Before Now by Cheryl McIntyre

Sometimes Never #2

     Park Reed is a bastard in every sense of the word. He hasn't always been this way. But after his heart was broken by the only girl he ever loved, being heartless gets him through the day and allows him to fill his nights with the nameless girls he has no intentions of seeing again. He now lives his life following his ever-growing list of “life lessons.”

     Lucy Braden is everything Park is not. She’s sweet, caring, and an all-around nice person. She tries to follow Lucy's Rules to Live By everyday.

     When Park moves in with Jessie, which happens to be the floor below Lucy, Jessie's one stipulation: Lucy is off limits to Park. The problem with that is Lucy is determined to be a good friend to Park and see past the drinking and random girls to find the man beneath it all. The other problem: Park follows his own rules.

Damn, and here I thought I was supposed to hate Park.

This is the sequel to Sometimes Never. Well, I guess it's more of a companion sequel. In the first book we meet all the characters and the story focuses on Hope and Mason. This one focuses on Lucy and Park.

Park Reed is kind of an asshole, still hurt over Hope breaking his heart he jumps from woman to woman. Leaving emotion out of the equation. "fuck 'em and forget 'em" is his motto.

Lucy Braden is the exact opposite from Park. She is sweet, caring and tries to be everyone's support and best friend, even Park's.

Part of me liked this story a little more and Hope and Mason's, even though their story had more depth in it. Lucy doesn't really have any emotional baggage, and Park is just an ass who hurts everyone that gets close to him. Unlike with Hope, who was dealing with being molested when she was 12, and Mason who deals with serious anger issues since his dad was murdered.

I guess I liked seeing more of who the hell Park is and why anyone would want to be around him since he's such a jerk. Park is a really sweet guy when he lets himself be, and hell if he isn't sexy. We never really got any insight to how he preformed in the first book since those descriptions were left to Mason since Hope was in the band. His band doesn't exist but damn if I wouldn't have been a groupie had it been a real band.

I liked the ending to this story, it was really sweet and I enjoyed seeing Park's character develop, Lucy's as well. (I know I didn't really give that much of a review other than comparing it to the first book. But I don't want to give anything away)

I highly recommend this series. It's well written and the characters are relatable and likable.