Noah, is the first in a series of —I believe— four books (5th street series) by Elizabeth Reyes. In the opener to the series, we are introduced to Noah, (a young nineteen years old boxer, who works doing maintenance at the gym he trains at while awaiting the opportunity to be allowed to be a trainer there) and Veronica (a twenty-eight year old woman, who recently lost her mother to cancer, and is having a very hard time dealing with the loss).
By some miracle, Veronica's best friend Nellie (who is the lead female in 'Abel', the 4th in the series), manages to drag Veronica to the gym where they meet Noah, who becomes Veronica's trainer. A while later, due to unforseen circumstance, Noah needs a place to stay, and Veronica, who recently inherited her mothers large house, offers to rent him a room. The months that follow, show Noah trying to fight his feeling (unsuccessfully in the end) for Veronica, who is also trying to fight her feelings for Noah, because of their age difference and not seeing how a relationship between the two of them could work out.
I have to say, I really adore the character 'Noah'. He is so sweet, caring, compassionate, loyal, considerate, and lets not forget HOT! He is basically every females dream guy. If I couldn't be involved in a romantic relationship with him, I would still love to be a friend of his. Now, Veronica on the other hand... hmmm... I'm a bit torn about her. On one hand, having lost a parent to cancer, I can understand the effect it can have on your life, but, I never really got the sense that Veronica was all that close to her mother to begin with, so I can't see her mothers passing away traumatizing her the way it did. I also hated how wishy-washy Veronica was when it came to Noah. It was a constant back and forth with Veronica... I want him, I'm attracted to him, but I can't go there... except that she does go there... ** Spoiler ** she's making out with him in the hallway every night! I felt like Veronica was stringing Noah along the whole time, and like I said, he's damn near perfect and didn't deserve that. ** End Spoiler **
Because of Veroinca's wishy-washy attitude towards getting involved in a relationship with Noah, I feel as though the book got a little repetitive at times... well most of the book really. In my humble opinion, there should have been more to the age difference.
** Spoiler ** The author should have played up the situation with Rita a bit more. In reality if you were having a connection with a man, and the very next day he's having sex with his 'holiday drive-by sex-buddy', it would crush you. If it were me, I would find it hard to connect to him again or more importantly, trust him ever again. It would have personally been the nail in the coffin for any future romantic relationship we could potentially have had. And then to have him tell her he's in love with her, then the next day have him allowing Rita to pose to provocatively on his bike, and put her hands basically on his crotch... well, that would show me that he wasn't as in to me as he was claiming to be. ** End Spoiler **
These things aside, I still enjoyed the book. I was drawn into the story from the start. I love Noah! I felt as though the author did well with character development. And most importantly, I applaud the author for writing a story about an age difference where the male is younger, it's usually the man who is older in these age difference themed books and I feel as though it took a bit of bravery on her part to write something that isn't typical.
One thing that I feel compelled to mention, is I really, passionately hated the references of personal hate that the author wrote on Veronica's behalf about her weight. It got to the point that it felt a little like 'fat shaming'. Authors have to realize that you have to be sensitive to your readers, and considering Veronica's weight at the beginning of the book (167 lbs.) was pretty close to the average weight of a female, you have to think about what readers who are the same size, or larger, would feel reading things like...
“I’m not going to any movies or concerts or any event that involves me being around other people. I’m a cow, Nellie. I don’t even have clothes that fit me anymore.”
“Do you have sweats?”
“That’s all I have.” She pulled the material on the sweat pants she was wearing. “I haven’t bought anything else in months. It’s all I can get my fat ass into, and I refuse to go shopping for anything else in this embarrassing size.”
** In a scene where Veronica weights herself **
Veronica felt like throwing up now. She could hardly believe she’d let herself put on that much weight in just two years!
Nellie shook her head, her face still full of humor. “All right, all right. You’re no fun anymore. The old Roni would’ve already been flirting with him.” Veronica rolled her eyes, going down for one more stretch. “Yeah, well the old me didn’t weigh a hundred and sixty-seven freakin’ pounds!” She groaned, disgusted with herself.
Reading is a form of escapism from reality. I guarantee you, there is a reader out there that is struggling with their weight and seeing things like someone who weights 167 lbs. calling herself a cow, not wanting to be seen in public, referring to herself as a fat ass who refuses to go clothes shopping at her 'embarrassing size', someone who feels like 'throwing up' at knowing her weight, who feels disgusted with herself at her size... well these things will make your reader feel even worst about themselves, because he/she will know that YOU the author, also feel like he/she is disgusting, embarrassing, etc. As an author, you have a bit of a responsibility to your readers. You have the opportunity to change their lives, and fat-shaming is not the way to do it. It sort of left me with a feeling that the author feels people who are overweight are disgusting, embarrassing, etc. That's not an impression you want to leave your readers with. Just my opinion, for what it's worth.
Also, considering the fact that Veronica didn't even want to leave her house for anything other than grocery shopping, it seems unlikely that Nellie would have been able to convince Veronica to go to a gym, especially one that -at the time- was an all male gym. And even if Nellie did manage to get Veronica there, I can't see someone who is self-conscious and having self-esteem issues sticking around when the guys in the gym start snickering and laughing at your being there. I would think even a confident person wouldn't stick around after that.
Note: I usually don't care about grammar, punctuation's, editing, etc., but if you do, you might want to take into consideration that the book could use editing.
Note to author: Noah is described as being 'baby faced' in your book. The man on the cover is the opposite, he has a more chiseled, angular face. A cover is your only opportunity to give your readers a visual reference to your story, it's a contradiction to have the cover image not be the same as what you describe in your book. It can throw readers off.
Would I recommend this book or others in the series to someone?
Yes. Perhaps not someone who was overweight though.
Would I read more from this author?
Yes.
*** It should be noted that each '5th Street Series' book focuses around a different member of the 5th Street Gym, is standalone, and contains a HEA. While the main characters of each book make appearances in others of the series, you will not be required to read/purchase others in the series to get a HEA (although if you feel moved to do so, I'm sure the author would appreciate your support).
