Reading Write Now: Living Again by LL Collins with Giveaway

Living Again has been reviewed by Iva Readit for Kota's Book Kollection

Synopsis

Kayley Carson thought she had it all--married to the love of her life, a great job, and a baby on the way. Then one day, her life changes forever when she loses her husband in a tragic accident. No longer sure how to navigate life after her enormous loss, Kayley clings to her newborn baby, her family, and her friends to keep herself living.

When she meets someone that challenges her belief that she's better off alone, she has to decide if she is capable of letting him in after swearing she was never going to love anyone the same way again.

She's not the only one with a painful past. He is struggling with trust issues after a previous relationship went horribly wrong. After a terrible misunderstanding brings out both of their insecurities, will the painful memories of the past keep them both from living again?

Excerpt

He realized he was still standing in the same place, watching where Kayley had since gotten onto the elevator and left the hospital. He blew out a big breath and turned to walk down the hallway when he practically ran into the girl that had been with Kayley downstairs in the ER.

A wide smile played on her lips as she recognized him. “Hello,” she said, looking into the room where Kayley had been and realizing that he was standing right outside it.

“Hi,” he said, keeping eye contact even though he was embarrassed that she seemingly caught him standing there outside the room. “You are Kayley’s friend, right?”

“Emily,” she said, holding out her hand. He took it and shook her hand, seeing the mischievous look in her eye. She was a beautiful woman herself, but he didn’t feel anywhere near the same as he did when he looked into Kayley’s eyes. “Did she leave already?”

He felt caught, knowing that she knew that was why he was standing there but not wanting to outright admit that he was keeping track of Kayley. Well, he was. “Oh uh, yeah, I think she left a few minutes ago.”

Emily laughed, breaking the silence of the hospital hallway. “Really,” she started, putting her small hand on his forearm. “Don’t stand here and pretend that you aren’t up here for Kayley and that you don’t know exactly how many seconds ago she left.”

He couldn’t help it, he laughed. He liked this girl. She reminded him of his sister Lindsay, three years younger than him. She never minced words with him either. He held up his hands in mock surrender. “Okay, okay, you got me,” he smiled, feeling immediately like he could trust her. “She left..” he made a point of looking at the watch on his left arm, “Three minutes and twenty nine seconds ago.”

“And did you ask her out? I saw the way you looked at her in that exam room downstairs. I might be married, but even I know the look a man gives a woman when he’s interested.”

He blew out the breath he had been holding. “Well, I tried.” He ran his hands through his hair again. “I can’t explain why I feel so drawn to her, Emily. I mean, she’s beautiful and obviously a good mom, but that’s not why I feel so connected to her. I mean, I didn’t know anything about her until ten minutes ago except her name. Hell, I took a chance by coming up here that she wasn’t married. Now I know she has had the worst year of her life. I know she was completely in love with her husband, I can tell that by what she told me. But- I want to know more about her. Who she is. Whether there is something there with us.”

“What did she say?” Emily’s voice was soft, her expression kind. They moved to the side as a mom pulled a toddler in a wagon down the hallway, an IV bag attached to the pole on the wagon. The toddler squealed in delight.

“She told me she couldn’t be in a relationship, that she didn’t know if she ever could again,” he explained. “But then, when she turned her back to me and was packing their things, she told me that she works at In Loving Hands Therapy Center. Then she walked out.”

A smile lit up Emily’s face. “Really?” she practically jumped up and down. “She did? She told you where she works? Wow.”

When she had said that he had felt like it was a good sign, but seeing Emily’s reaction, he knew that it definitely was.

“Don’t give up,” Emily advised, taking out a piece of paper and jotting her number on it. “Here, take this. Just in case.” She winked at him and took off down the hallway, her cell to her ear.

He watched her until she disappeared into the elevator, then looked at the scrawled note on the back of the gift shop receipt. He took out his cell phone and programmed Emily’s number in it. His heart pounded as he thought of the feeling he had when he looked into Kayley’s eyes, and hope surged in him as he thought of her telling him where she worked. She may not have fallen into his arms, begging for a date. But she had given him enough to keep going.

He pivoted down the hallway and headed back to his own floor to see what was going on in the ER, but his thoughts never left the beautiful girl with the painful past.

Review

Living Again by L.L Collins is a beautiful love story written in two person perspective with smooth transitions and beautifully flowing prose. The storyline, although not original, is told in such a way that it has to be considered as one of the best of it's kind.

Living again is a very sweet story. And I have to repeat that it is SWEET! So much so that diabetics would be best to not read it! Emily, Kayley's best friend in the book, sums up the couple (and therefore the whole book) best with this comment "They are the most sickeningly sweet couple you have ever seen, but you can't help but love them!" Sex scenes occur and whilst decent they won't have you reading one handed.

Kayley is a beautiful young woman who has had her world torn apart before it has truly started. The arrival of her child one month after losing husband Alex is bittersweet and a lot of her first year as a mother is lost in the grief that consumes her. LL.Collins has conquered the tightrope of writing a convincing character overcoming grief. At no point do you feel she cheats with the progression to get Kayley and Ben to their happily ever after, nor do you feel Kayley dwells too much in the past and the pain she must feel at losing her husband once she makes the decision to start moving forward.

Dr Ben Nichols oozes romance. He is the type of man every woman would want her daughter to end up with. He is sincere, thoughtful, charming, romantic, patient and fantastic with kids plus he is a doctor! Ben feels an instant connection for the bereaved Kayley and feels a need to get to know her. He has had his own heart shredded in the past and has sworn of all relationships until Kayley makes him want to try again. If Ben has any faults it might be that in his generosity and need to spoil Kayley, he ends up being a little too good to be true during the second half of the book and he makes some pretty big purchases on his own that any real woman would be a bit resentful not to have been given a say in.

Minor characters are well represented throughout the story and help it to move forward. They are supportive to the couple and there is only happiness for them and this too is a little irritating.

Living Again by L.L Collins would be a fantastic book to take on holiday. It is longer than other stories of it's kind and you will find you need to have a break from the consistent goodness radiating from it, and maybe yell at a kid or two. I found I was starting to resent how smoothly everything was going for the couple and thought the book could have been shorter. This would have made Ben a little bit more easier to swallow given that his romantic gestures are a little too frequent and over the top during the second part of the book.

Read it if you love sweet romances and fairy tales.

I am giving it 3 and a half hearts.

About the Author

LL Collins is a 30-something teacher from Florida. She's a wife, mom, daughter, sister, and friend. Her love of writing has found a home in the self-publishing world. Look for her debut novel, Living Again, coming October 4th to eBook and paperback, and her second novel, Reaching Rachel, in January 2014. LL has been writing since she was old enough to write. Always a story in her head, she finally decided to let the characters out and start writing and try to make her lifelong dreams of becoming an author come true. She has been a teacher for over ten years, a wife for 14, and a mom to two boys, 11 and 9.