Almost: The End

I was invited by The Bohemian Housewife to join The Boho Book Club. Now, I absolutely love a great book so I was 100% in! The book we will be reading this month is Almost by Anne Eliot.

Let me refresh (for some of you it’ll be an introduction) your memory about this book:

“At a freshman party she doesn’t remember, Jess Jordan was almost raped.

…Almost. Very nearly. Not quite. Three years later, Jess has managed to make everyone believe she’s better. Over it. Because she is.

…Almost. Very nearly. Not quite.

Unfortunately, until Jess proves she’s back to normal activities, her parents won’t discuss college. So, she lands a summer internship and strikes a deal with hockey jock, Gray Porter: He gets $8,000. She gets a fake boyfriend and a social life.

Jess has no idea Gray signed on for reasons other than money. She also never expects to fall in love. But Gray’s amazingly hot, holds her hand all the time, and makes her forget that he’s simply doing his job. It’s like having a real boyfriend.

…Almost. Very nearly. Not quite.

Gray Porter is hiding secrets of his own. About Jess Jordan. About why he’s driven to protect her, why he won’t cash her checks, or deny her anything she asks. “

Enthralling isn’t it? So, each week I will be posting a discussion question as well as my answer and if you are reading along, or have read the book, you can join me!

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Week Four: Do you feel Jess’s family should have hid the truth?

Short answer: No. Long answer: Nope. As a non-parent, I am sure there are a lot of things about protecting your child that I simply will not understand until the day I have one of my own. However, I don’t think it was a wise idea to keep such a traumatic event from the person the event happened to. I thought the entire thing was ridiculous because they both continued tiptoeing around the issue like if they stayed quiet long enough she would just forget. Never mind the fact that she wasn’t sleeping and when she did she had night terrors. Never mind the fact that she was a bundle of nerves when she was awake. I hear her parents when they said they kept it from her to protect her, but it seems to me that it was kept from her because they blamed her to a great extent and didn’t believe she was innocent of the things that led to what happened to Jess. I really did not like her parents.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR —–

Anne Eliot writes sweet, first-love stories. She was raised in the mountains of Colorado, but says she really learned about life, love and friendships from summers spent with her large, Italian immigrant family in Ontario, Canada. Anne is grateful to have had schools with inspiring teachers and librarians who directed her to worlds she would not have found on her own. To this day, she adores school visits, teaching writing to teens, and is dedicated to making sure kids in need have access to books that will fuel their hopes and dreams. While growing up, Anne hid her own anxieties by hiding and reading book after book. She developed an addiction to first love, first kisses and her favorite: the happy-ever-after story. This is what she writes today. Now she’s a mom of two and happily married to her own first love. Anne works hard to juggle being a wife and parent while writing, but fails at cooking because she is still trying to read book, after book of love stories on the side.

Anne Eliot’s first book, Almost, became a top 100 best selling Kindle book, and was a Readers Choice, Top 12 of 2012 book for Amazon.com at #11, and will be translated and released in Germany and Turkey fall 2013. Her second book, Unmaking Hunter Kennedy, is a also a Kindle, top 100 best selling book in Teen Romance for 2013. She’s hard at work on her third novel, another sweet teen romance releasing fall/winter, 2013. She loves to hear from readers. Please look for her on Facebook or tweet her @yaromance.

Have you been keeping up with us and this book? How do you feel about the way Jess is changing as we progress? Do you think Gray should tell her the truth? Have you read the book?

Ciao Book THOTS!

Boho Book Club September Giveaway