Love Notes

Love Notes. Christina C. Jones. 2018. 269 pages. [Source: Kindle Unlimited.]

Her first night in town lands Jules in Troy’s bed for a one-night-only fling. They don’t even bother to catch each others’ names before she leaves like a thief in the night. Too bad that Mahogany Heights is only so big, and they inevitably cross each others’ paths again.

For his part, Troy has sworn off reckless behavior, so his willingness to dive into Jules is troubling. He’d been so committed to making better choices in his life that this slip-up lost him a bet — and the locs he’d been growing for a decade. At least he thought it was worth it.

Jules simply wants to establish herself in her new home by launching her photography business. It’s a homecoming of sorts for her, but she’s on a quest to take control of her life in a way that she didn’t have the last time she lived here. Even her business name — Love Notes — is a nod to her wanting to restake control over her view of love.

So when the two unexpectedly reconnect, there’s a dance of sorts about how they both planned to approach their relationship because they didn’t plan to have one. As new neighbors, they get to know each other despite pegging each other as trouble. They tend to get in their own way a lot as they work through the baggage they bring to the table, even before looking at each other as viable romantic interests. To their credit, there is a genuine desire for growth, so I appreciated getting to see them process their pasts and understand how it would impact their future.

What stands out for these two is how much of their baggage comes from growing up in broken homes; Jules’ mother effectively chose an abusive step-fatther over her while Troy spent his childhood bouncing from foster home to foster home. Throughout the book they both grapple with these relationships in such a realistic way that I was upset, angry, hurt, and broken right along with them. There are more than a few significant plot twists that come from their family experiences, most notably Troy’s somewhat reluctant search for his family. I was not expecting some of them, so I have to give Jones her props for the drama that came with these two.

The environment, as always is a significant “character” for CCJ’s books. The peripheral characters are good foils to Jules and Troy, particularly Carter and Viv of Didn’t Mean to Love You. Others are introduced here, so I’m already waiting for their stories to come in the future. The setting of this book isn’t new — the old favorites such as Urban Grind, Fresh Cuts, Pot Liquor, and B.Spoked, are still here. But Jones has christened the neighborhood Mahogany Heights, somehow managing to give it even more depth and realism than she’d established for it over her previous books.

Love Notes gets my recommendation. Getting to know these characters was a great experience, and their story was one that was compelling. The development of Jules and Troy was relatable and really kept me wanting to see them grow and resolve their personal and collective issues.