Fiction – Adventures in Reading

Book Title: Return To Me

Author: Mae Archer

Publish Date: September 1st, 2013

Publisher: Momentum Books

Genre: Fiction

Standalone

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Link: Amazon

Synopsis from Goodreads:

After a seemingly fatal car accident Lana Walters is transported to a parallel world for a second chance with her dead husband Frank. However, she is not prepared to find that her husband – and the world itself – are very different to her own.

In her other life Lana’s upbringing prepared her for the challenge of being married to Frank, who had a terminal heart condition. In this new world everyone she knows has made different choices and are different people. In this world she is Alannah Walker, and her husband is Tristan. At first the transfer is a fairytale come true … until reality intrudes.

Born Frank Walters, Tristan hides his past under a new name. His heart condition discovered and treated when he was a child, Tristan’s life fell apart when he was 19 years old and made him the man he is today. In love with his wife, Alannah, but betrayed by her neediness Tristan recognizes she is a different person since the car accident but lessons of the past have taught him not to trust too easily.

Now Lana has a choice to make: is this a second chance for love, or a second chance for her to live the life that she never could before?

Disclaimer: I received this e-book from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

Review:

This was a book that I very nearly DNF’ed about 10% into it. It started off really slowly and I wasn’t sure about this one. I really don’t like books that start off so slowly.Then it got a lot better but I don’t think I really “got” this book. I found it really confusing. The premise of the story sounded so good and definitely confusing but I figured that I’d understand it much better once I started reading it. Well once I finished the book and closed it, I realized that I couldn’t explain it at all.

That’s not a good sign. If an author can take a confusing plot and explain it clearly so everyone can understand it,that’s good. However Archer did not do that. It also didn’t help that the characters were boring and most of them seemed to have a 1-track mind. To be honest the only people I found interesting were Evan and Tammy. Evan was Alannah’s stepbrother and Tammy was Alannah’s mother.

I didn’t really see the chemistry between Alannah/Lana and Tristan/Frank. It’s hard for me to root for a couple to get things right when I can’t see or feel the chemistry between them. That is the main reason that I have to give this book 2 stars.Very poor character development + non-existent chemistry pretty much ruins the book. Despite the perfect editing job that was done on this book, I just didn’t enjoy the book at all.

Title: Just Between Us
Author: J.H. Trumble
Publication Date: September 24, 2013
Pages: 320 pages
Publisher: Kensington
Genre: Fiction/Romance/Contemporary/LGBT
Book Link: Goodreads
Purchase Links: Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, Amazon

Synopsis:

Seventeen-year-old Luke Chesser is trying to forget his spectacular failure of a love life. He practices marching band moves for hours in the hot Texas sun, deals with his disapproving father, and slyly checks out the new band field tech, Curtis Cameron. Before long, Luke is falling harder than he knew he could. And, this time, he intends to play it right.

Since testing positive for HIV, Curtis has careened between numbness and fear. Too ashamed to tell anyone, Curtis can’t possibly act on his feelings. And Luke—impulsive, funny, and more tempting than he realizes—won’t take a hint. Even when Curtis distances himself it backfires, leaving him with no idea how to protect Luke from the truth.

Confronting a sensitive topic with candor and aplomb, acclaimed author J. H. Trumble renders a modern love story as sweet, sharp, and messy as the real thing, where easy answers are elusive, and sometimes the only impossible thing is to walk away.

Disclaimer: I received this book in exchange for my participation on a Book Blog Tour.

Review:

Oh boy,I’m not even sure where I can start with this one. It is an amazing and realistic story of love,sacrifice and heartache. I loved both Luke and Curtis so much and it was clear from the beginning that this wasn’t going to be a typical LGBT romance.It started off slowly and I loved that.It quickly turned serious and ordinarily that would have driven me bananas,but with Luke and Curtis,it just worked.

Curtis’ family was amazing and so loving and supportive of him.I was so glad to see that there was a family who supported and loved him. As many people in the LGBT community will tell you,it’s often not easy for parents and families to be okay with a relative who is a part of the LGBT community.Luke’s family was different and I was thrilled when his mother threw his homophobic father out of the house.Luke’s mother and brother were very supportive which was awesome.

Curtis’ actions after he learned of his HIV status was unfortunately not uncommon. It broke my heart into teeny tiny pieces watching him push Luke away although Luke clearly didn’t want to be pushed away.It was obvious that Curtis didn’t want to push Luke away and that he was even more miserable without Luke at his side. Some might say that Curtis was being a martyr but he wasn’t. He didn’t feel like it was fair to tie Luke to him when he had such a serious illness. However,he didn’t allow Luke to have any say in it. Really he couldn’t tell Luke that he,Luke shouldn’t have to stick around. That was Luke’s decision.

This book tackles a tough subject with both candor and sensitivity which is hard to do.It is one of those rare books that can have you sobbing and laughing while reading the book because it is so full of emotion. Not just for Curtis and Luke but for their friends and families as well.

Stories like this were once rare but now I see them gaining more and more presence in the literary world. I absolutely love seeing this. This book was so wonderful and I have no qualms about giving it a full five stars. It’s not a book for everyone but I absolutely loved it.

Author Bio: