Review: Escaping Me – Elizabeth Lee

All she wanted to do was forget. Forget the memory of walking in on her boyfriend in the middle of, well, another girl. Forget how she had her entire life planned out. And, forget about being perfect all the time. Unfortunately, she was Whitney Vandaveer and despite the fact that she moved to the middle of nowhere – she couldn’t.

He always knew he would never be more than nothing. No job, no money, no future. Cole Pritchett had accepted the fact that he would always be the screw up and he was okay with it. Until he met her.

Here’s the thing they quickly found out – sometimes we all need a little help escaping who we think we are.
Series:
Release Date: July 30, 2013
Publisher: Elizabeth Lee
Source: Inkslinger PR
Reviewer: Shannon
Rating:

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Reviewer’s Thoughts

I really wanted to love this one.   Cole Pritchett was the perfect bad boy, although he really wasn’t, want to drop what she was doing and follow him.  But there was something about Whitney that I couldn’t connect with and that made this from being one that I loved to one that I liked.

Whitney decides, after finding her long time boyfriend cheating, to run to her mother’s farm for the summer.  While she doesn’t spend much time with her mother or younger sister, she figured it would be a great place to lick her wounds.  She didn’t count on Cole Pritchett, new to town and also running from his past, to be the summer fling that would change the course of her life.

I really wanted to like Whitney, but there was just something about her that didn’t sit right with me.  She was raised to be the perfect wife, meaning she’d get her college degree but she was expected to marry and raise a family rather than have a career.  Once she broke things off with the cheater, it was like a veil was lifted and she realized that wasn’t the perfect life that she wanted.  So while she realized she didn’t want that life, when her father and crazy ex came back pushing her for it, she pushed Cole to the side.  Granted it was just while she tried to cool down the situation, but in my opinion she should have been able to speak to either of them with Cole by her side rather than making him feel like he wasn’t worthy by pushing him away…even if it was only temporarily.

I liked Cole.  There was something about this bad boy who wasn’t that I immediately liked.  He was trying to separate himself from his past and his past mistakes by doing what his brother asked and laying low.  But when he could have pointed the finger and placed some of the blame for what happened in his past, he didn’t, which I liked.  It showed the strength of his character and proved (to me right away) that he was a guy that was going to stand beside those he loved.  From the very moment he met Whitney, against his own better judgement, he was there taking care of her.  He stood behind her when her ex and her father showed up making demands on her.  And he pushed himself to be better than he had been so he could be something more for Whitney.

Overall, I liked the story .  It was well paced and kept my interest, if for nothing else, than to see Cole get his happily ever after.