A GOOD TIME by Shannyn Schroeder

A Good Time by Shannyn Schroeder
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

NetGalley free read

I liked this one a bit more than the first story in this series, More Than This . Independence "Indy" Adams knows Griffin Walker through her sister Quinn and her fiance turned husband (in this story), Ryan. Griffin is a video game titan, who got out of his humble circumstances through hard work and determination not to be anything like his cheating, conning father. He's Ryan's best friend and honorary member of the O'Leary clan.

Indy is Quinn's older sister who has always put herself second in looking out for her sister. Things from her past have kept her from thinking she's the type of person who desires or deserves a happy ending. So, when her married boyfriend, soon after his divorce, asks her to marry him, she breaks up with him. She has no intention of getting married to anyone, especially not Richard who doesn't seem to know or want to know who she really is. Indy likes to be able to change jobs when she gets bored, go out when she wants to have fun, change boyfriends when she's not longer interested. The only person she's kept at arms length is Griffin Walker. She wants the commission for finding him a house and she doesn't sleep with clients... well, at least at first.

Once Indy and Griffin start up, things start to spiral out of control. They have feelings for each other, but something happens which causes Indy to push Griffin away. But Griffin doesn't want that and he does everything he can to make her see he's there for her.

Negatives: Again, the author brings things into the story, but then drops them. Like Malcolm, what happened to him? The last thing he says to Griffin, is "You'll regret this," then we don't see him again. Griffin suspects him in some of the things that happen, but we quickly learn that Malcolm wasn't responsible. So what happens to him? What Richard did to Indy, was criminal and the fact that she nor Griffin thought to press charges against him was beyond me. What he did was absolutely crazy. I agree that lying to Richard wasn't the right way to go, but after she did it, nothing in the world should have prompted her to go back and tell him the truth. He's a despicable human being and should never be trusted with her life or anyone else's. The fact that Griffin thought she should tell Richard truth and threatened to tell him, given his history with his father, was shocking to me. Also the transition from Griffin being a total ladies man to being in love with Indy was a little clunky to me. After all the pushing him away, I'm surprised he did fall in love. I like that he did, it's just strange given his reasons for not wanting anyone permanent in his life, that he did. And why didn't he fire Kendra? That woman made me crazy in her treatment of Indy.

Positives: I loved their story. It was tragic and sweet for all the right reasons. I loved how they got together in the first place. I loved how Griffin saw Indy for who she really was, flaws and all. He understood her relationship with her sister and her father. That she was the caregiver who took care of everyone else emotionally, which left little for herself. Which I think is why she just was about having fun. She used that to keep from being hurt by people. I loved how Griffin stepped up, even when he felt like he wanted to run when Indy's circumstances changed and she started pushing him away. He didn't let her at first, then he gave her time. Almost too much time. But even when he thought she was lying to him, he stuck with her and tried to help her. He brought her into his life and asked her to help him with things that were important to him. I loved when he took her to the O'Leary's like Ryan did with Quinn. A way of introducing her to his family. I love how he respected her mind and trusted her with his business, his secrets, his public image, and didn't care what it looked like for him publicly to be with her.

I really liked this story. The ending where we have no idea of the truth, made me a little crazy, but that's not technically a negative. I kept thinking we would somehow know, because I'm hoping it's Griffin, for all of their sakes. I guess you can figure it out because of the timing, but I'm still not sure. Maybe it's just hope on my part that Richard will never have anything to do with Indy's life again. It was so sweet and sad at times. Indy just never thought she deserved anything good. She was so scared to accept that she could have what her sister had. I think she was noble in a way that she didn't want to sattle Griffin with her problems, but I think she also held on to him in her own way that allowed him to be needed and know what life could be like if he let someone need him. There was always a door slightly open to him and he stepped up and opened it.

I hope there will be more stories with this family... The O'Leary's.

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