This is the story of Jared, a structural engineer who, in between job, comes back to his home town. While participating in the building of his father's assistant's house, he reconnects with his high school sweetheart, the one who got away and hurt him. His reluctance back in high school hurt Kat deeply and pretty much changed the course of her life, so this story is their second chance at love, following them getting past their insecurities and building their happily ever after.

This is a long, too long, book. It is filled with a lot of drama that at times makes it feel a young adult book, the characters are not very mature, at least emotionally. But they both had a traumatic past. It has a strong "real life" feeling, there is just so much stubbornness, so much insecurity from both of the characters. And the hero is more of an antihero. His reluctance an fear of being hurt is totally understandable, but there are so many rude and heartless actions and words he does and says, it was just very hard to like him.

What I do appreciate is the writing, it is a well written, complex, book, it makes you want to keep reading it. I also loved how beautifully the change in characters is shaped through their actions and how their relationships change through it all. Many of the side characters are lovely and their personalities are well built.

I thing this is a great book for anyone wanting to immerse in a long story, who loves this "real feel" and who feels close to the theme of this book.. In the end it's a beautiful soulmates kind of love story.

This book is awful. I can't believe that it's considered a romance novel. The main character and the way he talks about women is disgusting, the way he talks about his friend's girlfriend is disgusting. I ended up shelving this book after a few pages.

**3.5 Stars**

** I received a copy of the Keys to Jericho from Net Galley and BooksGoSocial in exchange for a voluntary and honest review. My opinions weren't solicited and are given willingly. **

The Keys to Jericho by Ren Alexander is a hard one to review because for the life of me I don't know how others gave it 5 stars if I struggled through the whole book wondering why Jared/Jericho was so hard for me to like. He treated his friends badly and Dad even worse so I'm sorry that bugs me a lot. Anyhow I give the book 3.5 stars and this could be that I haven't read the other books, drank a lot or just perhaps but I just couldn't connect with Jared.

Jared (Jericho) can't commit to any woman mainly because his mom walked away when he was a kid but he's a love 'em and leave 'em kind a guy. He's heading home to Baltimore to visit his dad before starting his new Structural Engineer job in Philadelphia. He'll party with his buddies Dash and Rio, his sister Hadley with boyfriend plus reconnecting his high school crush Katriona. They'll fall in love and he'll have to accept that his mom just lost out on both his kids but he can love someone and have a HEA.

I hate leaving low rated reviews so I'm giving this a 3.5 stars and hopefully when Hadley's book comes out it will be one that I like.

This is a first time read by Ren Alexander and I enjoyed the story so very much. Ren and Kat made you feel as if they were right there in your space and I love a story that gives a bit of laughter, anger, tears and joy. The intimate scenes were with great taste. I did find myself wanting to have more of this story but alas it ended. Wonderful read and looking forward to reading more from this author.