"You own every piece of me, Cadence Taylor, and if you let me, I'll spend the rest of my life proving to you that you're the only thing left worth fighting for." (Dillon Murphy)
I was so excited to read Hear and Now. In All My Heart, Dillon became my favourite character and wanted to read more about him. However, I ended up appreciating Isabelle's and Kayden's story in All My Heart, more than I enjoyed Cadence and Dillon's story.
I've read quite a few of Melyssa Winchester's books and her portrayal of relationships is extremely realistic. Yes, Dillion and Cadence might not have a perfect relationship and they have to deal with tons of issues and insecurities, but they act like a "real world" couple. They communicate with and challenge each other, cut through all the nonsense that threatens to tear them apart and stick together through thick and thin. It's extremely easy to support their relationship. My only issue with their relationship is that it progresses too quickly, but that's definitely a "me issue".
Hear and Now also deals with the main characters singular lives, trials and tribulations. Cadence is considering having a cochlear implant sugery and Dillon is dealing with the aftereffects from the events that took place in Hear me Now as well as the only other thing that keeps him alive, football. However, Dillon's devotion to football becomes negative when he injures his knee. I found both Dillion's and Cadence's responses to their various trials and tribulations realistic and their support for each other, the "we" factor in their relationship, endearing.
I do wish that the secondary characters such as Kayden, Isabelle, Eric and Isaac were more present in Hear and Now. However, I can't help but love Mrs Taylor for being one of the best mothers in fiction and we are also introduced to Ryder, a secondary character with a ton of secrets who appears in Unbroken, the sixth book in the Count On Me Series.
A complaint that runs through this series for me is the typos, grammatical and sentence construction errors that detract from the story. However, the characters feelings, emotions and reasoning that jump off the page make up for this minor annoyance.
Hear and Now is an extremely realistic story of two people who fight their own fears and demons, while supporting each other and fighting for the love that they have. Aside from the typos and the fast pace of Dillon's and Cadence's relationship, this book portrays the characters feelings and emotions in such a way that I can't help but sympathise and understand what they are going through.
Not the best book I've ever read, but not a bad one.
"This Is The Start Of Something That Begins And Ends With Love"