A Review for Lost & Found (Lost & Found #1) by Nicole Williams

Posted by Jess
Release Date: May 17th, 2013
Finished Date: June 14th, 2013

Publishers: Createspace
Source: Bought

Format: e-book
Pages: 358

Buy: Amazon UK / Amazon US / The Book Depo

There’s complicated. And there’s Rowen Sterling.

After numbing pain for the past five years with boys, alcohol, and all-around apathy, she finds herself on a Greyhound bus to nowhere Montana the summer after she graduates high school. Her mom agreed to front the bill to Rowen’s dream art school only if Rowen proves she can work hard and stay out of trouble at Willow Springs Ranch. Cooking breakfast at the crack of dawn for a couple dozen ranch hands and mucking out horse stalls are the last things in the world Rowen wants to spend her summer doing.

Until Jesse Walker saunters into her life wearing a pair of painted-on jeans, a cowboy hat, and a grin that makes something in her chest she’d thought was frozen go boom-boom. Jesse’s like no one else, and certainly nothing like her. He’s the bright and shiny to her dark and jaded.

Rowen knows there’s no happily-ever-after for the golden boy and the rebel girl—happily-right-now is a stretch—so she tries to forget and ignore the boy who makes her feel things she’s not sure she’s ready to feel. But the more she pushes him away, the closer he seems to get. The more she convinces herself she doesn’t care, the harder she falls.

When her dark secrets refuse to stay locked behind the walls she’s kept up for years, Rowen realizes it’s not just everyone else she needs to be honest with. It’s herself.

The Review: “We all want to open up to someone, Rowen. The hard part is finding someone we trust enough to open up to. That person we’re not afraid to let into the darkest parts of our world.”- Jessie Walker

 This was my first Nicole Williams book, and I'm really glad that I started with this. 

Like I say in most of my NA reviews, there isn't a lot you can do in the story that hasn't already been done, but that's ok, because it worked. I started this and pretty much finished it in one go, it helped that I was on holiday at the time! 

I really NA books and I'll read pretty much all whether the story has been done or not. Lost and Found was a great little story, Rowen was hurt and damaged and she goes to work on a farm where she meets  Jessie Walker (swoon). I loved their relationship, it seemed it was an attraction from the moment they looked at each other but no insta-love! Although Rowen was a damaged person she was so strong and she just kept going and didn't take any crap from anyone. 

Nicole Williams is a really good writer and her characters and atmosphere really come through the pages and it really feels like you are right there, experiencing everything that they are. Lost and Found is a story of accepting yourself for you are, embracing the new, and throwing out the old, finding love in the unexpected places and generally just....finding yourself after feeling so lost.

Overall a very good story, with a great set of characters. Lost and Found will leave you wanting more (and thankfully there is a sequel!). If you're looking for something new, or just simply want to try something by Nicole Williams, then most definitely give Lost and Found a try, you won't regret it. I highly recommend it.

Note: This book contains adult themes and some sexual content. Suitable only for persons 17+

“Why don’t you want to know that I like you, Rowen? Why don’t you want me to tell you I’m so damn attracted to you, I almost don’t trust myself to be alone with you like we are right now? Why don’t you want to know that I care about you so much…?” -Jessie Walker