Title: Pull Me Close
Author: Sidney Halston
Series: Panic #1
Realistic and unpredictable if a bit dramatic
I would like to thank Sidney Halston, Loveswept, and Penguin Random House for allowing me to read this novel in exchange for an honest review.
Nick Moreno is beyond annoyed when a woman passes out in his club. He takes her home, makes sure she’s all right, and figures he’ll never see her again. But Katherine Wilson can’t stand to have him think of her as a junkie and finds motivation in convincing him she’d had a panic attack, not been high on drugs. Fascinated, Nick’s drawn to her beauty and her courage, and determines to support her as she struggles to overcome her disorder and rediscovers what it is to live—and love.
I loved that this book dealt with mental illness, and quite accurately, in my opinion. I would have loved it more if Katherine’s anxiety had simply been a matter of unbalanced brain chemistry and hadn’t been instigated by a major trauma in her past. I’ve read the PTSD story before and was disappointed when I learned of Katherine’s history. I want to see the happily-ever-after of someone whose brain just doesn’t think rationally, a story that presents arguments for nature versus nurture.
As someone who’s life has been hindered by moderate anxiety and recurring depression, I related to Katherine quite a bit, and I admired her determination to get back out in the world. I know how difficult it is. I’m not sure I connected to Nick, but I liked him well enough and was pleased to see his mood improve as he fell in love with Katherine. It was so realistic when they came to odds about her recovery progress; on some level he thought she’d be cured one day, and she believed she could only get better to a certain point. By the end he realized she would battle anxiety every day and not always win, and she realized she shouldn’t shortchange her own efforts to get better. It was also realistic how they entered their relationship. I don’t mean that she passed out in his club and he personally saw her home without calling 9-1-1 as he should have done. I mean that they weren’t particularly interested in each other at first, then after talking a few awkward times, they began to have text conversations and flirt, which eventually became friendship, attraction, and love. No love at first sight or instant flaming lust. *eye roll*
So I liked the plot, but not the climax so much. It was unnecessarily dramatic, I thought (though sadly not hard to imagine these days). I can see how it might have made sense, how it fit, but I would have been happy with what I expected—for Katherine to force herself to take the elevator to the ground floor and have something happen that traps her in there, sending her on a relapse that reset her back at square one. I’m not sure how the resolution would have worked out, but that’s what I kind of wish would have happened. However, I did appreciate the unexpected events. I don’t mind an unpredictable story that proves me wrong.
I have a few nit-picks. I got a little frustrated with Nick because it took him so long to ask why Katherine had so many phobias. If I met someone like Katherine, I’d find myself wondering pretty quickly why she was like that, if something had happened to her or if that’s just how she was. Next, I found it odd that there was never any mention of Katherine’s neighbors. She couldn’t have had the whole floor of the apartment building to herself or the elevator would have let directly into her apartment and there wouldn’t have been a hallway. Lastly, I laughed when Nick said the emergency stairwell didn’t have functioning lights. Seriously? That had to be a building code violation or something. He waxed poetic about showing the authorities he was a responsible businessman, and he didn’t have lights in the stairwell?
As for the writing style, I didn’t care for it. That’s not to say it was bad, but it didn’t seem polished or sophisticated. Halston told a great story, but the prose lacked an artistic flare in my opinion.
Overall I enjoyed this book and wouldn’t say no to reading more of her work.
