Someone Like You

Second miss out of my stack of unread Bylin novels. The characters in the present are interesting and colorful, but their past doesn't gel with their present and too much is told and not shown. Why did an MK who thought himself called to preach think it was okay to date a sexually active unbeliever and to trust himself in her dorm alone at night? Why did he then have absolutely no concept of atonement and forgiveness and completely abandon his faith after having had sex with her? Why did she get taken in by Hunter's pursuit and then cheat on Zeke and go move in with Hunter when as best friends she should have known what sort of guy Hunter really was?

But none of these past questions are addressed in the current book, when the shoe is on the other foot, where Julia is now a single mom with Hunter for a baby daddy and a new Christian, but where she meets up again with Zeke and he's completely thrown over the faith of his youth.

So no, it really didn't work for me, no matter how cutesy the current scenes were. The motivations simply don't add up. And then there's Hunter, ridiculously nasty, taking a four-year-old horseback riding past a sign that says “keep out” and ending up among rattlesnakes; giving a four-year-old drinks of wine? Excuse me. Does ANYONE think that's okay?? But no one spoke out until Zeke interfered with the second serving of wine to a small child. Ugh!

The older couple's romance was really cute, though, and I enjoyed those sections. Added half a star for them and half a star because Max, the little boy, was so huggable.