Valerie’s Verdict: The Dixon Brothers Book 2


The night before they started the ninth grade, 15-year-old Brad Dixon and Valerie Flynn hid a box full of their hopes and dreams with a pact that they will open it together in 15 years. With Valerie moving, Brad also left a promise in that box: he will always be there for her. Ten years later, Valerie is in an abusive relationship with another man that ends with her thrown off a balcony and her ex behind bars for ten years.  Not only did that man shatter her body, but he shattered her soul and beliefs as well. Brad makes good on his promise, and helps her make a fresh start with a new job at his company. Valerie struggles with everything she has gone through, and is left to wonder if a soul can ever fully heal. 

“Valerie’s Verdict” is a heart-wrenching novel that covers immensely difficult concepts in a beautiful and hopeful way. One cannot help but ache for Valerie and her struggles that she has gone through. In terms of characterization, it was very challenging connect emotionally to Valerie as a character the way she was written. One will feel absolute sympathy for the awful torment she endured, but her redemption seems entirely too fast-paced for trauma she went through. Additionally, the novel jumps forward in time at certain points, and one has to assume how much time has passed which can really pull the reader out of the scene the author has built. However, one will find Hallee Bridgeman tugging on their heartstrings with her deeply moving novel!

Jen Griffin