The Day He Kissed Her (Bad Boys of Crystal Lake #3)
by Juliana Stone
Blurb:
He can’t wait to leave…
Mac
Draper finally has everything he’s always wanted: An amazing career. A New York
City apartment. He’s this close to being free of his past forever. But a
mind-blowing encounter with the sexy yet tough-as-nails Lily St. Clare has him
delaying his plans to put Crystal Lake in his rearview mirror for good.
She’s finally found a place to stay…
For
Lily St. Clare the charming small town of Crystal Lake is her haven – a place
she can hide from her famous, back-stabbing family. It’s as close to happy as
she’s ever been. Until an unforgettable night with tall, dark and tortured Mac
Draper gives her a glimpse of what true happiness feels like.
Lily
can’t help but melt a little under the sizzling heat of Mac’s touch. But Mac’s
scars run deep, and Lily’s afraid she may be falling for the one man who can
never return her feelings...
Themes: contemporary
Rating: 3.75 stars
Heat Rating: 
Review:
Wow what an emotion packed ending to a pretty
great trilogy. Two of the three Bad Boys have met their matches and settled
down in love, but the holdout, Mac, never imagined he would be able to, much
less actually want to, give in to love and family. I loved the previous two stories in this
series, and enjoyed this story quite a bit too.
If you have read the others, you will recognize that
there are some heavy emotions going on for both the H/H and their
families. While I enjoy a lighthearted
romance as much as the next girl, this series is more like reality and that’s
one of the reasons I love it so much. Picking
up right where we left off in the last book, the finale to the Bad Boys of
Crystal Lake takes you on a journey
through the courtship of two deeply wounded and distrustful individuals, both
fighting their feelings for one another, but each one changing for the better
before all is said and done. Though I am
sad to see the series end, it was worth it to get to see Lily and Mac get their
HEA.
Lily
has been avoiding any situation that might bring her into contact with Bad Boy,
Mac Draper, the man she turned to months ago in a need for human connection, one that she never planned to see again. But
sometimes fate has other ideas and she is no longer able to hide from him. Confronted with the seductive Mac, Lily puts
every obstacle she can think of in his path, but that just seems to tempt him
more and when he decides to stay for the summer to stage a full scale campaign
to get her back into his arms, Lily is no longer able to resist the pull
between them. Mac has never felt such a
pull to a woman and the intrigue and desire to be with her is too much to
deny. Though he has no intention of ever
settling down, being with Lily brings too much joy to his life to keep away
from her. But the past and his own fears
cause grief that seems impossible to overcome. In the end only true forgiveness
and the connection of two people deeply in love and determined to make changes
in their lives, can allow them to get past the pain they have caused each other
and find a chance to be happy together.
Lily
is an odd duck to me. She comes from a
family of people that are famous just for being famous, and not in any way that
would be considered honorable. She didn’t
handle the death of her beloved brother well at all, but finally settling in Crystal
Lake and cutting herself off from the negativity of her family is her shot at
having a normal life. She certainly has
her fair share of insecurities and fears about having a relationship with Mac, but when he becomes too persistent to resist, she focuses on enjoying their time together, never
realizing she is falling deeper and deeper for him, until it is too late. The love she feels for him leads her to make
some decisions that leave her hurting, digging to find her inner core of steel
and determined to not let him break her heart.
But once again fate is not fair to her and she is left with a broken
heart, hurt pride, and the anger of an ultimate rejection. I found myself crying right along with Lily
several times and came to really relate to her as a woman and a great
character.
Mac
on the other hand is an asshole about 90% of the time. Though I know he certainly has his reasons,
his past and relationship with his family being key, I felt like he wallowed in
that too much instead of embracing the man he truly could be standing on his
own. To this point the only healthy
relationships he has had are with his youngest sister and his two (once three)
best friends. With a mother that chose
her abusive husband over her children, a drunk bastard of a father, and the
pain of losing himself in his fears, Mac has a lot to overcome to be a man that
is deserving of Lily. I wanted so many
times to reach into the book and slap him for being a selfish dick, but
thankfully he gets his shit together in the end and is able to step up and be
the man that he was always meant to be, a man that needs and deserves the love
of his life. There was a moment in the
story that was like that slap in the face to him, finally waking him up from
the nightmare of his past and allowing him a chance to see the possibilities of
a future with the woman he loves.
I was a bit surprised at times by the direction
the story was taking, but eventually I found
myself so hooked that I couldn’t put it down and had to find out what
was coming next. The challenges thrown
at Mac and Lily both internal and external were numerous, and I honestly
thought Mac would never wake up and find the courage to reach for the future he
wanted. Lily was a woman I can see
myself liking and I admired her ability to put her own needs aside to try to
help Mac at every turn, but when it came down to it she stood up for herself
and demanded all of his heart or nothing.
Mac finally comes to see that he is worth the love Lily is offering him,
that he is nothing like his father and never will be, and that settling down
with a woman that he loves and respects will never lead to anything like his
parents’ relationship. I was thrilled to
see them finally overcome their frailties and come together in love with a
promise of a chance at a life together.
I wish there had been a better ending for Mac and his mother, but in the
end he couldn’t change her and finally accepting that gave him a measure of
peace at least. Getting to see the
changing lives of the other two Bad Boys was awesome and I hope to one day see
them again. In the meantime, this trilogy was a deep, sometimes dark, realistic
and wonderful series about the loses that can lead to changes in a life and the
ability of love to build bridges, close gaps, and overcome even the most
difficult of pasts. If you haven’t read
the other books in this series, you will not be lost, but you are certainly
missing out because the entire series is great and Mac and Lily’s story rounds
everything out and ends the series with a bang.
*eARC provided by publisher (via
netgalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No
compensation was provided.
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