Review: Worth It by Linda Kage

Title: Worth It
Author: Linda Kage
Series: Forbidden Men
Genre: young adult, contemporary romance

I fell in love once.

It was amazing. She was amazing. Life was amazing.

I lived for each time I could see her, and nothing else mattered, not that our families were enemies, our time together was forbidden, or we had to meet in secret.

Our love could conquer all.

Until it didn't.

So I was ripped away from the love of my life and shoved into hell, forced to continue without her.

It shattered me, broke the best parts of me, left me permanently damaged. Or so I thought.

Years later, I swear history’s trying to repeat itself because she’s back in my life, and I’m just as drawn to her as I was before. But I'm older and wiser now, and I know she should stay away from a worthless piece of ex-con like me.

So, I will not let her in. I absolutely refuse to hurt her. I will keep her away.

Then again, sometimes risking your greatest fear to get to a smile makes everything worth it, and besides, I’m not sure I can resist her, anyway.

This is the story of how Felicity Bainbridge changed my life forever, starting one summer day long ago after I was forced to change a dirty diaper...

--Knox Parker

Amazon US | Amazon UK

SANDY’S REVIEW

Worth It by Linda Kage
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

***3.75 stars***

“This is the story of how felicity Bainbridge changed my life forever, starting one summer day long ago after I was forced to change a dirty diaper... ~Knox Parker.” 

Knox and Felicity’s family are from different ends of social spectrum and have been enemies for as long as they can remember, but their lives get tangled up when they meet accidentally in woods one summer during their teenage. They wanted to hate each other but underneath their family names they were just a boy and girl who had a friendly smile and warm demeanor.

Over the summer they keep meeting secretly in the woods, spend a lot of time talking, laughing sharing their dreams; for them this was the highlight of their day. Though Felicity had all the luxury at arm’s reach she always felt misfit in the world of rich and sophisticated, all she ever wanted was for someone to love and understand her. Knox makes her happy and reckless, being around him makes it easy for her to hope for a better life. On other hand, Knox is the eldest of the Parker siblings since his father was an abusive alcoholic who didn’t care for his family Knox had to step in to keep them from becoming homeless. Being in woods, spending time with Felicity was his getaway from never ending responsibility, a time where he could forget all his worries because she was the only one person who treats him like he mattered. The more time they spend together, stronger their feelings grow and eventually their friendship blooms into love. A young love so strong that consumes their every waking hours and they are desperate to be at each other’s company.

When they were still lost in the bliss of true love, reality hits and their lives turns upside down. And now after six years when fate once again crosses their path, Knox is determined to keep Felicity far away from him. They may still harbor the love they strongly felt but they are not the same people who once made promise of forever when they were young. Now everything is left to Felicity, will she fight for her one true love even though he’s adamant of staying away? Will she be able to heal this broken man and prove to him that no matter how cruel life has been to him, he’s still worth loving?

With Worth It Linda Kage delivers an emotional story of lost love and their struggle to find a way back to each other. This story was said in dual POV alternating between past and present. Past was my favorite part of the story, I loved reading about the innocent young love and it was mesmerizing and beautiful at the same. But the second half or more accurately ‘in present’ when they meet again, the dramatic streak in me wasn’t happy about their first encounter. For the most parts I was expecting a dynamic reunion and professing their undying love, by the time the story reached that point it was almost the ending. Nevertheless, I liked the story, it had a great character development and well executed plot line. This is my first from the author and I’m completely awed by her writing her dialogues were equally emotional and funny, I can honestly say that she is a wonderful storyteller. I’ve to start catching up on the previous books in this series, I know I sound stupid for doing it backwards since I met most of couples in this series. On brighter side, I already like them and got a glimpses of their stories and I’m very much curious to see how well was it played.

*Complementary copy provided in exchange for an honest review.*