Review: And Then He by Kim Briggs

Book Blurb:

Mature audiences only.

AND THEN HE combines sex and evil in the most terrifying way.

The fifth year reunion. Tiffani thought she'd suck the lifeblood out of a dozen exotic locations by her fifth year reunion. She certainly didn't envision herself as a diner waitress serving giant slices of pie to diabetic townies. The best-selling author she planned to become now writing, "Hold the pickles." Yet limited funds, monstrous debt, and a high school sweetheart with big league ambitions of his own force her to set aside her own dreams. She soon discovers loneliness is a seductive mistress.Enter sexy stranger.Tiffani spends most of the reunion with Jeb, a classmate she doesn't even remember. He awakens a hunger in her that both frightens and excites her. Tiffani mistakes Jeb's lifelong obsession for love at first sight and soon finds herself a prisoner, but it's a hot, steamy trip to get there.

My Review:

4 Out Of 5 Stars

Genre: Mystery, Suspense--

​Tiffany shows up to her 5 year high school reunion alone since her boyfriend is too busy with his Minor league baseball team to be involved in anything she wants, and she feels like she has nothing to show for her life, since her dreams of being a writer have taken a back seat to her need to work a menial job to pay off bills. When the band begins performing, Tiffany is transfixed by the lead singer. When he approaches her to talk, she is blown away by how attractive he is, how in tune with her, how interesting he is. But when the night ends with her alone, and him gone, she is relieved that she can go about her life. But when a surprise encounter finds him at her diner in the middle of nowhere, it seems like fate brought him to her...​

​I have been following Kim Briggs for a while but I had not actually started any of her books​, buying them and then hoarding them for when I had some free time to read. So when I stumbled across this title, which is so different sounding (and looking!) from her teen fantasy books, I was intrigued. I ended up sitting down one afternoon to read this story and blew through the pages, not putting it down until it was over. Keep in mind that even though the cover looks like it may be a Romance novel, I would never, ever classify this book as romance. Sure, there is some lust, like and even romancing here, but this is not a romance book. This was a psychological mess of a story, with twists and surprises at every turn.

​I was so mad at Tiffany, not understanding how she could let her ​life spin so out of control and she was so weak (the part about her dog made me want to rampage, and the fact she never cared about her cell phone made me want to shake some sense into her) but then I sat and really analyzed how she got into this situation. She was lonely, stressed, tired and desperate for affection and here comes this oh so wonderful guy who caters to her every whim and seems to know all things she likes without her telling him...almost as if he is too perfect...hmm... When you have no one, it can be so easy to latch onto someone who cares so much. There were even moments where I caught myself thinking that Jeb is not a bad guy, maybe they could be happy together, regardless of his apparent obsession... and then reality would smack me on the side of my head.

I don't want to give too much away with my review, so this will be short and sweet, but this was a completely engaging, super messed up read and I sped through the pages, especially the last third of the book. It was crazy, and I had no idea how anything would end up, so I could not put down the story until I had some sort of conclusion. I liked the direction the end went, something I could never have predicted, but I did end up with some questions, but maybe that is part of the allure of the story, to leave you wondering.

Moral of the story here girls, listen to your bestie and your dog if they give you warning about someone, just saying.

This is the first book that I have read by Kim, but I can't wait to jump into her teen series Starr Fall and I look forward to any other adult psychological thriller she wants to create.

I received this title in return for my honest review.