Callahan, Tess. April & Oliver. Grand Central Publishing, 2009. ISBN 978-0446540599 336 pp. $

April’s brother’s funeral brings her childhood friend and soulmate Oliver back to town, and their shared history strains Oliver’s relationship with his fiance.

Oliver has always been a little too goody shoes for April’s bad boy preferences, and there is a lot of “right place, wrong time” that those suffering from unrequited love will be able to relate to–lots of sizzling and palpable longing.

The writing is lovely, though the symbolism and use of dreams as metaphor sometimes a little obvious/over the top. The character development is strong–this is much more of a character driven book than anything else, but there are plenty of suspenseful action scenes that balance out the thoughtful, more reminiscent passages. I started it thinking there were only two ways it could end, and the author surprised and delighted me, and left me wishing there were more.