4.5 stars
“Erin called us soul mates, but I…I’ve always known it was more than that. It’s like we share the same soul, and when we’re apart, each half is looking for the other.”
What an emotionally intense rollercoaster of a book!
I read the whole book with my heart in my throat, either holding my breath, choked up, or in tears. My heart was literally pounding for most of the story. I read the whole book in one sitting – couldn’t put it down!
Melanie and Daniel met when they were 15-16 years old and fell in almost instant true, undeniable, unstoppable love. They know unquestioningly that they are each other’s forever. Even when tragedy strikes and their lives are forces apart, neither of them can forgot the other. Memories and thoughts of each other consume them, not allowing them to move on or truly live without the other. Melanie ends up trapped in a loveless marriage to a controlling, abusive bastard named Nicholas and Daniel ends up throwing his whole self into his career, but feeling empty the whole time inside.
“My body trembled as all the regrets of my life washed through me, my heart feeling as if it were on the verge of failing. My soul cried out to her. It had never stopped its search for her in nine years, and I could still feel her calling out for me.”
But when fate brings them together at a chance dinner party 9 years later, the moment they see each other, they both realize that neither of them ever lost the love they had for each other and they will do anything and everything within their power to fix the wrongs that happened and be together again.
“ Seeing her was like seeing a reflection of myself, a mirror of my pain, my loss, my regret. A mirror of what stirred within me now – this love that had refused to die. She had found me. I had always felt her heart calling to mine just as mine called to hers, this power bringing us together once again.”
Their big reunion was heart clenchingly beautiful!
“He stood above me, his body visibly trembling. “This is forever.” “
I loved the deep connection that they had. The pull they both felt for each other. The intensity of their love for each other was both gut-wrenching and absolutely beautiful!
The writing is beautiful, I really love this author’s style. She sucks you right into the story and into the characters minds and makes you feel everything that the characters are feeling. While I LOVED her other book, Take This Regret, I still did really really liked this one and am eagerly looking forward to whatever book she may decide to write next.
“I can’t live without you. I haven’t lived a day without you.“
Their story is told in the present day with flashbacks to their past piecing together their story.
I had issues with this story though. I didn’t like that the main reason that Melanie and Daniel were kept apart for 9 years was because of miss-communications and misunderstandings. It is kind of excused by the fact that that they were young, which they were (16-17 when the initial drama went down), but still, at that age I would have talked that issue or any other issue through with my guy. I didn’t like that they let assumptions and someone else’s words come between them without directly talk with each other about the issues.
Also, on another note, I’m not a fan of super evil bad guys who keep trying to break the main couple up, steal them away, or hurt them physically – something which both Nicholas and Vanessa did successfully. I can handle a certain amount of that in a story, but I felt it was a little too much here..
Most of the drama in this story resulted from the unfortunate results of pretty stupid actions caused by gut-wrenching grief, hurt and fear. I felt like even given all the horrible circumstances life threw at them, they should have handled the issues more responsibly.
This being said, the story was still wonderful, emotional and heart wrenching and I’m so glad I read it!!
There is a HEA ending though , but its not quite the perfect fairy tale that most romance novels have. Its bittersweet, but still beautiful. And they do end up together and happy. This I’m saying because its a very important detail to me 😛
