Reviewed by Kimberley
TITLE: The Best Parts
SERIES: Cade Creek #7
AUTHOR: Stormy Glenn
PUBLISHER: Siren Bookstrand
LENGTH: 117 pages
BLURB:
Recovering from a car accident in the sleepy little town of Cade Creek should have been a dream come true, but for Noah Helmond, it has been nothing but a nightmare. Ostracized by everyone for things he couldn’t prevent, Noah is trying his level best to make amends. But even he has his limits and when the man he starts to fall for rips the truth out of him, Noah has to decide if it’s worth the risk to stay and fight for what they could have together or run.
Paul Rafferty loves being a fire fighter. It fulfills his need to protect those that can’t protect themselves. When he meets Noah and learns who the man is, he’s prepared to think the worst. But there’s something compelling in Noah’s sad eyes that make Raff think that there is more to the story than what he has been told. Getting Noah to admit that might be the hardest battle he’s ever fought.
When trouble comes looking for Noah, asking for help means revealing secrets Noah has kept hidden for years, ones that will not only tear his family apart but have a significant impact on more than one resident in Cade Creek, and that may be asking too much
REVIEW:
This is book 7 in this series and I must say that in this book the ugly side of the residents of Cade Creek was exposed. The people in this town were judgmental, rude, obnoxious bullies. Their behavior towards Noah was horrible.
Okay, so Noah is recovering from a car accident that almost took his life. His career as a surgeon is over and to top it off, he’s being bullied and harassed by the locals. I am not exactly sure how they know so much about what went on between him, Sammy and Phoebe or how they even found out but it’s safe to say that NO ONE in that damn town has any business of their own to mind.
First off, you have Noah trying to make amends to people who he really doesn’t need to make amends to. All of this shade and hate thrown his way has absolutely nothing to do with the other residents of Cade Creek and they should have kept their noses out of something that had nothing to with them.
Let me go down the list:
Phoebe: Noah’s the so called mistress, the ‘sweet and innocent’, ‘victim’ wasn’t a victim at all. As I stated in my review of Starting Something that chick was far from innocent. I felt that she was in on the scheme with her father and Noah’s parents to get herself pregnant. As she stated before, she was ‘in love with’ Noah—who incidentally, she hasn’t had any contact with for several years prior to having sex with him. It’s not like she saw him every day. She made it seem to Sammy and the Blaecleah family that she and Noah had this long term secret affair where he took advantage of her because she was innocent and naïve and all of that when that wasn’t the case. The more likely story is that she was always jealous of what her sister had, she wanted Noah and was presented with an opportunity to get one up on her sister. When he didn’t run off into the sunset with her when she got pregnant, she became angry and vindictive. I didn’t buy that whole he-took-advantage-of-me act she was pulling. She knew more than what she told the Blaecleahs, Sammy and Hank. Noah didn’t rape, threaten or coerce her. The sex they engaged in was consensual and she was an adult. There is nothing innocent or sweet about a woman who sleeps with and gets pregnant by her sister’s husband. I’m glad Mrs. Blaecleah knew that and was able to get the truth out of that woman and shares that tidbit with Noah. It would’ve been nice if she shared that information with the rest of her clan.
Sammy: He got on my nerves. I didn’t like him or Hank in their book. He and Hank were my least favorite characters in the series. Sammy blamed Noah for virtually EVERYTHING that went wrong in his life. He make it seem like Noah dragged him by the hair back to Boston to marry Phoebe to cover up for Noah’s mistake. Noah didn’t force him back to Boston. He doesn’t take responsibility for hardly anything and then he turned his back on his brother when he needed him the most. Yeah, he came through for him in the end, but to me, it was too little too late. He and their cousin Jack’s holier than thou, sanctimonious attitudes grated on my nerves big time.
Hank: A worthless bully who beats up on a man who is half his size and injured. Yeah, he’s a real man, alright; beating up on someone who’s unable and unwilling to fight you back. He made it seem like Noah lied to him. What Noah actually did was stand by and agree with Hank—who because of baggage from a previous relationship—jumped to the wrong conclusion. If Hank would’ve been a man and stuck around and talked to Sammy, that situation with Noah wouldn’t have happened. Hank is a whiney punk.
The townspeople were also worthless bullies. First off, they inserted themselves into a situation that 1) they didn’t have all of the facts to and 2) wasn’t any of their business. Who told them about what happened between him, Sammy and Phoebe? Who? Are the Blaecleah men gossipy like little old ladies? They treated Noah so bad.
I’m so glad that Paul was there to stick up for Noah. He read Sammy for filth at the Blaecleah ranch. Sammy and Jack should’ve heard all sides of the story instead of listening to Phoebe and her lies. Phoebe told her version of the truth and Sammy, Jack and the others were quick to believe it. Sammy knew his parents were shady and abusive. If he knew what he experienced with them, wouldn’t it make sense that Noah caught the same hell—if not more since he was older— that he did? His defense of not knowing wasn’t a valid excuse for me. Paul basically nailed it when he told Sammy, “you didn’t want to know.” Not only didn’t they WANT to know but they didn’t CARE. Even after Noah revealed the physical and mental abuse and his rape, Sammy and Jack accuses him of lying!
Seriously?! What purpose would it have served him to lie about that? And this was after his parents just tried to kill him! Unbelievable.
Well after Sammy finally sees the light and I guess they told the townspeople because they all decided to pull together to stand behind Noah. But in my opinion their actions were too little, too late and basically useless. I would’ve told them all to kiss my toukas. That man went through hell and survived with his strength and Paul’s help. The only people in Cade Creek that showed him kindness were Paul, Happy, Mrs. Blaecleah and Billy’s husband (can’t remember which Blaecleah son it was).
The book should have been titled The Worst Parts because that exactly what we saw in this book. The residents of Cade Creek turned out to be bullies, nosey gossips and judgmental busybodies. We got the worst parts of them. If I was Noah, I would’ve packed up my man, our dog and gave them all the middle finger as the town was fading away in my rear view mirror.
This next to Happy’s Ever After turned out to be my favorite in the series.
The books in this series have mild-to mid- level violence and may deal with issues such as domestic/family violence, physical, mental, sexual abuse and rape so if those are your triggers, I would recommend you skip those parts.
This book is part of a series and as such should be read in sequential order. It is recommended that your read the Blaecleah Brothers Cowboy series as their characters cross over into this series.
RATING:
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