Reality Bites! Let's Get Lost!: Review: Demons: Jase & Cassie by R.J. Van Cleave (The MacLanes #1)

Add to Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22060831-demons

Jason “Jase” MacLane grew up surrounded by money. Being half of Anderson-MacLane Industries had its privileges and provided a rather comfortable life for Jase and his siblings. Sure his family worked hard for that money, but to the opposite sex, that’s what made Jase so damn attractive. His luck with women, and love, sucked. It took a few ex-girlfriends, and one cheating ex-wife, to cement the idea that he’d never be worth more to a woman than the amount of money he had in his bank account.

Cassandra “Cassie” Middleton grew up in a working class family, surrounded by more love than money. When her parents died, Cassie stepped in and took care of her teenage sister, while putting her own life on hold. It took one selfish ex-boyfriend, and one distant ex-husband, to prove to her that she was better suited for the role of caregiver and mother than for what she wanted most – to be desired and loved for who she was, rather than for what she did.

When Cassie buys the old Potts Farm out from under Jase, the compost hits the fan, and then the sparks fly. Cassie sees Jase as more than a means to financial security, and Jase see Cassie as more than a mom and a provider. However, the demons from their past relationships prevent them from seeing themselves for who they really are. It will take trust, perseverance, one hell of a wild ride, and the willingness to risk it all, just one more time, to find the love they both deserve. Sometimes, you just need to find the right person to help you drive out your demons…

Okay, so I went into this thinking it was going to be a sweet love story set in the country and it is but there is so much more happening than a romance.

Cassie moves to a home in the country in a bid to escape the LA lifestyle. She is a divorced mother of gorgeous twin girls and has plans to turn her little patch of land into a sustainable organic business.

The McLane family live next door and unbeknownst to Cassie, the eldest son Jase was the other bidder on the house she bought. He is pissed that he was outbid and full of attitude when they finally meet. He had a bad experience with his ex-wife and has already made up his mind about the sort of person Cassie is. What he wasn’t expecting was to be completely attracted to her and the feelings she evokes in him.

Cassie is blown away by the attitude and arrogance of Jase McLane. Who the hell does he think he is?! Most annoyingly, why does he have to be so damn good looking and make her feel things she hasn’t for a very long time.

Jase was molten chocolate lava cake that was all gooey and yummy and decadent, in fact, that it made you want to lick the plate.

At this stage I was anticipating a slow building sweet love story between these two with lots of sweet moments of interaction between Jase and the twins, Sophie & Julie. There is a bit of that but I think there could have been so much more.

Both of them carry around their own demons. Jase has huge trust issues and he is slowly coming to learn through spending time with Cassie that there are nice women in the world. Cassie too has her own issues, her self esteem is completely shot after she feels like she failed to get her ex-husband to love and want her, she wasn’t enough for him. What man could possibly find her attractive, especially Jase, he is every woman’s walking wet dream.

To me this would have been enough of a plot for a romance story but for some reason some other shady characters and events were interjected into this story and I felt like they were not necessary, they gave the chance for Jase to show his heroic side but didn’t really add to the overall story.

The story felt a little bit rushed towards the end and some moments that could have been really beautiful moments were just touched on. As a reader I really wanted to feel these moments but was left wanting more.

I give this 3.5 stars