This book caught me by total surprise.  I’m a huge fan of Abbi Glines.  I love her Sea Breeze Series, Rosemary Beach Series, and Vincent Boys.  Typically, they’re fun, quick, romantic reads centered around young adults.  I didn’t even bother reading the blurb about his book before I started it.

This book is very different from her others and it blew me away.  This was a new one in her new series The Field Party.  It’s filled with your basic teenage love story, but the story around the couple is rather dark.

Here’s a general re-cap of the story.  A high school age girl who witnessed her father shoot and kill her mother comes to lives with her cousin.  She develops a relationship with her cousin’s best friend whose father is terminally ill and on hospice.

This book struck a little too close to home this week.  I couldn’t have read a better book if someone hadn’t written one specifically for me.  I’ve faced 7 deaths in the past few months, including the very unexpected and unexplained death of a 22 year boy.  And, like the characters in the story, I know a middle-aged parent of a 15 boy and 13 girl that is facing the imminent tragic end to a battle with brain cancer.

The author captured the way in which teens deal with tragedy was remarkably real.  West admits,

“My dad’s dying.  Doctors can’t do anything for him anymore.  Sent him home to just … die.  Every day I watch him fall away a little more.  further from our grasp.  Further from us.  He’s in so much pain, and there isn’t anything I can do.  I’m afraid to go to school because, what if he dies while I’m gone and I never see him again?  But then, like right fucking now, I’m afraid to go home because he may have gotten worse and then I’d have to see that.  I have to see the man I adore wasting away.  Leaving this life.  Leaving us.”

West is only comforted by Maggie’s presence.  Her simple statements seem to resonate with West,

“The end hurts … hurts like hell.”

In the midst of devastation, Maggie and West’s hearts sing to each other.  It is beautifully optimistic that they can experience a bit of peace and not be completely overwhelmed by sadness.  Their relationship transcends simple teenage hormones.  But as in all romances, there’s also the element of romantic heart break.

“… there was the way West was looking at her.  The way he never looked at me.  Like he wanted to eat her up.”

What I found most meaningful in the book was the resilience and strength of the young adults when faced with extreme tragedy.

I generally don’t set my expectations high for romance books, which is to say I’m basically looking to be entertained and not looking for classically powerful literary works.  After reading hundreds of romance books, I do have defined standards by which I determine the quality of a romance book.  This book went way beyond the typical romance book.  It struck a chord in my heart and helped me cope with the overwhelming sadness of death in my life.

 to Abbi Glines!

Synopsis: 

Samantha Lane is one of the world’s highest paid actresses, but underneath all the fame and fortune, she’s living a lie. Her love life is non-existent. Her bio is completely made up and to top it all off, she’s reached the ultimate in celebrity status. She’s got herself a stalker. Now filming a career changing movie in Ireland, she’s fighting to take back control of her life before the world finds out just what a fake she really is. Brennan O’Brien has returned to his Irish roots to raise a daughter he never knew existed and to dig the family’s pub out from the brink of bankruptcy. He has no time for spoiled actresses, lunatic stalkers or meddling friends and family, and has vowed to never give his heart to another woman. Unfortunately, he now lives in the land of magic, folklore, and hopeless romantics and will have to decide if he can resist the pull of Samantha Lane or give in to her maddening allure. Follow Sam and Brennan’s twisted path to true love, where these jaded souls test the limits of fate to find a way to come together and overcome their pasts to discover the truth about who they really are and what they really need.

*NOTE* While Worlds Apart can be read as a standalone, it is book #3 in The Sisters series.

Review

This is one of those books that puts the Happily in the Happily Ever After.

It takes a leap of faith to fall in love.  Brennan captures this so well, “She was going to break my heart, I knew it the minute I met her, but it didn’t seem to matter to me.”  The heart wants what the heart wants.

I find names to be incredibly important to a story.  I love when Brennan insists on referring to Sam as Samantha.  “Everyone else gets Sam, but I get Samantha.  I get the woman behind the brand.  I get you, all of you, and that’s only mine to have.”

The primary setting of the story takes place in a small pub in Ireland is incredibly romantic.  The way it is described conjures up images of warm homeyness.  Admittedly, it also brought back a lot of great memories of college as I used to frequent a bar, also known as Murphy’s Pub, at the University of Illinois.

Buy Links for Worlds Apart 

 to Holly Mortimer!

Holly Mortimer is a wife, mom and believer in the concept of happily ever after.  She attended Fanshawe College in London, Ontario, where she studied Music Industry Arts.  She wandered the world working in the entertainment and travel industry while filling journals with romantic short stories and heroes and heroines.  She’s finally taken the next step and published her first novel with Butterfly Publishing.

Holly lives in Stratford, Ontario with her husband and two daughters.  She enjoys reading, writing and finding the next inspiring moment to write about.

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