Blurb:
They say there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance.
Not everyone will grieve in this order, nor will everyone go through every stage. It’s during the stage of denial when Alex Hart meets Andrew Foster. He takes her one-step closer to acceptance: the stage when new, meaningful relationships are formed. The stage when the realization occurs that this is now the new state of normal.
Just when Alex thinks she is on her way to healing, she enters the bargaining phase. That’s the phase where you wonder what you could have done differently. You wonder “what if?” Specifically, what if the ones you loved hadn’t left you?
Leaving…this is what makes heading off to war so difficult and frightening for Alex. She knows all too well what it’s like to be the one on the losing end of life, which is why she’s made it her personal mission in life to save as many lives as possible. The extreme high she gets from treating trauma victims turns into Alex’s own form of therapy, or so she thinks.
When faced with her world being turned upside down, Alex may just find that her true therapy is in the one who has always saved her.
Excerpt
He pulls my arm back like a slingshot and as we’re gaining momentum to release the stone, I hear, “Alex!” being proclaimed through the entire neighborhood. It causes my already racing heart to speed out of control. I lose complete concentration, virtually spinning myself around as the stone is released, plummeting me into his arms, our lips just mere millimeters away from each other.
We stare into each other’s eyes. Speechless seems to be my middle name for one reason or another today. I blink. “I...”
“You can’t skip a stone to save your life, can you?” He smirks.
I breathe for what seems like the first time in five minutes and start to laugh. “No. No, I can’t.”
He brushes a piece of hair out of my eye. “You will. I’ll teach you.”
“I am not sure I’m teachable. Been trying for years with Papa.”
“Come back to me. I’ll teach you. If it’s the last thing I do...” His entire face lights up. “I’ll teach you everything I know.”
I feel him, every inch of him. I know there’s more to that statement. I must admit that I’m curious. “Everything you know, huh?”
“Everything.” He caresses my cheek, just below my eyes. “Come back to me. I’ll teach you how to deal with those beautiful tears of yours. I’ll teach you how to breathe again. I’ll teach you everything.” He looks down to his pile of rocks. “I’ll share those with you. And I’ll teach you how to skip stones. It’s a promise, and I don’t break promises.”
Review
Wow – how to not give anything away? I will try and do my best with this one.
This is my first JB McGee book read, it wont be my last!
This is Alex’s story, it ranges over an approximate 15 year period, from 1996 – 2011 ish. When we meet Alex she is 15.
This story revolves around Alex’s relationships with her parents, her grandparents and her studies, with her first love thrown in.
The emotion of this story grabbed me by the heart. As I read this story, the tears streamed for pretty much most of the book. At times, I had to move to Candy Crush, just to give my eyes time to dry out!
It takes a wonderfully emotive story to make me a crier – there have been a few, but this one, the grief and loss that Alex experiences throughout and the way JB McGee translates that, just had me. I was there with Alex. Its an emotional roller coaster that had me reliving my own grief experiences, and wondering how Alex would be able to go on.
The relationship between Alex and Drew was beautifully written, it was innocent but with enough chemistry to know it was significant – Poor Alex and Drew…. Life really isn’t fair to these two, but as with every book within this genre – there is a HEA and its perfect. There is no cliff hanger in this book, It comes with its own hard fought but picture perfect ending.
I will confess I read this book in one sitting – I started it in the evening, and at 2am, I turned the last page – it is a page turner, you keep reading to see what could possibly happen next, I had to know would Alex find happiness and start to live again?
My one critique is that I would have liked to have learnt more about Alex’s struggles to have relationships throughout her years studying – as an adult with her back story, how did she engage with others? Did she sabotage her relationships because they couldn’t compete with her memories, or did she just go through the relationship motions without ever giving herself to anyone? Alex’s story was so insular that these elements left with me wondering what her life became… this was a journey I wanted to go on with her.
That said – none of that detracts from this story – the story is complete the way it is told – JB McGee, you have a wonderful tone and style with your writing, it resonated with me to the point where I couldn’t put it down.
This story has no sex, it is a love story and ultimately a story about life after tragedy.
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| A 4 1/2 heart read |
Links
Bio:
J.B. McGee was born and raised in Aiken, South Carolina. After graduating from South Aiken High School, she toured Europe as a member of the 1999 International Bands of America Tour, playing the clarinet. While attending Converse College, an all-girls school in Spartanburg, South Carolina, she visited Charleston often. It quickly became one of her favorite vacation spots. She met her husband, Chad, during Christmas break her freshman year, and they married in 2001 and she moved back to her home town.
In 2005, the couple welcomed their first son, Noah. J.B. finished her Bachelor of Arts degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of South Carolina-Aiken in 2006. During her time studying children's literature, a professor had encouraged her to become a writer.
In 2007, she welcomed their second child, Jonah, and she became a stay at home mom/entrepreneur. In 2009, the found out their two children and J.B. have Mitochondrial Disease. In 2011, a diagnosis also was given to Chad. Please take a moment and learn more about Mitochondrial Disease. Awareness is key to this disease that has no cure or treatments.
J.B. McGee and her family now reside in Buford, Georgia, to be closer to their children's medical team. After a passion for reading had been re-ignited, J.B. decided to finally give writing a shot. Broken (This Series), is her first book and first series
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