TWIST

by Kylie Scott

Kylie Scott is able to draw me a comfortable connection with her characters that I simply cannot resist. I absolutely devoured her Stage Dive series, and when Dirty book one in this series was released I was a tad apprehensive as to whether or not I would feel the same way about the latest batch of characters, well I should have paid no heed to my inner musings because Dirty while was a great read, this was in my opinion much better, I thought Alex and Joe were fabulous.

Alex is a little bit of a wall flower, an almost reclusive commitment-phobe, happy behind the computer screen keeping her social interaction to a minimum (well unless it is no strings s*x) but she has been cultivating an online friendship with a guy that she just seems to have clicked with, so with his birthday approaching she takes a leap of faith and arranges she time out of her busy schedule as a graphic designer and surprise him in his home of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Joe is a great guy but as easy going as he appears to be, the arrival of Alex turns everything on its head because while Alex believes that she has been conversing with Eric online…in reality she has really been speaking to Joe and feelings are about to collide with no certainty on how they would survive the fallout.

Joe, thought he was doing the right thing when he tried to encourage his brother Eric to find someone online, and to calm his philandering ways but Eric isn’t one to be committed to anything, so his screen shenanigans soon went by the by and Joe picked up the baton. He didn’t deliberately deceive, he just didn’t know how Alex would take it if he moved the parameters of their cyber relationship, so he said nothing and now that ignorance is her embarrassment and she is far from willing to forgive.

The conversations, the banter and bickering that ensues was hilarious, the author gave Alex the opportunity to exorcise the feelings that she had about what Joe had done and to consider how she wanted to react but she also balanced that with a good look at the way Joe worked through the pain that he had caused. This was a look at the impact that how one little lie can snowball.

Of course the other characters in the story take a fairly prominent role throughout the story, this is close knit team of friends in a small town, they all have something to say about what should or should not happen, but I liked that the author gave each of them their own concerns, connections and in some respects heart ache to contend with. I thought that the writing of the whole ensemble cast was just superb, it lightened the load, yet gave Joe and Alex depth.

Joe was a giant of a man, rugged on the outside but with a heart that defied description, he was mortified that he had been caught out in his lie, it was never his intension to hurt Alex, and now he has her in his town and in his bar, he wants nothing more than to keep her there. All he has to do is get her to accept his apology…no mean feat! As he opens up it is clear that not everything in his own life is as it originally seems, he is working himself to exhaustion as he works in the bar and also tries to keep his father’s business afloat even though he knows it is about time that his Dad handed over the reins, he seems to be everyone’s go to guy but what about him, what did he want?

Well that was easy really, he wanted Alex but he just didn’t know whether she was going to want a guy like him…oh man are you kidding!! She would have been certifiable to have turned her back on a man like him, he was so protective, so right for her and she just needed to see that for herself.

A journey of discover for them both as they found not only themselves but each other. Fabulously written this was just what I wanted, just when I needed it …much like Joe and Alex.