ARC Review: Jake by Jennifer Foor

After recently reading and enjoying my first book from Jennifer Foor, I jumped at the chance to read more from her. I loved that she was releasing both Jake and Jax at the same time and that we would get to see what happened to the twins back to back. Although I had not read any of the previous books in the series before this book, I had no problem getting into this book or enjoying it. I will say that I probably would have had a better understanding of the history between all the secondary characters and the rest of the family, but it wasn't necessary for this story. I can't wait to go back to the beginning though and read the rest of the books to learn more about everyone in the Mitchell/Healy family world!

Jake Mitchell has always been close to his twin and best friend Jax Mitchell. The two of them have been inseparable and have always done everything together, even though they are very different from one another. But when they meet Reese Miller, things between them begin to change. Though Reese is more of Jake's type, she ends up with Jax. Jake and Reese form a fast friendship though because of the classes they share and her new relationship with Jax. But the closer they grown, the more Jake begins to realize that friendship with Reese will never be enough and he could never hurt his brother that way. When Jake begins to try to distance himself and push Reese away, both Jax and Reese begin to wonder what happened. But it isn't until Jake and Reese find themselves stranded in a cabin alone during a storm that the truth finally comes out. After all is revealed Jake and Reese quickly realize that things between them have changed, and it could ruin not only Reese and Jax's relationship, but the bond between the brothers as well.

I really loved Jake. He was interested in Reese from the start, and yet he fought so hard to stay away from her. He did everything that he could think of to put space between them, and push her away. But he never wanted to hurt Reese or Jax. He was an absolute perfect fit for Reese though, and they connected on every level. He was sweet and kind, and the exact opposite of Jax. Reese was harder for me to fully understand. I could see how she didn't pick up on Jake's feelings at first, and if I were in her shoes I would have probably thought that Jake hated me too. But I didn't understand why she would have stayed with Jax so long knowing that she had been into Jake from the start. I understand that after awhile she grew to care about Jax, but why didn't she do anything to begin with? Jake didn't because of his brother, but Reese's actions didn't make sense. The connection between Reese and Jake was clear from the start, and they had so much more chemistry than I ever saw between Reese and Jax.

While I don't support cheating, it isn't exactly a no go for me with books. But this book was sort of hard to take because of that and how much a part of this story it was. They were in a really tough situation, but I felt like things were handled wrong more than once. I wish that these two would have been more honest with Jax when they first discovered their feelings, and I felt like some of that was drawn out more than it needed to be. Reese had a tendency to flip back and forth, and I was ready for them to finally just be honest with everyone including themselves. I know they wanted to wait for a good time, but honestly there is never a good time for that and I think it would have been better for them to have told Jax themselves than the way it came out. I also wanted to feel badly for Jax, and I did to a certain extent. Don't get me wrong, he had definitely been betrayed by the two people closest to him. But I felt like the author went a bit out of her way towards the middle to end of this book to sort of make Jax out to be the bad guy. I understand she wanted the hero and heroine to be likable despite their actions and to sort of justify their betrayal. But I sort of felt like Jax was all of a sudden made out to be sort of a jerk and it didn't feel exactly true to his character. If he had been like that the whole time they were together, I don't see how Reese would have still been with him to begin with. Despite those issues though, I really liked Jake and Reese together and I felt like they were meant to be. Their love was something they fought and didn't expect, and yet it was undeniable. They never meant to hurt anyone, but you don't get to control who you fall in love with and that was definitely the case here. Jake is left with a cliffhanger and I am excited to see how the story continues in Jax. I really hope that Jake and Jax can find a way to repair their relationship and both wind up happy and with who they are supposed to be with.

**ARC Provided by Inkslinger PR**

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