Bad For You
by Weston Parker
My review:
“It might not make sense to people, but that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter because, in this moment, I finally really understood one of my favorite quotes, ‘Whatever souls are made of, his and mine are the same.’”
“Bad for You” is a simultaneously sweet and steamy second chance romance by Weston Parker. Tristin has put in his paperwork to retire from the Air Force because of a family emergency. He returns home to take over as CEO of his family’s aviation empire. Almost immediately, he encounters Brittany, his high school sweetheart. When high school ended 15 years ago, she broke up with him and broke his heart, precipitating his military enlistment. He never understood why she ended their relationship, but scorching hot attraction flares between them as brightly as it ever did, and he really hope she’ll give him another chance. Tristin isn’t a carousing, man-whore type of alpha leading man. Several times he shows he’s kind of naïve about women, and you might want to shake him for it.
Brittany enjoys her job as an elementary school teacher, but her love life leaves a lot to be desired. Running into Tristin makes the ashes of her first love flame to life again. He seems determined for them to have a second chance, but the reason she had to end it still exists. She never told him the truth though, so he has no idea what caused her to break their connection. Damage done to her self-esteem as a teenager has stayed with her throughout her life and lowered her expectations for her own happiness.
The emotional journey of the likable main characters in this story is beautifully done. There is also great development of the relationship between Tristin and his father. A secondary storyline including one of Brittany’s students took me by surprise. Not only was that storyline engaging, it also shed more light on the individual personalities of Brittany and Tristin, and ultimately on Tristin’s parents, too. I did have a small issue with how Tristin could possibly be expected to capably become CEO of a huge company when he hasn’t worked there in any capacity for 15 years. That’s part of the fun of fiction, though – not everything has to be entirely grounded in reality. Overall, this is a very entertaining and enjoyable story that may make you sniffle a couple of times, but will definitely leave you smiling.