Come to Me Recklessly by A.L. JacksonMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Having not read the first two books in this series I wasn't sure whether to dip straight in to Come To Me Recklessly. Authors quite often say their books can be read as a stand alone and, in my experience, readers often miss out or are unable to fully connect with the characters as a result. This may have been the case here but even without having read the first two books, which portray Jared and Aly’s story, I was able to easily settle into and enjoy this book.
This story is told in a dual timeline. Starting in the present we meet Samantha. Now living with, Ben, she is living an emotionally empty life. Having loved and lost the boy who stole her young heart, Christopher, she continues to struggle to understand why he so cruelly rebuffed her when they were destined for a long and happy life together. After an unexpected and chance meeting with Aly, Christopher’s sister, the two agree to meet up despite knowing the pain Samantha could subject her heart to if she ever came face to face with Christopher again. Also living a life of regret, Christopher is immersing himself in women but it’s Samantha who still haunts his heart and stops him from ever moving on despite the time which has elapsed since their last painful encounter.
As expected, Christopher and Samantha are brought face to face with one another again as Christopher unexpectedly arrives at his sister’s house. Samantha is horrified when she looks across the room and into Christopher’s eyes and sees the pools of hatred that lie within them. Despite their angry encounter, Aly sees that there is still something between Christopher and Samantha and despite the hurt and punishment they continue to put each other through, she tries to make them realise that they belong together, despite their history.
Heading back into the past, we see how Samantha and Christopher met and slowly fell in love. Despite their feelings for one another, Samantha and Christopher had to hide their relationship from her parents. Being brought up as a pastor's daughter, Samantha had to act in a certain way and sneaking out a night to see Christopher was not what her parents expected from her. But never fear the good boy that her parents love, Ben, was never far away but he wasn't what or who Samantha and her parents expected him to be. Forever scheming, Ben ensures that there will only be one winner of Samantha's heart, him.
As expected, it’s not long before Samantha’s parents discover her duplicitous ways and after finding her returning from a party they were not aware she had gone to, her life with Christopher is all but over. This is one point in the story where the background to Aly and Jared’s lives would have explained the emotions running through Christopher’s mind. I felt slightly lost as the author recounted the experiences for readers but, without the depth and emotion that I feel I would have experienced had I read the first two books, the story lost some of its depth. This didn’t detract from the story however as you still felt the pain of Samantha’s separation from Christopher even if you couldn’t necessarily appreciate or fully understand his actions.
I enjoyed this story. It was slightly too long winded and drawn out at times and left me waiting for the story to move on instead of recounting past emotions and actions between Christopher and Samantha. I’m not sure whether I will go back and read book one and two. For the price, I’m not sure if I’d enjoy the story enough but then again am I missing out on something special? I’ll keep it in my wish list and you never know, my curiosity may win me over as I really do want to know what happened to Jared when he went off the rails and how he found himself and Aly again.
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