5 Stars
I Pick You...
I don't think I realized how powerful those words could be together until I read this book. I Pick You is not just a love story, but a story of growing up and finding out what really matters. For me, this was confusing because the book is told from the perspective of a male and I didn't really understand that after reading the blurb so it was a shock to open this book and be confronted with a male perspective.
So this male perspective is pretty different than I would want to see when reading a love story. When I think of the male lead in a romance novel, I expect either a sweet guy who owns up to his faults and works hard to get the girl or the typical "bad boy" who just needs a little love to move him in the right direction... yeah, so that definitely isn't this novel.
Instead, the main character is the guy in the novel who doesn't really do anything right. I mean I started this novel and was just blown away by this guy's attitude and just general thoughts on anything important. Basically, I started off this book hating the main character because he was the absolute king of douches. Literally, it made me a little angry to read this book starting off because this main character seemed unredeemable. And then things changed just a little.
I think the thing that made this book 5 stars for me, was the fact that there was such a shift in Brantley that made this book into more of a reform story for me and therefore, the start of doucheness just made this book better. Of course, the progress was slow going and there were a lot of moments where I was angry with Brantley because he was still having those moments/thoughts where I literally wanted to strangle him because of his general lack of understanding about anything related to women. But then there were these amazing moments where I saw the character he could be and the character he eventually was.
What made this book so darn amazing was Brantley + Bay. I mean... ovaries exploding because even though Brantley might have dropped the ball in the past, when he is put in charge of his daughter, that's when it seems the true Brantley is revealed. There's so much care and thought that he put into caring for his daughter and I think the most redeemable part of his character lies in the fact that he does love his daughter and he's willing to learn how to be great for her.
As far as romance goes, I had no idea who Brantley would actually end up with. There was a bit of a love triangle within this book but it wasn't annoying or too dramatized. Instead it added a little interest to the book and the ending did catch me by surprise! I think the hardest thing when reading the more romantic parts of this book were seeing them through Brantley's eyes and therefore the eyes of a man who was prone to make the wrong decisions and kind of push the boundaries of what one might consider acceptable relationship behavior.... take this as you will but that's how I interpreted it.
Overall this book was so real and heart-touching. I completely got caught up in the characters and the situations they were put in. There were moments where I found myself crying and then laughing and then holding my breath as I waited for what would happen next. The author did a great job of creating an authentic perspective of the events from Brantley's eyes. Because of this, I saw some of the characters presented as one way, when later in the book, as Brantley's understanding deepened, so did my own understanding of the characters and who they really were instead of just Brantley's interpretation. So yes, read and buy this book and treasure the beautiful imperfections of this book!
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Blurb
When I left Nashville, Tennessee, I knew deep in my heart I wouldn't be back. I knew I would never be heard on every country music station around the world, and I would never step foot on the Grand Ole Opry stage. Cold hard guilt and responsibilities that I didn't want forced me on a different path.
Me being responsible for an eighteen-month-old was a horrible idea. Me being a second grade teacher in a catholic school was plain ludicrous.
Life sucked, love hurt, and I didn't know who to pick.
