Review: The Red Fox

The Red Fox (a novella)
by Kim Hunter
Published on: 2/3/13
Published by: Lightview Media
YA Contemporary Romance

A Young Woman With A Past. Leaf has a past. A reputation that dates back three generations; but she's also strong willed and determined to keep a promise she made long ago to the only person who ever cared for her. Despite her tragic home life, and her track-record with guys, she is determined to graduate her senior year. To do so she has to wrestle with those urging her to give up. Her experience in life tells her that guys are only looking for one thing from her, but when she meets someone new who wants to know her heart and not her body she faces a challenge harder than fighting to finish school--the challenge to believe he really is different and that what he says about her inner beauty really is the truth. 
A Young Man With A Passion. Jay has a dream he is determined to follow: His love for drawing portraits and his passion to express the inner beauty he sees in others. Despite his parent's pressure that he pursue studies in the medical field, he continues to pursue his passion for drawing. But other challenges in his life are not so easy to overcome. When his school life becomes unbearable because of bullying he transfers out of New York and moves in with his aunt and uncle in a small town that feels a million miles away. It's there he plans on finishing his senior year. It's there that he first meets Leaf, the Red Fox, and everything in his life changes. 
A Teenage Romance That Can't Be Stopped. He wants to help her see her pure inner beauty. She wants to help him discover his heart of courage. Between them stands an entire senior year, led by her recent ex-boyfriend, who are determined to keep them apart. But where fear is used to separate, love is embraced to overcome.

My Rating: 3 Coffee Cups

This novella was provided to me by the author in exchange for an honest review. 

This was a short (80 or so pages) and sweet story about finding the inner strength to be who you are. Jay is a sensitive artist prone to being bullied and due to this he's been somewhat of a loner who tries to stay out of other people's way. Leaf is a confused, scared girl who despite all of her outward strength accepted what the small town thinks of her and embraces it. She has been deemed "easy" and a slut as was her mother and her grandmother before her. Instead of fighting against public opinion she goes with it until she can escape the town and it's hateful residents (including her drunken slob of a father). They meet via a cruel (yet pretty amusing) practical joke played on the newbie Jay which is essentially the catalyst for the entire story. When Leaf pretty much offers herself up on a silver platter and Jay turns down her down flat in the hopes of getting to know her instead. It's then she realizes there is something different and something important about this guy. She wants him to know her. For the first time she wants to prove to someone that she is more than hat the rumors make her out to be. Which infuriates her jock/meat-head/stereotypical bully of an ex boyfriend Berkeley. Jay sees the inner beauty in Leaf before even she does and he makes it his goal for her to see it too. He had an instant connection with her and he wants her in his life. Unfortunately, the one thing he moved to Jacksonville to get away from is the one obstacle he will have to face in order to have her. 

I loved the back story for Leaf's grandma. And Rick was definitely a pretty amusing sidekick. My only dislike with this was the rather rushed feeling of insta-love. The story was uplifting and I have to admit Berkeley's comeuppance was pretty funny. Definitely a solid debut into contemporary romance for Kim Hunter.