Adult Romance Published August 5, 2014
Atria Publishing
Author's Website | Goodreads | Buy the Book on Amazon
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Starting over is hard to do.
That’s what forty-year-old Jane McKinney learns when she quits her job, sells her home, and leaves Seattle behind to start a new life and pursue the man she loves in Austin. After the death of her daughter, Melody, Jane never thought she would find happiness again – until she met Caleb Cummings. Sensitive, loving, and mature beyond his years, Caleb is a handsome young musician struggling to make ends meet. But when his fortunes take an unexpected and drastic turn for the better, Jane is left wondering where exactly she fits in.
Can you ever leave the past behind? Jane must now decide if she really is willing to commit to a new beginning with Caleb – or if some wounds are just too deep to ever truly mend.
My Thoughts...
This book was another 5 star read by Ryan Winfield. I didn't like this one quite as much as the first one, but I loved it all the same. This book starts off pretty much right where the last one ended, which really was a nice ending. I was perfectly content with the story as it was, but I was so happy to see that it wasn't over quite yet!
Caleb and Jane are living in a noisy little apartment in Austin. Caleb is working in a warehouse, but still playing music when he can. Jane is struggling to adapt to a life she isn't used to. She's pounding the pavement looking for a job so she can improve their situation, but what she fails to realize is that Caleb is happy where he is and this does cause some problems between them. Jane takes a video of Caleb performing one night and essentially enters him into a Singer/Songwriter competition without his knowledge. While he isn't particularly happy about it he decides to give it a shot and see where this path leads.
There are so many things that could have gone wrong for both of them in this situation. This is just the set up for relationship disaster in most cases and that is exactly the reason that I love Caleb so much. He's so much more mature than his age would suggest. And let's face it, at 40, Jane is plenty mature. I have to say, though, I am Jane's age and she handled some of these situations much better than I would have! I think it's saying something that they are both so calm and cool about all this going on around them and that's what makes them great characters. They trust each other and they are very adult about everything and that makes me so happy. I have said this before, the one thing I dislike more than anything in a book is when the characters fly off the handle and do something stupid when they see or hear something that is taken out of context. I know that this makes for more dramatic stories, but I am SO over it!
I don't want to spoil anything as far as the story goes so I just want to talk a little bit more about the writing itself before I wrap this up. I loved the supporting characters here, the next door neighbor, Caleb's boss, all the friends he makes on the show, they all add that extra layer to the story that makes you feel all those things you feel when you read a really good story. Ryan's writing is like reading poetry most of the time, there are these lines sometimes that really should be song lyrics. And these aren't even the lines that are song lyrics, so you get a double dose when the story is about a songwriter! This story made me laugh, when Jane gets her job there are quite a few laugh out loud moments. And this story made me cry, I should just admit here that I was sobbing when I read the epilogue. It was happy sobbing for sure. I was so incredibly happy with how this story ended. We may not see any more of Caleb and Jane's story but it was a happy one no doubt!
XOXO, Shelly
*Disclaimer: I was provided with a copy of this book courtesy of the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.*
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