Sunny Shelly’s Review: Saving Easton, by Kaci Rose

The good: I really liked the development of the friendship between Easton and Paisley and how that evolved into them both yearning for each other and eventually crossing from friends to more. Their childhood past played into the story nicely: how they both had crushes on each other as teenagers, but his being her older brother’s best friend prevented him from ever approaching her for a date. But since Easton and her brother lost touch when he was in the military, and Easton was now developing a true friendship with Paisley all on his own, there was nothing stopping Easton from pursuing her except Easton himself.

Easton’s struggles as a POW adapting to life were nicely written. I liked how he pushed his own boundaries when he saw that he had a chance to really be with Paisley, and I was rooting for them.

What I didn’t like: I started out this book feeling like I was missing a big piece of Easton’s introduction. Surely there was a backstory before Saving Easton began. This book is pegged as a standalone, and for the most part, it is, but I felt like I was missing something big right up front. Well, when I got to the epilogue — which sets up Teddy’s story next — the epilogue is actually Teddy’s introduction for the next book. So I can only assume that Book #1 had introduced Easton in the epilogue? Maybe repeating that epilogue as Saving Easton’s prologue would have prevented my confusion. I’ve seen several authors do that with interconnected books.

Also, when was Easton teaching Paisley self-defense? She mentioned using the “moves he taught her” and I’m fine if it happened off-page, but there was no mention of it until she had to use the maneuvers. I also thought the drama with her brother’s girlfriend felt forced, but I get why that was used as an obstacle for Paisley and Easton’s relationship to overcome.

And this book could really use a good proofread. There are unnecessary commas all over the place, often to the point where they interrupted my mind’s flow in comprehending the scene.

Still, I enjoyed Saving Easton. The wounded military vet who shut everyone ends up with the girl he’s always had feelings for? Yes, please! I received an advanced copy and voluntarily left a review.