The Whole Man was a pleasant read about two wounded people trying to get beyond their personal hang-ups to fight through on a second chance at love. Evan O’Cleary and Jesse Walsh had met and had a passionate two-day love affair. Jesse was a rising baseball player just about to make it to the majors when a family tragedy tore him apart and he abruptly abandoned Evan. He still hasn't recovered from that loss. She went on to fall into an abusive relationship from which she has just recently fled back to Southern California. There she encounters Jesse who had abandoned his chance at a major-league career in order to be a high school baseball coach.
Evan and Jesse are still very attracted to each other, but they blow hot and cold with each other. First Jesse doesn’t feel ready for a serious relationship. Then Evan finds out a highly suspicious coincidental connection between Jesse’s father and her mother. So then she isn’t ready for a serious relationship. It gets a bit irritating as each trade off on who is more insecure about getting serious beyond a bit of sex.
There’s a subplot of Evan getting ominous messages from her abusive ex that have her broken down in fear and asking Jesse to come over to her house because she is so scared. Being a good guy, he’s quick to oblige her. Then that plotline is put aside for some of their personal angst and she’ll go from unable to go home alone one night to going a few weeks without needing her own personal bodyguard. It just seems rather convenient how her fears appear and disappear. I thought that whole plotline seemed rather weak. And (SPOILER ALERT) then when her ex shows up, as you know he will, it’s all rather meh as a suspenseful moment.
What I enjoyed the most was the relationship each major character had with their friends and family members. If there are going to be follow-up books about Evan’s and Jesse’s brothers, I’d be interested in reading them.
I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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