REVIEWED BY
Micky Barnard
Keep Away: A Keeper Novella by Jillian LiotaMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
3.5 - 4 stars
I've been pretty excited about being back in THE KEEPER world, RJ and Mack left such an impression that it's still with me over a year later. I knew KEEP AWAY was Charlie and Jeremy but I was a little grey on remembering them completely, so I did a skim through The Keeper to refresh myself.
Charlie is RJ's best friend so it was interesting to see Ms Perfect at the fore of this tale. I quickly realised that Charlie wasn't as privileged and peachy as I remembered. Jeremy, RJ's brother is a great brother, pretty ideal but he wasn't ideal boyfriend material.
KEEP AWAY is a tale of two halves, a past and present take on these two. I don't mind the past-present narrative style but I have to admit that Charlie and Jeremy were both immature and slightly irritating as their younger selves (aren't we all). We definitely see the best of them in the contemporary part of this book. I really enjoyed the flawed Jeremy, the slams of realisation he had over how he came across and his general character growth.
"Love isn't a feeling - it's a verb. It's an action word, Jeremy. It's something you do, not how you feel."
Charlie remained a character I liked but didn't love and I think some of that is probably because of this being a novella, there aren't more words to sketch the same depth of character.
The strengths of this read sit in the slow development of connection and feelings in adulthood, the move away from all things 'insta-love' and the general Keeper-world. This is definitely a lighter read than The Keeper and I could have handled a full novel of these two.
Jillian Liota has followed up well with KEEP AWAY and I remain excited about what she will write next, connected to this story and context or not. I am convinced she is a talent to watch.
I voluntarily read an early copy of this book.
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