REVIEWED BY ROBERTA

TITLE:  Serpentine Walls

AUTHOR: CJane Elliot

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 290 Pages

BLURB: Reeling from the news that his parents are divorcing, Pete Morgan starts his junior year at college cynical about love and commitment. Although his new openness to one-night stands does wonders for his sex life, fighting his romantic nature proves harder than he’d anticipated. He soon finds himself pining for a glamorous senior, Aidan, who doesn’t mind taking Pete to bed but shows no interest in commitment—at least not with Pete. And Pete’s attempt at a “friends-with-benefits” relationship with sophomore Jed leaves Pete feeling empty.

One bright spot in Pete’s year is Matthew, an easygoing graduate student who assists Pete in making his first film. Matthew has some baggage too, and has sworn off relationships and sex altogether, so Pete feels safe to enjoy their friendship. But he falls for Matthew anyway, not able to fight his growing conviction that Matthew is the perfect guy for him. Even if Pete can accept that he made a mistake when he turned his back on relationships, that doesn’t mean Matthew will feel the same. With a few life lessons under his belt, Pete’s ready to take a chance on love. As he finds the courage to bare his heart to Matthew, he can only hope that Matthew will take a chance with him.

REVIEW:

This is the coming of age story of Pete Morgan.  Pete is starting his junior year at college and gets the heartbreaking news that his parents are splitting up after years of marriage.  There were no signals that his father was unhappy or having an affair

and yet, this is what’s been happening. Crushed beyond belief that true love and commitment doesn’t exist, Pete wants nothing to do with love or relationships.

That is until he gets back to school and meets Sexy Aiden and they hook up.  He’s so hung up on Aiden and yet knows that Aiden isn’t available.  Aiden keeps proving that to him time and again.  Yet for Pete Aiden is still what he wants and thinks about.  To try and rid himself of his fascination of Aiden, Pete starts hooking up with Jed, the cute young rugby player.  Pete knows that he’s using Jed and yet he can’t bring himself to stop.

Pete meets and becomes friends with Matthew, a grad student who helps Pete with his student film project.  Pete and Matthew are both ignore that they are attracted to each other and just try to be friends.  That works well for them, even knowing that they are attracted to the other.

Pete’s story is an interesting blend of heartbreak and learning about yourself. I like how Pete’s flaws are front and center.  He’s a young man who is dealing with the split of his parents.  His belief in love is shattered and he’s deciding to live his life without the heartbreak.  He falls for the “Bad Boy” and gets his hurt.  It’s life as a 20 year old.  He’s selfish, childish and yet he’s got this big heart where his friends and family are concerned.

This story flowed along to the beat of Pete’s life.  Sometimes it went smoothly and others were rocky.  You were taken on this ride of pure emotion.  There was anger, lust, heartbreak, sadness, joy and pain.  You run the emotional gambit during this book.  I like that it brought me back to those days when everything was running on pure emotion and you felt that the world wasn’t what you once thought it was.  I loved how Pete had to change his way of thinking and that he had to accept responsibility for his actions.

I loved the ending.  It was hard won the happiness and peace that he achieved.  To see him grow into this person who knows that the world isn’t perfect and yet, you can still find love and happiness.  That your life can be better than you imagined once you move out of the dark place that you were in.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner  ::  Amazon  ::  Are