Mel Walker

White Collar Blues

Candyce Kirk

2.5 stars
First of all, thanks to the author for sending me an ARC of White Collar Blues.
After reading the novella Somebody's Heartbreak, I was excited to read something new from this author.
To be honest though, I'm still not sure how I am going to rate this story. While I ended up really loving these characters and hoping they would get their happily ever after, it took me a big part of the book to even connect to these characters. I'm not sure if it's because they're a lot older than me and in another phase of their life or just the story, because I didn't always feel it.
Justin has been working for almost 30 years at the same company and is a man of routine. So much so, that he doesn't even realize his wife may need other things from him. When Leslie tries to surprise him with something, he doesn't have the five minutes to see what she has thought of.
Leslie is at a point in her life where she is finding herself again. After being a stay at home mom, she is back to following her dream - custom made frames. Their son is off to college, so she needs to find her away again.
That's when things were a bit weird for me. While I get that they both are finding their new ways without their son at home, they were really living two different lives. When Justin found out about maybe losing his job, because the company was changing ways, telling Leslie wasn't his first thought.
Leslie knows her business partner is flirting, but doesn't really stop it until he kisses her and she has to. And maybe only because Justin saw it happen? I am not a fan of cheating, not even in stories, so I was happy this didn't go too far.
Learning about their jobs and the works of the companies was interesting and me enjoy the ending so much more. Justin is actually really smart and I think without a lot of the infortmation, the ending wouldn't be so satisfying, I think it took over too much of the book at times.
I would've loved to have a little more focus on Justin and Leslie's relationship. We read about the struggles, but it's fixed pretty fast at the ending. I missed more of their thoughts and feelings and maybe even more of the struggles.
Like I said, I ended up loving the characters and how it ended, but had a hard time connecting.

White Collar Blues

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