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Nice by Jen Sacks
Most people wouldn't categorize this book as a romance. And it's really not a romance. But it is a romantic novel. It is unique and it is good, and I look forward to reading more by Jen Sacks.
This book is about Grace and Sam, two people who really aren't normal and who really don't expect to find someone they can really love, but who despite the enormous odds against them, do find each other. The story is told from both of their points of view, switching back from chapter to chapter, but you don't feel weird or lost at all. It's good to know what they are both thinking and feeling as their story unfolds.
Grace is a nice girl. At least, she tries to be nice. She is unable to consider hurting other people's feelings, especially guys. And there comes a time, and a guy, when it's just too much. Grace meets a guy at a bar, and he hits on her, and she feels too bad to hurt his feelings by rebuffing him, so she takes him up on his offer to go out with him. But when she does, and she thens ends up sleeping with him, she realizes she really doesn't like him, but doesn't want to hurt his feelings by telling him she doesn't want to see him again. So she smothers him with a pillow. She puts make-up on his face and leaves him outside her apartment building to seem like just another guy in a rash of murders of homosexuals. And she gets away with it.
Sam is a hitman. He used to work for the KGB, but after the break-up of communism, he went independent. He feels absolutely no remorse for any of his killings, but at the same time, he feels alone and unique, but doesn't really realize it until he meets Grace, or rather, until he spies on her. He is testing out some new directional surveillance equipment in a bar the night that Grace meets the boy she later kills. Sam finds her intriguing, and so makes her his new test person. He follows her around, taps her phone, listens to her conversations with friends, and eventually finds the body of the dead guy outside of her apartment. At first he thinks it's just a coincidence, but then he recognizes the guy, and thinks Grace must be in danger. Then he realizes it's just too coincidental. And so he keeps following her. She kills another guy, and Sam gets more intrigued by this girl who kills and doesn't seem to be affected by it.
And then she goes out with a third guy. Sam follows them back to her place and he sees their shadows struggling in the window. By the time he gets up to her place and breaks in, the guy is dead, but she is really hurt. So he takes care of her and gets rid of the body. Grace has no idea who he is, and doesn't really think about why he was there until the next day.
And that's how their relationship starts. Two really messed up people find each other by coincidence, and through knowing each other, they come to know themselves better. Grace learns to stand up for herself much more, with both good and bad consequences. Sam learns that killing is not all he is, and that he wants someone to spend his life with who knows the truth about him but wants him anyway.
Loved this book. It's really weird, and kind of psycho, but it was good. It is definitely unique in it's choice of hero and heroine, but I think that is one of the best things about the book. I think everyone, no matter who they are, or what they've done in life, deserves to find someone who loves them, the real them. And I like watching Grace and Sam find each other.