Pieces by Janine Infante Bosco

Synopsis: Jake Lanza is one of Riverdale New York’s favorite sons. He owns a tattoo parlor in the small upstate town and prides himself on being a fun-loving, live by the seat of your pants type of guy. He has everything he wants in life, a thriving business, a great family and a best friend with whom he could never live without.

Cara Sloane weaved her way into Jake’s life when they were fifteen years old. After her life fell apart at such a young age, Jake helped her heal, and began to pick up the pieces of her fallen life. His unconventional ways slowly had him becoming the anchor in her life.

Now fourteen years later Jake begins to see Cara in a new light. The things he thought he never wanted, he suddenly began to yearn for. The only problem was they were both too frightened to lose the greatest love either of them has ever known. Can Jake convince Cara there is more for them than just a friendship? Is he willing to take that gamble himself?

Get it on Amazon: http://amzn.to/1GK8MKZ

Add it to your TBR list: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22522985-pieces

4 Stars

***There may be some spoilerish stuff in this review, you have been warned. I generally don’t like to do spoliers, but in this one I think I have no choice.***

This book is a sweet and steady romance laced with heartbreak.  I am an emotional reader but it takes a lot for me to cry in a book.  I’m not ashamed to say I cried when I read the end.  I was able to predict this ending with confidence, although I don’t think it was meant to be a secret.  The foreshadowing in this book did its job.  I must point out that there were so many commas throughout this book. Generally, I don’t rate on grammar because I’m lazy to be honest.  But this book has loads of them; beware if this is an issue for you.

These characters had a long and close history from the beginning.  Cara is sweet and saucy in her interactions with Jake.  They have a great banter between them.  Every heard the term love is blind.  There is a second part to that saying.  Love is blind, friendship closes its eyes.  You can see they love each other before they do. It’s like peeking in on a couple when they don’t think anyone is looking.  Super adorable.

A few scenes really stood out for me.  Cara’s birthday was one of them.  It really captured his honest love for her.  Also, the scene when his family found out about his illness.  I really felt his mothers helplessness.  The last page was the most prominent for me. Jake wrote Cara a letter.  I won’t say more than that.

If you like Contemporary Romance, this is a good book to read.