seriously romantic: chaos and control by season vining

when wren hart blows back into the tiny town of crowley, kansas she's not sure what kind of homecoming she'll receive. she's been gone three years and her only contact with her sister, bennie has been a series of postcards. she shouldn't be surprised to discover that her apartment has been rented out and her old job filled. but her replacement, preston charles, couldn't be more fascinating if he tried.

in chaos and control, it's pretty clear early on that wren is the chaos and preston is the control. he suffers from some pretty severe ocd. and we see how the disorder both controls him and how he uses routine and repetition to keep his anxiety under control. wren steamrolls her way into his orbit, and once she is there he finds that he likes having her there. and that somehow, in spite of her propensity for chaos, she quiets his overactive mind. and when he's with her he finds a measure of peace that he's never really known.

wren has secrets and so do bennie and preston. and there's a moment when the secrets nearly destroy everything that these characters have been building up to. but love is stronger than that. pain and hurt and anger and betrayal are the lows, but the rush of elation, the sweetness of forgiveness, the thrill of passion, those are the highs. preston and wren do their best to experience all of it.

one of the things that i really liked about this story is how it is framed. told in third person limited from wren's point of view, each chapter ends with a poem written by preston that gives us insight into his psyche. you get such a clear picture of him and where he is at emotionally. it lets us see how he sees wren, and it's perfect because so much of her time is spent describing all the little things that make preston so unique.

**chaos and control will publish on december 11, 2017. i received an advance reader copy courtesy of netgalley/entangled publishing (embrace) in exchange for my honest review.