Reviewed by Cheryl
TITLE: In Case You Missed It 
SERIES: Love Him #5
AUTHOR: S.M. James
PUBLISHER: May Books
LENGTH: 365 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 12, 2019
BLURB:
Brooks is convinced his life is totally, one hundred percent happy.
Until Darien tracks him down.
Darien was supposed to be the guy he kissed once and remembered forever, but now he’s back in Brooks’s life, with easy smiles and big ideas.
The first of which … show the homeschooled Brooks everything he’s missed out on. But as the pair work through a spring of playing catch up on life, it becomes obvious to Darien that Brooks has a secret.
And as things heat up between them, Brooks’s secret might just be Darien’s worst fear.
Because Darien has always lived in the moment.
But Brooks has always lived for the future he knows is inevitable.
When life is set to tear them apart, will love be enough to keep them together?
REVIEW:
Last night (this morning) I went to bed at 3am. It was literally “one page reading.” Just one more page, just one more page. I couldn’t stop until I’d read the last page.
This is squarely a young adult book so don’t expect the characters to behave like mature adults and always have mature reactions to situations or make the right choices. As the mother of an eighteen-year-old, I can see these boys in his friends and school mates. The author has nailed the age, even though there is a little more maturity because of their experiences and situations.
Darien tracks down a boy he met at a party some time ago. As luck would have it, his parents were moving to the same town. How lucky was that! Unfortunately, the boy of his dreams, Brooks, doesn’t seem interested in him. He constantly insists that he doesn’t date and won’t date and won’t give Darien anything more than friendship, however, he can’t stay away from Darien any more than Darien can keep away from him.
Gradually through the book Darien becomes more and more aware that there is something very wrong with Brooks. It seems that everyone knows but him, and he’s frustrated that no one will tell him what it is. This tension, along with Brooks’ hot-and-cold attitude and the sheer vividness of the world they live in, makes the book addictive and impossible to just put down.
From the very beginning we feel for both Brooks and Darien for very different reasons. The book is told from both perspectives so we see that Brooks is involved in the push-pull relationship, otherwise it might appear that Darien is insensitive and even bullying in his insistence that he will not leave Brooks alone. Brooks can’t help but give out mixed signals when what he really wants to do is throw himself into the relationship. Given the magnitude of Brooks’ secret, I’m not sure that he’s wrong in keeping his distance at first as I don’t know if Darien would have stuck around if Brooks had talked to him right at the beginning. However, it was evident by about half way through the book that Brooks’ fears were entirely unfounded.
Through the book, there were moments when we thought the relationship was going to fail, but it always kept bouncing back no matter what and I can’t imagine there are many relationships that were tested more than this one.
These characters are real. The act and react in an authentic way. Their difficulties and issues are detailed without overshadowing the story. In fact, there are many stories going on here – the pain of leaving friends behind and of being left behind, the crippling uncertainty of any new relationship, facing fears, what does being happy truly mean? Both Darien and Brooks have issues that haunt them and they both eventually face their fears and overcome them. Their life is an adventure and we’re very much immersed in it and taken along for the ride.
The author has obviously done their homework about the issues involved and doesn’t make them easy to get over. All in all this was a masterfully written book and one that will stay with me for a long time to come.
RATING: 
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