The Book Hammock (Eleanor)

I'm very excited about this story. When I start a novella, I know in advance that it won't be all encompassing, emotionally, details-wise and there is almost never a sense of completion when reading is over. I'm excluding series related novellas here. The Story Guy is everything a traditional novella isn't. I enjoyed it pretty much from the first page turn. I'm going to say absolutely nothing about the plot. This might prove to be a little challenging. I loved Carrie and felt very much what she was feeling at that point in her life as I was reading the book. She's smart, driven, loves her job, witty, has many friends and a family who love her. But she chooses the comfortable option to life. Up until a certain point, I got the sense that in order to take a risk, something drastic has to happen, emotionally most likely. Then we have Brian. Brian is perfect. Absolutely perfect, flaws and all. He chooses to close himself off and limits his life and while he has a very good reason for it, he does know what he needs to get through his challenges and goes for it. I giggled and laughed and swooned, oh how I swooned, and I felt my heart clench more than once. There are some very intense moments in the story, that made me feel so happy for Carrie and Brian, while so sad for the circumstance they're in, my guy was flip flopping with so many emotions. Beautiful, beautiful story. I'm definitely looking forward to more from Mary Ann Rivers. Thank you NetGalley and Loveswept for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.