by Winter Renshaw
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Published by: Amazon Digital
Genre: New Adult
Rating: 3.75 Stars
The name on the screen was “Absinthe.”
But I knew her as the sultry voice blowing up my phone for late night chats about Proust and Hemingway interspersed between the filthiest little … mutually satisfying exchanges ... I'd ever experienced in my life.
We’d never met.
Until the day she walked into my office, her cherry lips wrapped around a candy apple sucker and an all too familiar voice that said, “You wanted to see me, Principal Hawthorne?”
Halston Kessler is an 18-year-old senior, newly transferred to her Uncle's school district after a tumultuous upbringing. Her parents were drug addicts who had a meth operation in their basement for much of her life. She went without food and heat and basic human love for many years before her uncle was forced to take her in. Although she now has a place to stay, she doesn't fit in with her perfect cousin or her aunt and uncle who find her rough around the edges.
Enter Ford Hawthorne, the new principal at school. He's in his late 20's intent on growing his career in education, not his love life. He decides that since he's new in town, he'll try a dating app called Karma. He never intends to meet any of the women on the app - he's simply looking for a little anonymous fun. He ends up "meeting" an interesting woman who goes by the handle, Absinthe.
They spend time discussing books and sexting, progressing into a relationship neither of them saw coming. Ford ends it once he learns they've crossed the line from flirting to having real feelings for one another, as it's not what he needs in his life. He also doesn't want to hurt her, as he's never been good at commitment. All bets are off, however, when Halston walks into Principal Hawthorne's office and recognizes his voice.
This was one of those books that I really loved up to a point and then wanted more from 3/4 of the way through. I've struggled to rate it. On the one hand, I loved the concept (the student in question was almost 19), the deep discussions Absinthe and Kerouac had via the dating app, the natural tension, and the feelings between them. On the other, I felt the ending was contrived, that Ford basically used her for angry sex near the end and made her cry, and that there were years of repetitive exposition I could have done without. The scene in which Halston asks Ford to have sex with her is a tough one for me. While it was consensual, he did things to her that he knew she wouldn't be comfortable with which in my opinion, made it non-consensual to a point. It just bothered me.
That said, I would try another book by this author. Have you tried one? What did you think?
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