First - I am an unrepentant Bella Fan!
I thought it would be hard to leave Bella cold turkey after she freed the MC in the girls locker room and told him where the library was (beginning of CH 4)
I enjoyed the SyFy RPG session with Nadia, Nancy, Nami and Sonya (and I am looking forward to the session(s) when Cindy and/or other professors join in - some good lewd possibilities coming).
I had a great time at the lake with Nami.
The evening with Zara ended up including Bella, by phone, and the end of CH 4 saw an emotional Bella driving back (I was hoping this was to see her guy - the MC).
CH 4 had great early Bella content, great Nami and Zara content as well as some good relationship building with Nadia, Sonya and Nancy but it was definitely Not Bella-centric.
With CH 4.5, we got a BiBi story about a younger Bella and it was, honestly, vicious. It was hard to watch her get brutalized by Melanie Ceril when she was perhaps 12/13 years old.
CH 4.5 had a great focus on Victoria, Mila and Nami with some additional relationship building with Maja who is definitely Not a vanilla girl.
At the end of the CH 4.5, the MC hears a familiar rumble from a car and (I literally gave a fist pump into the air) - Bella is here and she missed the MC.
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It was a sweet, vulnerable moment where Bella showed by her actions that she missed her guy and she returned early to be with him. This is Bella who is taking a risk and letting down her guard; she's been hurt before but Maybe the MC is worth it and she is risking her heart because she wants to see what could be.
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It was a brief moment relative to all the time spent with other women in CH 4.5. This chapter was definitely about building the relationships with other women But... Ocean gave us a perfect Bella moment at the end of the CH.
I think Ocean has shown that he can 'keep the fires burning' for an LI while continuing to expand the world of Summers Gone and advance this great story.
Yes - I Am looking forward to more Bella time but I am also looking forward to building the friendships and advancing the story in Summers Gone (all with great music that I will add to one of my playlists).
Cheers to Bella and Summers Gone!