Someday Girl by Melanie Shawn

Someday…
For Cat Nichols, someday was finally here. Going away to college meant a fresh and new start for the girl who lived locked away in a prison of insecurities. She was ready to experience new things and meet new people. But she wasn’t ready for him…
Jace Butler had experienced things that no person should have to. Trying to come to terms with his past and live in the present was a constant struggle for the man whose demons lie dormant beneath the skin of his rippling body and sexy smile. But when she walked into his life, the chance for a better life came with her…
After finding each other, Cat and Jace also find that both past and present issues are trying to ruin their chance for a better future. Issues that will have to be dealt with for once and for all…together or apart.

What an incredibly powerful, beautiful story that touched my emotions on all levels.
Yes, it is different from the once Melanie Shawn has written before, but no less vivid or fierce.
Cat is such a fun and witty character. Even though, or maybe because, she sees herself as ugly and socially awkward, she won my heart from the page one. I adore the 'list' she had in her head, and her pi poems.
Jace is an ex-marine, very task oriented, 'here and now' type of person. Until he meets Cat, who wins his heart and mind with the first look.
Both Cat and Jace have had a turbulent, abusive childhood in their own way. They had to learn to fend for themselves early on. They both have wounds that will take time to heal, false truths that will take time to unlearn. The way they take down the protective layers of their hearts and past, revealing the hurt and abuse themselves faced, you can feel their pain, the hurt they carry inside.
Together they are so sweet and adorable, it took my breath away. The development of their feelings and relationship, how the trust is built between them, is intense and raw.
When Jace's past came to cause problems in the present, it was heartbreaking. How Natalya and Cat's mom mirror each other, was eerie, suddenly making it seem that, what Cat and Jace had to deal with in the past, wasn't so different at all.
Melanie Shawn writes some of the best 'girlfriends' I've read, and they deliver here as well. The Andy girls and Evelyn are loving, caring, protective, and how they introduce life to Cat is endearing. And Annabel is my new hero!!  Charismatic cast of characters all around in the story, well, except Natalya, who doesn't get any sympathy points from me, either.
Jace and Cat's story will continue in the future books, but the ending was satisfactory for this part of the story, where their relationship stands now.
The story is told in first person, by both Cat's and Jace's point of view.
Don't shy away from the book because it is in the New Adult genre, I'm glad I didn't.
When a story has you smiling, laughing out loud, in tears, and hurting from the pain the characters feel, I wish I had more than five spoons to give ~ this powerful story just set the bar very high!

The book's publishing day is today, you can one-click download it from the link below
I received a copy of this book from the author for honest and fair review.

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Someday Girl (The Someday Series Book 1)