Book Review – Lost To You (Take This Regret #0.5) by AL Jackson

*happy sigh* I loved this!! Absolutely fantastic!

AL Jackson is one of the most talented authors I’ve ever read. Her words have a way of reaching deep into your heart and not letting go.

I have to say that overall, between this beautiful novella and the heart-wrenching yet uplifting novel “Take This Regret“, Christian and Elizabeth’s journey remains one of my all-time favorites love stories.

This book is the prequel story to Take This Regret that tells the story of Christian and Elizabeth meeting and falling in love with each other.

Overall, its the story of young love, a mistake, a regret, and a second chance at love but just the way its written speaks straight to your heart.

I truly love stories that aren’t perfect – where the characters make mistakes, learn from them, trip and fall down but make it back up even stronger than before.

For those of you who have not yet read this or Take This Regret, please note that I would actually advise reading Take This Regret first. Despite this being a prequel to it, I personally loved knowing where Christian and Elizabeth’s story went before reading this – it somehow gave it a lot more meaning. So, if you haven’t yet read Take This Regret, I would suggest starting there. Its on my exclusive 6-star book list. That book touched my heart on so many levels, I can’t even begin to explain it.

That being said, you could also easily start with this book on its own. It does work either way 🙂

I really want to emphasize how much I LOVE AL Jackson’s writing style. Like seriously. With all my heart. I opened the first page of this book and literally just breathed this huge deep calming happy sigh because I just KNEW I was about to start a BEAUTIFUL book. There is just something about the way she writes that just projects the most intense emotions right onto you from the page. Its an all consuming experience and I love every minute of reading her books.

This story basically follows Elizabeth and Christian – young, in school and falling so sweetly in love. It was just adorable beyond all reason to watch them slowly give into their intense feelings for each other! It was perfectly paced, made my heart flutter and had me grinning for pages on end.

“I was in love with Christian. Completely.
There was nothing I could do about it, no way to take it back. It was there, strong, interwoven and beating with my heart.”

But its not all happy – there are a lot of tension that we begin to see the root of here that end up building to the events at the beginning of Take This Regret. We get incredible insight into Christian and you begin to understand his later choices more. The tension is largely external but its part of what shaped the characters into the people they were and influenced their decisions.

The story is told in alternating POVs so we really get the complete picture and a deep understanding of what each character was going through.Honestly, my heart went out to Elizabeth (who, incidentally, is one of my favorite heroines) and my heart went out to Christian (who you really just can’t help but fall for). I love them both so much.

Take This Regret is a second-chance love story so we know going into this read that something happens to tear them apart so there is also a measure of dread when reading because you *know* what is going to happen. But you should know that this book ends on a HAPPY note!!! It was really the perfect place to end it and the book left me with a warm fuzzy feeling … and also the intense desire to go and reread TTR.

This isn’t a full length book… I’d describe it more as a “book-like novella“. It only took me a few hours to read but was long enough that I had the time to really connect to the story.

I can’t recommend this highly enough!! With all my heart, I love this story ♥

Happy reading!

Buy TAKE THIS REGRET on Kindle
Buy LOST TO YOU on Kindle

Here’s MY REVIEW of TAKE THIS REGRET.
Unfortunately it was written in my pre-blogging days and isn’t as in depth as some of my more recent ones but just know that I. LOVED. THAT. BOOK. so so SO much !!!

Teaser snippet from Lost To You

“So how’s your math class going?” Christian wiped a napkin over his mouth, sat back in his chair with a satisfied sigh as he pushed his plate away. Completely casual, he appeared to be unaware of the chaos he created in me.

“Okay, thanks to you.”

A smirk pulled at his mouth.

“What would you do without me, Elizabeth?”

“Oh, I don’t know, find another cute boy to help me with math,” I said, anticipating his reaction if I teased him a little.

For a flash, his eyes narrowed, then a dangerous grin spread across his face.

“So I’m just dispensable, huh? Easily replaced?” He hunched and lowered, pressed his chest into the table to meet me at eye level, this slow playfulness coming across him. “How about I let you fail next time?”

“Well how about I feed you the wrong answers when we study for our next government test?” I countered.

He faked a disbelieving laugh, a gentle ribbing that twisted its way straight to my heart. He was so cute like this, like a harmless boy and not the man who made me fearful, not the one who urged me to hold onto my affections, careful not to let them go.

“You’re going to feed me the wrong answers, huh? You?” he challenged.The entire meal I’d felt his leg stretched under the table, reaching, giving in to casual brushes, then receding as if they hadn’t happened.

Now Christian abruptly extended his leg, wove it between my legs, direct and bold. My breath caught. It was the closest we’d ever come to an embrace.

I averted my gaze, but couldn’t for long because I could feel him staring at me.

His voice dropped. “You, sweet Elizabeth, the most innocent girl I know, is going to feed me the wrong answers? I bet you’ve never even told a lie.”

Heat flooded my face.

He was taunting me, prodding. Is that what he really thought of me? Innocent? But honestly, I guess I was. Well maybe not innocent. . .just inexperienced. I had no idea how to play Christian’s games, no idea of what the girls he surrounded himself with were like, although I could only imagine. It had to be my greatest disadvantage. Vulnerability oozed from my consciousness, and I shifted in discomfort.

Christian could devour me whole.

His expression shifted as he edged even closer, his voice a whisper, “Just how innocent are you, Elizabeth?”