Sticks by T Gephart

There is a very fine line between both need and want and while both Joey and Kenzie think they know what they want in life and it is not each other, what they are going to have to come to terms with is the fact that they now need to be part of each other’s lives …but in what capacity?

 In inimitable T Gephart style, this is a story of not really knowing what you are capable of until you have no choice.

She has the capacity to draw the strongest of emotions from not only her characters but also her readers and I say that because, by writing characters that are such strong individuals she doesn’t mollycoddle the reader, she makes you take a long hard look at the circumstances and love or hate those involved you have no option but to take it at face value, but could two such strong solo acts ever come together and last…well I had my doubts.

Joey, oh man, I had my head in my hands, he was such a pain in the butt at times but in the next breath he sucked the air from my lungs. The guy really didn’t do anything by halves but getting Kenzie pregnant that wasn’t anywhere on his to do list anytime soon. Shame his nether regions didn’t get that memo because now the pair of them are on the path to parenthood and it is precarious to say the least.

Joey (aka as Sticks) is the heart of the band, the guy that beats out the rhythm that Black Addition march along to, his drums are his life  as are the other guys but what if the most self-indulgent man-w**re suddenly has another heartbeat to listen out for?

I didn’t know if he had it in him to not only accept but to flourish in the situation that he and Kenzie found themselves and while it wasn’t a walk in the park, I will say that I stand corrected, kudos to him, he gave me a whole new perspective on who he really was and what Kenzie really meant to him.

She was his muse, sort of, the one that got away and while he would have normally gone with the flow and accepted it with no regrets, now she is back in his life it is almost as if the gods had a bigger plan for him and she was his reward.

He was so sure of himself with everything up until the point he finds out he is going to be a father and then, oh boy how the wind is taken from his sails. But given time to get his head around the situation, we were eventually handed a new improved Joey, I loved his attitude even more, he grew into his own skin, into the person he was destined to be and into the role that while he hadn’t planned it, it was one he could completely own.

He was on this earth to be some little human’s dad and that made me smile from, ear to ear.

I was slower to accept Kenzie in some respects, she was just a little harder to get a handle on, she was a feisty woman alright but initially that didn’t make her completely likable. I thought she was a little harsh at times and condescending towards Joey when there was no need. But I totally admired the fact that keeping her baby, with or without Joey was her decision, she didn’t need to have a man in her life to make her decisions, and she lived by that rule, although when she finally accepted that she wanted Joey to be in her life I couldn’t contain the smile that was plastered on my face. I do have to say that one thing I liked almost right from the onset was her humour, she was a funny lady, and she dished out attitude like kids dish out candy

I saw what Joey had seen in her and I understood the attraction between them but in a way I thought he was ever so slightly naive, and I can hear you yelling at the page, no he bl**dy wasn’t but what I mean is that he had a childlike quality about him, Just remember the paternity test debarkle…I rest my case!

There is more going on in the heads of this pair than you will ever have considered possible but when they lay their hearts on the line, they do it together.

But this author doesn’t do anything by halves, because with the band heading off on tour, I should have known that there was going to be a sting in the tail, they had things almost smooth and then the rug was pulled from beneath my happy ending!