Before Jamaica Lane: Nate POV Scenes (2)

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Synopsis

These extra scenes showcase two pivotal moments from Before Jamaica Lane rewritten from Nate's POV. They include the friends night out at Club 39 where Nate observes as Olivia uses the flirting lessons he's given her to get a guy's phone number, which is later followed by her asking Nate for sex lessons, too, and the moment when Nate breaks up with Olivia after six weeks of mind-blowing sex that has become more like a relationship to both of them.

Review

Before Jamaica Lane was written from Olivia's first-person POV, so this section of On Dublin Street: The Novellas consists of two pivotal scenes from Before Jamaica Lane rewritten from Nate's third-person perspective. In the first, Nate has already been giving Liv flirting lessons that have included kissing and now she's putting what he taught her into practice at Club 39, trying to get a guy's phone number while Nate looks on. After this encounter, he walks her home, and she asks him to give her sex lessons as well. In the second scene, Nate and Liv have been in a relationship in all but name only for six weeks, but when things start getting too real for Nate, he breaks up with her.

Although we get a pretty good picture of Nate through Olivia's eyes, there were a few times throughout reading Before Jamaica Lane that I kind of wished for Nate's perspective to know exactly what he was thinking. One of those was the pivotal breakup scene, so having it rewritten from Nate's POV was enlightening. For the most part, I had interpreted his reactions correctly, but one thing that stood out to me was how he compared losing Liv, when she said she couldn't be friends anymore because she'd fallen in love with him, to the pain of losing Alana years earlier. That very much explains why he was in such a funk after the breakup and why he pulled out all the stops to try to repair their relationship later on. I also enjoyed getting Liv's request from Nate's POV as well. It turns out I'd correctly deduced why he never pursued Olivia despite there being a strong attraction between them. But because that attraction was there and impossible to deny, he couldn't resist the pull to fulfill her request for sex lessons even though I think a part of him knew where it could lead. Overall, I very much enjoyed getting these little insights into Nate that added some new depth to his character. These scenes can be found in the anthologies On Dublin Street: The Bonus Material and On Dublin Street: The Novellas.

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Samantha Young

Themes

Book Lovers
Friends Before Lovers
Tortured Heroes