Book Review ~ Facing West by Lucy Lennox
BLURB
Nico:
I left my family and tiny Texas hometown fifteen years ago to escape small-town gossips and to give my mom and sister the chance at a better life. But when a phone call from an attorney back home informs me that my sister passed away, leaving me custody of her newborn baby, I'm shocked out of the steady life I've built for myself running a tattoo shop in San Francisco.
The thing is: I don't do babies. And I don't do small towns. Or commitment. And I especially don't do family. My plan is to go back to Hobie just long enough to sign adoption papers, giving my niece the kind of stable, loving family I could never provide.
But the moment I meet my niece in the arms of Weston Wilde, my sister's best friend and the town's handsome doctor, my plans begin to change. Because suddenly, I see a different future. One with the very thing I thought I never deserved: a family. If only I can convince West that I'm not the same good-for-nothing kid ready to bolt when things get tough.
There's one thing I know for sure about Nico Salerno: he was a good-for-nothing as a kid and judging by the purple-haired, tattoo'd punk who shows up at his sister's funeral, he hasn't changed. There's no way I'm letting him take custody of my best friend's baby.
But the more time I spend around him, the more I realize that his rough exterior is just a shell and that beneath all the tattoos is a scared, insecure man searching for a place to belong. And pretty soon I know exactly where he belongs: in my bed and by my side.
The problem is, he abandoned his family once before, how do I know that if we become a family he won't do it again?
Facing West is the first in the new Forever Wilde series about the huge Wilde family from Hobie, Texas, whose patriarchs aren't above a little meddling if that's what it takes to help their grandkids find true love.
4 Stars
Nico ran away from home at 15 and he's been gone for 16 years, but now he's headed back to his small hometown of Hobie, Texas, to take care of settling his sister's affairs after her passing. When he makes it back to town, he discovers he's been left, not only the bakery she owned, but custody of his newborn niece, Pippa, as well. Nico doesn't do kids, so he'll just be in town long enough to get his sister's estate in order and make sure the adoption of his niece to the couple who wants her badly goes through. Once he gets back in town, he reconnects with West, someone he knew when he was a teen and who's now the town doctor. West was also Nico's sister's closest friend and he doesn't trust Nico, who is all tatted up and purple haired to take care of baby Pippa, but the more time Nico spends back in Hobie, the better the two men get to know one another. They eventually give in to the attraction they are feeing, but will Nico manage to leave town before he gives his heart to his niece and the good doctor?
This was a great story, but there are a lot of secondary characters in this book. Although it's book one in this series, it looks like it's a spinoff of another series and at times, some of those secondary characters were written with such a familiarity, that I felt I should know them better. I'm not saying this can't be read as a standalone, just that it'd probably be a better read if you at least knew Nico's best-friend Griffin and his husband.
Speaking of secondary characters, Doc and Grandpa, West's grandparents, were a hoot!! I'm searching, because if Lucy Lennox has written their story I want to read it, and if she hasn't, well, I'm willing to beg, borrow and steal for it!! Okay, on with the rest of my review!
As I said, this was a really enjoyable read. I liked both West and Nico, although strangling one or both of them crossed my mind at points during the story. They were both stubborn and honestly, in the beginning of the story they are a bit overly dramatic. I liked Nico much better than West in the beginning. West came off as a judgmental ass. He definitely judged a book by its cover. He took one look at Nico and thought he was nothing more than a punk ass hoodlum. He was so wrong. Nico is strong and resilient. He's been put down and pushed around and he's made something of himself. In sixteen years he's managed to get himself off the streets and is a successful business owner, whereas, West practically had everything handed to him on a silver plater. He was raised in a loving home, sent to a good college and had his education paid for. His grandfather, Doc, practically handed his medical practice and the house above it to him. Okay, so maybe I didn't like West all that much. LOL
I did love West and Nico as a couple, though. The chemistry between them was off the charts and the sex, oh god, the sex was HOT!! This was a well-written and a really enjoyable read, and although it's my first Lucy Lennox experience, it won't be my last. I'm scoping out her GoodReads page as we speak and I'll definitely be one clicking some of her previous works, as well as looking forward to future ones. Very enjoyable and definitely recommendable!!
*copy provided by author/publisher in exchange for an honest review*
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