(Once) Again

(Once) Again by Theresa Paolo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After reading (Never) Again, I almost gave up on this author. Fortunately, I was pleasantly surprised with this sequel. In fact, I'm kind of astonished that the same author wrote this particular book.

As with most NA contemporaries, this second book in the Again series picks up with a secondary character from the first book. Josh, the main character, has been wounded in a school shooting at his university and is home recovering roughly 3 weeks after the incident. His home health aide turns out to be a girlfriend from high school that he never got over. And the story goes from there.

This book had a great backdrop with the school shooting and main character's PTSD. Also notable was an attack/near rape incident. But these two things were just the backdrop for the romance; they were a canvas on which to paint the interaction between the characters.

The character development here was great. Josh has made a lot of mistakes which he begins to see more and more clearly, in light of the near-death experience he's just had. His slow but steady willingness to change is refreshing. The way he goes overboard is endearing. Once we get to know his character, we see him progress - but not unrealistically. It makes for a much more believable story.

Sometimes with a story like this one, the plot can really slow down and drag if the characters get together too quickly. Not so in this case. The bit of drama towards the end helped move things along without over-complicating things. It didn't feel like too much.

The cheese factor in this story is huge. There's a lot of Josh "lifting her chin with a finger" and "running a finger down her face, trailing her jaw." Ok once or twice - but every time they have a serious moment? It was a bit much.

Overall, this was about standard as NA contemporaries go. It is a dramatic (dramatic!) improvement to the series. If the author continues at this pace, the next books will be amazing. We'll see.

View all my reviews