Cocktails and Books
Written on May 7, 2012
Stephanie is gun shy about relationships, seeming to make the wrong choices in men and always falling hard for them and then falling apart when the relationships ended. So when she meets her new landlord, Mike Brubaker, she knew she was in trouble.
Mike, a recently divorced father, has been turned sour on relationships. He questions his ability to find the right person to spend his life with and decides focusing on his relationship with his nine year old son is for the best. But when he meets his new housemate, he discovers that his best laid plans have been smashed to bits by a woman.
As a reader, I connected with Stephanie immediately. She's been hurt in the few relationships she's had and by her mother who abandoned her for the shiny lights of Vegas. She searching for that one person who can love her for who she is, stubborn, independence streak and all. In Mike, she sees a kindred spirit, but also someone who could utterly crush her if she lets him get to close.
Mike can't explain why he's as attracted to Stephanie as he is, but he keeps reminding himself that he needs to focus on his son. But he makes excuses to reach out to Stephanie, to talk to her and finds that when he's not with her, he misses her. He needs her, but he also has to figure out how he can have both Stephanie and his son in his life.
This was a very sweet read. It went by fast, but it was the perfect way to spend an hour...losing yourself in the story of two people learning how to compromise to make a relationship work.