The Girl Most Likely To... Review

Kat Cavanaugh’s first sixteen years of her life in Persuasion, West Virginia weren’t exactly what fairy tales are made up of. She lived in an abusive home her whole life and it’s never been easy for her growing up. After becoming pregnant with her boyfriend’s baby at only sixteen, Kat didn’t know what to do. It didn’t help that before she could even tell her boyfriend the news, he dumped her. Instead of having two loving parents to run to, Kat’s father was too busy having sex with the governor’s wife and Kat’s mother kicked her out onto the street.

Somehow Kat came upon a kind man while hitchhiking who set her up in a nice home with a woman named Phyllis who took Kat in, no questions asked. Kat raised her son Aidan with the help of Phyllis and if it wasn’t for her maybe Kat wouldn’t have turned out as great as she has.

Now the time has come for Kat to return home to West Virginia and to face the father of her child, Riley Bohland. There’s just one little problem. It’s been twenty years and Riley has no idea that he even has a child! Kat is trying to be open and honest about everything in her life and the first step is introducing her now twenty year old son to the father he never knew. What will happen when Kat and Riley meet for the first time again after being apart for so long? Will Riley hate Kat for what she’s done by keeping Aidan a secret or will their love reignite and pick up right where they left off?

THE GIRL MOST LIKELY TO is a heart warming, emotional, extremely well written, romance novel that does not read like your typical romance. After reading the back cover and discovering this was another ‘’small town girl returns to her home town to win back the guy and show him how great she is now’’ type story, I wasn’t exactly thrilled. But upon reading a couple chapters into the book I quickly realized this is not anything like those other stories that I’ve read.

The main character isn’t back in town because she wants to show off her new skinny body. She’s there to tell her ex boyfriend that she had his baby twenty years ago and that he’s a father. The moral dilemmas of whether Kat did the right thing by not returning to town sooner to tell Riley about his son are what gives this book so much depth. At first I hated Kat for what she did but upon learning about her childhood and what Aidan would be exposed to, I understood and felt she made the right decision.

Kat’s past is slowly uncovered piece by piece as she remembers all of the details of her childhood. With so much trauma she has shut the memories out of her mind, but with returning to her old home, everything is coming back to her and it’s not pleasant. I think Susan Donovan did an excellent job with balancing the emotional trauma, the romance, the heart break and everything. The story reads more like women’s fiction then a regular romance novel so be aware that this isn’t a funny, laugh your ass off kind of book. Overall I was deeply moved by Donovan’s writing and would highly recommend this book to all readers who enjoy a great story.