Jane Harvey-Berrick - The Traveling Man

Author: Jane Harvey-Berrick

Title: The Traveling Man (Traveling #1)

Language: English

Format: ebook

Rating: 3 stars

Reading challenge: A book by an author that shares your first or last name

No of pages: 292

Date read: 04.11.2017

Goodreads

BLURB:

"I was ordinary. Nice. He was extraordinary. And he wasn’t always nice. 

Moody and difficult, brilliant and beautiful, Kes scared me and he protected me. He could be incredibly hurtful and incredibly thoughtful. He wasn’t perfect, but he was perfect for me. He challenged me, he took me out of my safe little box and showed me the world could be magnificent. He was everything I wasn’t." 

Aimee Anderson is ten when the traveling carnival first comes to her nice little town. She doesn’t expect her world to change so completely. But meeting Kestrel Donohue puts her life on a different path. 

Even though she only sees him for the two weeks of the year when he passes through her home town, his friendship is the most important of her life. As a child’s friendship grows to adult love, the choices become harder, and both Kes and Aimee realize that two weeks a year will never be enough.

Soo... this is one a tricky one because there were parts that I actually really liked, but there were also plenty of parts that I didn't like that much. Overall it fell rather firmly in the "I like this book" box.

I loved reading about the way Kes and Aimee grew up. I adored reading about their friendship and gradually growing romantic feelings for one another. What I didn't like so much, was the way they were pulled apart for years for really silly reasons in my opinion.

I'm usually a sucker for aloof heroes (don't ask why, it's just a personal quirk I don't really get myself either), but there's also a thing called heroes who seem too aloof, too uncaring, and too secretive. Kes is one of those heroes for me. His way of keeping secrets kind of makes sense since it had been years since he last met Aimee and man, how well can you really know someone if you only meet once a year for two weeks. But on the other hand I just wish he had just talked to Aimee about his concerns and whatnot because I'm fairly certain that this cliffhanger of an ending (and the sequel) could've easily been prevented with some good old-fashioned communication.

I felt that Aimee put her heart all out while Kes simply refused to return the three words of love or even apologize when he messed things up. Communication really is the key and I don't particularly care how much you've been burnt in the past, but if someone you care about, is leaving, then man the f up just say how you feel and don't storm off in a huff. 

On the upside, I actually really liked the carnival setting. It just wasn't enough to up the rating and in the end I'm not interested in reading the sequel - The Traveling Woman.