When I'm Gone by Jaxson Kidman

CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE

Publication date:05/1/2018
Kindle Unlimited: Yes
Cliffhanger: No

This is a weird one for me to rate, because there were a bunch of things that bugged me, but yet I still liked it. I’ll start with the good.

Here’s what I loved:

1. This was a super emotional read about two characters who both had interesting, complex backstories, and the backstories never got boring. The pacing was handled perfectly.
2. When Kace fell for Sienna, he was all in. It terrified him, but once he came to terms with his feelings, he was pretty much the perfect book boyfriend.
3. Kace and Sienna were super cute together. Their dialogue was adorable, and often really funny.
4. The bromance between Kace and his friend Mack was also a lot of fun.
5. The sex scenes were HOT HOT HOT. And did I mention HOT???

Now for the not so glowy stuff:

1. Kace saved Sienna 4 times in this book. 4 times. That seemed really excessive. I would’ve liked to see Sienna save herself at least once.
2. Sienna was suffering from some pretty serious depression and suicidal tendencies. I would’ve liked to see her check herself into a treatment center. Since she didn’t ever go get help on her own, I think the author was kind of implying that it was Kace’s love that “fixed” her and made her healthy again.
3. There were some formatting errors and what looked like “find and replace” errors in the book that got irritating after a while. (The word “carried” showed up as “Cassied”, which made me think that at one time, there was a character named Cassie in the story who was written out via “find and replace” and the word “carried” was a casualty. That’s just my theory, though.)
4. Kace and Sienna’s relationship bordered on instalove. It wasn’t true instalove, but there was an immediate “pull” between them that was toeing the line of instalove a bit.   
5. The dude on the cover was NOT AT ALL what I pictured for Kace. Maybe that’s on me, but it bugged me a little. And I noticed that the same cover model was on a lot of the author’s books. He’s a great looking dude, but he can’t possibly look like ALL of your characters, can he?    

But, even with the not so glowy stuff, I still really enjoyed this one and found myself super invested in Kace and Sienna’s happily ever after. I’d read more from this author, and at the end of the day, what better recommendation is there than that?

Does this book contribute to or help crush the romance stigma?
It’s clean and sober. No rehab needed.

Other reading suggestions
For another super emotional read about a FANTASTIC book boyfriend who comes along and rescues the heroine in her darkest hour, try the Aly Martinez classic, The Fall Up. And also, Emma Scott’s All In will hit you right in the feels.  ​

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