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A review by lmrivas54
What He Always Knew by Kandi Steiner
5.0
Excellent rendition of a love triangle! Full of angst, this book took me through a wringer, kept me guessing who would Charlie finally choose. I knew I had my favorite and my reasons for why I preferred him, but there’s no knowing who the author would end up with.
In the previous book, we had seen a Charlie devastated by her husband’s abandonment. After the death of their twin sons upon birth, they had drifted apart, each one torn by their own agony and they never supported each other. Cameron submerged himself in work, working long hours and leaving Charlie on her own. Charlie tried many times to revive her marriage but she received way too many rejections.
Enter Reese, who lost his parents and sister in a shooting massacre in Central Park. Forever marked by his loss and his lack of maturity, he fell into a downward spiral, but eventually made it out. He moved to Mount Lebanon, where he had lived until he was twenty-one, in search of home, of history, of whatever could give him solace. He found it in Charlie and her parents. He’s working in the same exclusive school as Charlie. They were childhood friends and Charlie always had a crush on him. They connected in the previous book, because he gave Charlie the love, devotion and attention she craved. He got the piece of home he was needing. However, things got to a close in the book, where Cameron asked for two months, in which he would try to win the love of his wife back. Charlie accepted against her wishes, but respecting their history of eight years of marriage. Then we got a huge surprise when Blake suddenly appeared, and we learn that she was Reese’s girlfriend. Talk about an explosive ending!
This book has the same atmosphere as the previous one. It’s heartfelt and lyrical, slow pace but wonderful description of what the characters are going through. We see Cameron as he struggles to overcome his limitations: he has a hard time talking and communicating his feelings. He starts counseling and dealing with his childhood traumas which made him feel worthless and unlovable. I loved this character because he was all love and generosity. He could act a little jerky at times but it was from frustration, with himself and his situation and his guilt. He was selfless in his love for Charlie.
Reese was in a pickle. His girlfriend from New York arrived to live with him at his house. He was an idiot; he didn’t break things with her because since their relation was so casual, like friends with benefits, he thought that when he left and she decided to stay in New York it would be over by tacit decision. Then her father was taken to a hospital in Pittsburg, gravely ill with cancer, and she rushed to him for support and a place to live. When he was so destroyed after his family’s death, she was the one who helped him, prevented him from hitting rock bottom, and shored him up until he was better. At this time, he could not turn his back on the only friend he had left and who needed him as much as he needed her way back when. So he was stuck with Blake living with him, and scared spitless what Charlie would think when she learned about Blake.
Charlie spent all the book wavering between her love for Cameron and her love for Reese. I felt for her because each one brought something to the relation and she loved them both. Making a decision which one she would choose was really hard. When she learns about Blake, it was like a volcanic eruption. I loved that she was very gutsy and angry at Reese, she really kicked his ass. I liked that she started asking for things from both of them, for respect and attention, even when she alternatively disappointed both. This book wrings your heart because you can see both men love Charlie with all their heart and their beings, and one of them will be desolated at some point. And there was a plot twist at the end that really made it more wrenching. Needless to say, I loved this book, it was a great emotional journey.
In the previous book, we had seen a Charlie devastated by her husband’s abandonment. After the death of their twin sons upon birth, they had drifted apart, each one torn by their own agony and they never supported each other. Cameron submerged himself in work, working long hours and leaving Charlie on her own. Charlie tried many times to revive her marriage but she received way too many rejections.
Enter Reese, who lost his parents and sister in a shooting massacre in Central Park. Forever marked by his loss and his lack of maturity, he fell into a downward spiral, but eventually made it out. He moved to Mount Lebanon, where he had lived until he was twenty-one, in search of home, of history, of whatever could give him solace. He found it in Charlie and her parents. He’s working in the same exclusive school as Charlie. They were childhood friends and Charlie always had a crush on him. They connected in the previous book, because he gave Charlie the love, devotion and attention she craved. He got the piece of home he was needing. However, things got to a close in the book, where Cameron asked for two months, in which he would try to win the love of his wife back. Charlie accepted against her wishes, but respecting their history of eight years of marriage. Then we got a huge surprise when Blake suddenly appeared, and we learn that she was Reese’s girlfriend. Talk about an explosive ending!
This book has the same atmosphere as the previous one. It’s heartfelt and lyrical, slow pace but wonderful description of what the characters are going through. We see Cameron as he struggles to overcome his limitations: he has a hard time talking and communicating his feelings. He starts counseling and dealing with his childhood traumas which made him feel worthless and unlovable. I loved this character because he was all love and generosity. He could act a little jerky at times but it was from frustration, with himself and his situation and his guilt. He was selfless in his love for Charlie.
Reese was in a pickle. His girlfriend from New York arrived to live with him at his house. He was an idiot; he didn’t break things with her because since their relation was so casual, like friends with benefits, he thought that when he left and she decided to stay in New York it would be over by tacit decision. Then her father was taken to a hospital in Pittsburg, gravely ill with cancer, and she rushed to him for support and a place to live. When he was so destroyed after his family’s death, she was the one who helped him, prevented him from hitting rock bottom, and shored him up until he was better. At this time, he could not turn his back on the only friend he had left and who needed him as much as he needed her way back when. So he was stuck with Blake living with him, and scared spitless what Charlie would think when she learned about Blake.
Charlie spent all the book wavering between her love for Cameron and her love for Reese. I felt for her because each one brought something to the relation and she loved them both. Making a decision which one she would choose was really hard. When she learns about Blake, it was like a volcanic eruption. I loved that she was very gutsy and angry at Reese, she really kicked his ass. I liked that she started asking for things from both of them, for respect and attention, even when she alternatively disappointed both. This book wrings your heart because you can see both men love Charlie with all their heart and their beings, and one of them will be desolated at some point. And there was a plot twist at the end that really made it more wrenching. Needless to say, I loved this book, it was a great emotional journey.