Under the Stars with You by Jaime Clevenger is a second-chance romance between two people who don’t have time for romance but really want it. Both of them must overcome heartbreaking damage to their ability to trust.
Ty Sutherland’s time is stretched, between veterinarian school and caring for her equine family, so an online sex chat group was just the thing for a while. They fell in love with a woman who secretly liked kink as much as they did, but it fell apart when they accidentally discovered the woman’s name.
TryItOnce was fun for a while, until Leslie Brandt’s real-life identity was discovered by the person she had been experimenting with. The sexual awakening was exciting and she fell for the mysterious person, but her realtor career would suffer if it became common knowledge. She feels bad about ghosting her online lover, but doesn’t know their name to find them and apologize.
The lure of an open house batch of freshly baked cookies brings in a surprise visitor. Leslie has a chance to make it up with the person she fell for online, and a chance to unlearn a childhood terror of horses.
Writing
Getting a chance to visit a world far removed from my own life is always fun. The author gave me some up-close time with a trio of very different horses, Polaris the hot head, nervous Nellie and sweet-tempered retired athlete Archer. I totally sympathized with Leslie who is fascinated and terrified by horses at the same time. Through them, the author also introduces the long-distance horse race Tevis, which is famous to horse people but was brand new to me.
Pacing of the story is very even throughout and there are several longish passages in which the main characters explore at length how they feel about the rocky breakup that hurt them both, and how they would like to reconnect but for fear of another breakup. I got lost inside their heads for a while, and was pleased that the author didn’t go for the characters awkwardly keeping secrets until rushing through their reconnecting.
Narration
The narrator takes an already very good book to the next level. Though I was listening to the same words I had read some weeks previous, I felt even more drawn in than from words on a page. Every voice fits the character perfectly, and emotional levels in even normal dialogue is heightened by the narrator’s acting. When the action heats up the narration’s intensity spikes without large dramatic changes in tone and the voices remain distinct. I don’t know how they did that, but I was really impressed and very entertained. I’m very happy to have heard this book in spoken form, and I look forward to my next long road trip to hear it again.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
The love story between Ty and Leslie is poignant, as they grapple with a lot more than simply a missed opportunity at love and a relationship. Ty has body image issues that were painful to read about, and they’re such a great character I found myself rooting for them more than I normally do. Their story is especially pleasing because they’ve had such a difficult time finding someone who gets them. Part of the love story is their coming to love their whole self as seen through Leslie’s eyes, and it’s so heartwarming.
Secrecy is an often used way of maintaining suspense so I enjoyed reading about two characters who, after a couple of outside influenced misfires, told each other the truth right up front. As a reader that gave me the opportunity to be entertained by characters who speak deep truths to each other, having discussions about trust that we need to read more often.
Realistically I know I would be as nervous as Leslie on meeting the equine main characters, Polaris, Nellie and Archer. But they’re fantastic characters that give the book more depth than if it was just Ty and Leslie. Sport is always more fun when you have players that you know in the game. Tevis sounded grueling and amazing. I found myself wishing for even more of that part of the story.
Heads Up
There is a description of some inadvertent body shaming.
The Conclusion
Several stories converge in this second chance romance between introverted non-binary Ty and the woman they fell in love with on an online sex chat site. When they inadvertently learn Leslie’s name it shatters her trust and she leaves the chat room and Ty with a broken heart. At a realtor’s open house, Ty is drawn in by the promise of fresh baked cookies but instead finds Leslie, and maybe another shot at love.
Leslie has both a great love of horses, and fear of them instilled by an overprotective mother. Ty offers to teach Leslie how to conquer her fear, and is in turn taught how to better love their own self for the first time. Polaris, Nellie and Archer are the equine triumvirate that help lead Ty and Leslie toward trust and conquering long held fears.
Excerpt from Under the Stars with You by Jaime Clevenger
“Do you remember that group I told you about? The online anonymous sex thing?”
“How could I forget? If I didn’t have Paige keeping me happy in that department, I’d be joining that group myself. Although I’m no writer.”
“You don’t have to be a writer. It’s online sex. There’s a low bar for spelling and no grammar rules. Basically if you can type ‘I want you to suck my blanket-blank,’ you’ll have people messaging you back.”
“Love it.” Seren laughed. “And it’s queer, right?”
“Queer and mostly women.” Leslie paused. “A few trans men and some folks who are nonbinary.” She was stalling, questioning whether she really should tell Seren more. But when she’d mentioned Hitch months ago, Seren hadn’t acted weird. “There was this one person I got kind of caught up with. We were messaging all the time for a while.”
“I remember. Lots of dirty talk and tying each other up.” Seren waggled her eyebrows. “And sticking all sorts of things into all sorts of holes.”
“Shh, you.” Leslie laughed but checked to see if anyone at the other tables were looking at them. No one was, but her cheeks burned with a blush.
“Sorry.” Seren lowered her voice and added, “Was it the sticking things in holes or the tying each other up part I shouldn’t have shouted across the room?”
“It’s a good thing I love you.”
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 978-1642474398
Publisher: Bella Books
Audiobook Publisher: Tantor Audio
Narrator: Abby Craden
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