Jake Understood
Jake, Book 2

I Picked Up This Book Because: Continue a series

The Characters:

Nina Kennedy:
Jake Green:
Skylar, Mitch, Alison and Alison’s husband who’s name I can’t remember at the moment:

The Story:

A flip on Jake Undone. Mostly told from Jake’s perspective a sort of retelling of Jake and Nina’s relationship with new scenes for the readers to fall in love with. I found it nice to know what Jake was thinking in certain scenes from book one. It was good to get to know his relationship with his sisters and the infamous Ivy. I also liked seeing some of their HEA as this book does continue past the retelling of the first book.

I found some inconsistencies with the ages of Skylar and Nina’s kids, but I didn’t have a problem letting it go for the story. And some of there forever talking about their love grated on my nerves a bit but just at the end.

As a whole I really did enjoy this book. It even ended up stealing a bit of sleep from me. (Always a good sign.)

The Random Thoughts:

4 Stars ( )

Goodreads does not allow enough stars for this book!

I remember when I was younger and I read Sweet Valley High and other books and as I grew older I moved on to other authors but I have to tell you on May 29, 2013 I read a free book from Amazon and I believe that Penelope Ward is the first author that left me completely mesmerized after reading a book.

I finished Jake Understood last week and it has taken me a few days to actually sit down and write this review because honestly I felt that I needed to get my thoughts together before I wrote this review. Some people do not like when we hear the males POV and in many cases this bores me to tears because I feel as though I have already read the story. This was NOT the case with Jake Understood! This was absolutely AMAZING. Like



This was not just a story of Jake telling his and Nina’s original journey but intead it included present day situations that led to the re-telling of the story. It consumed me from the beginning to end and I do not feel that it was a ploy by the author but instead it was knowing the real Jake and it gave me what I needed to take from the story. I fell so much more in love with Jake and I can only tell you that I never realized how invested you could be in all of the characters of the book. Jake has always been a little mis-understood but now I truly feel that I know who Jake is and I love him even more than I did years ago when I read about him at the gravesite with Allison. I never knew I would fall so in love with the character, the story, and where that I knew him from beginning to end.

Penelope Ward really did a number on me in this book. Truly she made me miss the characters and I hope that Jake’s story remains undone. I love these people and Penelope I don’t care if people hate me or love me I am a:


FOR LIFE

**I received this book from the lovely Penelope Ward in the form of an ARC this does not in any way shape or form reflect my feelings toward this book or anything that I have to say in this review.**
( )

This is book 2 - ten years after their "HEA" book 1:

** SPOILER alert **

A story about Jake and his 2 leading ladies:
His wife, Nina, the heroine, to whom he has been married to for 9 years now
His ex-wife, Ivy, the other woman (A schizophrenic whom he has visited for longer than a decade, once a week, every Saturday (or sometimes Fridays) at the group home where she is being cared for.

At the beginning of this book, the h has walked out on the H)


Excerpts:

THE CATALYST:
“Are you insane, Jake? Do you really think there are any circumstances under which it’s okay to spend the night with your ex-wife?”


PAGE 1:
“My wife walked out on me”


JAKE - ABOUT THE HEROINE:
“This day was a long time coming. In fact, I’d been bracing for it from the moment I first met her.”

“The truth was I couldn’t blame her for leaving. Nina had every right to be pissed at me.”

“…she was likely thinking about all of the ways I hadn’t “put her first. I shuddered.”

“Nina had always put aside her own needs to allow me to continue to look out for Ivy within reason.”

“....she did understand my needing to take care of Ivy. Nina had too big of a heart to ever question that.”


HEROINE - ABOUT JAKE SEEING HIS EX-WIFE:
“Saturdays were the black holes of my life because those were the days he’d visit Ivy. He’d leave in the morning, and I’d count the hours until he returned. Sometimes, that would be late afternoon and often times, evening.”

“I really did understand his dilemma. But that didn’t mean I had to like it or that I wasn’t going to get jealous.”

“Because I’d never met her, had never even seen what she looked like, she was like this mythical creature that held a small part of my husband’s heart.”

“I was terrified……that I’d find out she really wasn’t that incapacitated….”


HEROINE - TAKES IT UPON HERSELF TO VISIT THE OW FOR THE 1ST TIME:
“.....a frame that held a photo of Jake and Ivy.”

“It was overwhelming to see him so young in a time before I ever knew him. It was also painful to see him looking so happy with someone else.”

“While it was heartwarming to see how meticulously he looked out for her, seeing that he used the term baby girl had sparked unwanted jealousy.”

“We (h and ow) couldn’t be friends or anything else to each other for that matter. But Jake was a part of me. So, in a sense, a part of me would always be with her.”


NB:
While these excerpts reflect the bottom line for me, there’s so much MORE happening in this book


A. It’s a retelling of book 1 (Jake Undone) in his POV, 9 years into their marriage

B. He literally sits-down-with-his-friends and retells book 1 to them. A painful rehash, really.

D. It’s about how and why the h leaves the H. On page one.

E. Heroine’s POV is in the present day:
(1) A depiction of her unhappiness, insecurities and vulnerabilities as a result of her feelings wrt his continued devotion to ow.
(2) Of how their lives are built around his dedication to the ow, with a few concessions when it comes to certain aspects.
(3) She has NO idea of what Jake's weekly visits with ow entails
(4) Nor of the full extent of ow's illness
(5) Until she goes to see the ow, she’s unaware of the life he has built over the years with the her, her fellow housemates and the staff of her care facility

F. The ONE night the h really, REALLY needs him, he doesn’t come home but is with the ow because of various factors (Murphy’s Law? Fate? His choice?...)

G. This occurrence is the reason the h leaves Jake (albeit for a day or so), plus the combination of years of:
1) The h’s insecurities about his commitment to his ill ex-wife and the impact it has on their lives.
(Mostly she is okay with it but this time, not at all)
2) Her pregnancy (unexpected and long awaited) hormones
3) Various ups and downs within their marriage, jobs, etc.


MY FAV PARTS:
A. Jake is probably one of the sexiest and most romantic heroes I've read about in a longggg time. He's so well written. After all these years together, he still adores the heroine. Very VERY much so. He's love for her is palpable. (Almost made me accept his connection and loyalty to the ow)

B. The gorgeous cover, albeit Shutterstock stock, does our beautiful hero justice

C. The heroine is a REAL woman. Her character reflects the ordinary wife and mother with an "everyday normal”. She’s reachable, flawed and relatable. No wonder woman, cardboard cut-out kickass kinda heroine. She’s nice. Nice is good, sometimes.

D. We get a 9-years-later glimpse into the lives of the author’s other books’ MCs.


THE ICK FACTORS:
A. This book 2 is confirmation that book 1 had no solid hea.

B. His detailed retelling of their intimacy to his friends. TMI to the extreme.

C. For the past 9 years the Hxh have never discussed the ow. He tells her NOTHING of the 7 or 8 hours he spends with the ow each week. When she does eventually find out how truly devoted he is to ow, she’s hurt and jealous, again.

D. He has a LIFE with the ow. Totally apart from the h and their son. Despite his love for the h, he is 100% committed to ow. A couple of hours a week is not enough for him to spend with her. He needs a full day to be with her. He plans her week until his next visit.

E. Heroine dedicates their baby's name to ow

F. The last part of the book:
It felt…odd…off-ish…The tone changes from intense to slapstick, almost. Lotsa weird stuff happening to them, when by now I just felt they deserved a break. I wanted “normal happy” for this couple after all the negativity they’ve experienced.

G. That he will ALWAYS, ALWAYS chose the ow first. She is his FIRST priority. ( )