Review: For Real by Staci Stallings
Blaine Donovan has a secret, but so far his plan to keep the rest of the world in the dark about who he really is and what’s really going on in his life has worked. If he can just finish school before the demons catch up with him, he knows he can make life make sense once again. However, when he runs into Melody Todd, a semi-friend he had thought was long-gone, life takes a turn Blaine wasn’t at all expecting.
Still hurting from watching her best friend marry someone else, Melody Todd has given up on dating, guys, and herself. In fact, when Blaine shows back up in her life, she does what she always does with the eligible guys who look her way—she sets him up with someone else. But Blaine soon proves to be much different than he at first seems. Too many things are not adding up the way they are supposed to, and the more Melody digs, the more she sees that the Blaine she knows is not the real Blaine at all…
We met Blaine in book 2 of this series and had an opinion about him and who he was from the beginning.
From just about page one of this book, those assumptions are blown out of the water.
In many ways, it’s a lesson about “judging a book by it’s cover” or at least its first impression.
Blaine especially, isn’t who he seems at first and he goes to great lengths to keep Melody from seeing the truth. She discovers it anyway and they work together to solve the problem that keeps presenting itself.
Through it all, he helps Melody overcome the pain from watching her best friend [AJ from White Knight] with his new wife.
Staci weaves a story about honesty, reserving judgement, and helping those in their time of need. And allowing God to set you on the path He wants when the time is right.
I loved the epilogue, bringing all three couples together one last time to give us a hint about where they’re headed in the future.
Overall rating: 8.25 out of 10 stars