Book Review: Jesse's Girl by Stephanie Taylor

Jesse's Girl by Stephanie Taylor
Genre: Adult Fiction (Contemporary Romance)
Date Published: December 19, 2013
Publisher: Astraea Press

Ally Roche has loved only one man her entire life, her childhood best friend turned lover. But when she turned down his proposal one summer before he went back to college, he disappeared from her life, leaving her empty and alone.

Detective Jesse Richards is back in town and avoiding Ally like the plague…until she walks into the station and reports a murder and then promptly faints at his feet. Faced with the knowledge the killer knows who she is, Jesse has no choice but to protect the woman he’s always loved.

And maybe, just maybe, he can protect his heart as well.

Jesse's Girl by Stephanie Taylor was a quick and entertaining read. The characters were easy to like. I don't know why either character let so much time go before talking to each other. I would think someone would have reached out to the other, especially with how strong their love seemed to be, but I guess they were both just too stubborn. With all the build up, I expected a bigger resolution event surrounding the murders. It seemed too easy. I kept expecting the real killer to hop out. There were a few inconsistencies with things that happened or were said through the plot, but I still found the story enjoyable.

Jesse's Girl by Stephanie Taylor was kindly provided to me by the publisher for review. The opinions are my own.

The bell over the door to the police office jangled as a woman walked in. She wore skinny jeans and knee-high boots with a peasant top – without a jacket. It had to be at least twenty degrees outside. Her hair — milk chocolate — hung in curls in a messy updo. Jesse’s heart skipped a beat. The sun shining from behind the woman made it impossible to see her face.
Could it be?
He stood, unable to handle the suspense.
As he rounded his desk, the door closed behind her and the office turned darker. Breath whooshed from his lungs as he laid eyes on the woman he’d never been able to exorcise from his head. The girl who’d rejected him. The friend who’d loved him and then thrown him away.
“Ally?” he whispered, unsure if she was real or just a dream. She had to be real. He couldn’t have imagined those curves on her.
“I need…” Her face was a sickly gray, and she seemed to see straight through him. “I need to report a murder.”
With that, she collapsed against him.

Stephanie Taylor wrote and illustrated her first novel, The Bear Who Ate Christmas, at the tender age of six: several notebook pages stapled together to open like a "real book" (it's still in the attic, by the way, just in case you were curious). Over twenty years later, she lives in Alabama with her husband and is a mommy of three by day and a writer by night. She has a doctorate in Multitasking and can actually walk a trapeze while preparing dinner with one hand and typing her next novel with the other. Well, no not really, but close.

To learn more about Stephanie Taylor and her books, visit her on Facebook.