, while Sarah has to choose between her handsome attorney and her first love.

Just when they think love has given them a second chance, Jesse is faced with an impossible decision, one that will change their lives forever. show less

This was a wonderful, well-written, bitter-sweet love story. Jesse and Sarah were childhood friends from opposite ends of the social ladder. Sarah was his first and only love and his first kiss. Jesse and Robbie, his brother, were always having to flee from town to town with their mother to avoid having their father find them. He was a violent, abusive drunk. The day Jesse returned form the old Willow tree after receiving his first kiss, he found his father brutally beating his mother and show more Robbie in their trailer...he had found them. The mother lie still and bloody on the floor and before the father could turn on Jesse, Robbie yelled at him and pulled a knife from his pocket... the rest unfolds years later. Robbie and Jesse were cruelly treated at school. Robbie always got the worst of it and was kicked out of several schools before he joined a wrong crowd and was sent to prison for two years. The mother died but her sister and husband came forth and adopted Robbie and Jesse and showered them with love. Even after Robbie was sent to prison. Now, ten years later, the uncle had died leaving Robbie, Jesse and their Aunt to run the pet store the uncle had bought. Jesse was going to the university for an architecture degree but without his uncle to help, it seemed impossible to go on to get his post graduate degree. Now, amazingly, Sarah (his first love) wonders into his shop and old feeling ignite. Soon he discovers she is engaged. Will she change her mind or will he lose her forever? Several events occur and many things change. This is a great, cleanly written story which has several points great for Book Club discussions. The ending was slightly weak or it would have been a five star rating. This is highly recommended for all to read. It has some surprising twists. I cannot bear waiting for the continuing book in the saga. show less

Pretty darn good read.
I loved the story-line, I loved the stories within the stories, I absolutely loved the characters and one more thing.... I absolutely loved that this was written by a guy.

It was a little cheesy for my tastes which is the reasoning for the four stars but other than that a great quick read with a lot of snow but some really great parts within the book!