This is what I like to see. Review to come in a bit. -------------------------------------------------------------------------4.5 StarsI am so happy that I signed up for the blog tour for this book! So, so beyond happy. I normally have issues with P2P, but in this case… I didn’t. The reason? This was one very well-rounded story. It had a foundation that was built upon. The reader isn’t just introduced to characters and expected to know what kind of people they are. We are told through a series scenes that are taken from Samuel Caulfield Cabral’s work-in-progress.The story is told from the point of view of Kaye, who doesn’t go by her first name Aspen because she dislikes her name. Given to her by her hippie parents. Kaye was married to Samuel, but they had divorced about 7 years earlier. Kaye still hasn’t dealt with the fallout because she still loved Samuel at the time that he decided to end their marriage. The upside to their divorce, however? She got to keep his family at the end of it all. Samuel had signed a huge book deal and was living in New York, which left Kaye the chance to interact with his family as if they were her own.She’s also taken up extreme sports as a way to deal with not being with Samuel anymore, and boy, is she totally kick-ass awesome. I loved the whole dynamic she had with Sam’s sister, Caroline and her fiance. They’d plan camping trips and whitewater rafting. It was seriously pretty amazing to see a heroine living her life even though she may still be a bit sad over the turn of events. Trying to make yourself happy isn’t a bad thing and Kaye was strong, yet sensitive but I adored her. She was also hella funny and her friendship with Caroline and business partner was cute.Now, Samuel. Dear, dear, Samuel. I liked him quite a bit myself. I will admit that normally I’m able to figure out which direction a story is going to take and discover what the big secret is… but I wasn’t able to. That was refreshing! Keep me guessing till the very end! See, Samuel hasn’t had the best childhood. He was taken in by his uncle after his parents died. As a child he was very serious and smart and reserved, slightly. But he was able to make friends with Kaye, or rather she decided to latch onto him because she was enamored with the boy with the “Sky eyes”. I would have been, too, girl. He was of mexican-irish descent. His mother was Irish, his dad was first gen Mexican. He had the darkly tanned skin that was paired with these unbelievable blue eyes. They way the author described them was so vivid, I could see them in my mind’s eye.I keep jumping back and forth, but essentially this story grabbed me from beginning to end. You’re able to see what childhood was like for both Samuel and Kaye through Sam’s writings, you’re also able to see how much Kaye still means to him. There was an underlying angst factor present but it was oh so delicious that I could have eaten it up with a spoon. While Kaye did plan on getting revenge on Samuel for dumping her, it wasn’t a vindictive kind of revenge. It was rather tame, but hilarious. And he was man enough to give it back to her, too. You’re able to see that there is still this connection there, but it would take time for it to all sort itself through.In the end, while it wasn’t your conventional happily ever after, it totally worked. I loved it so much. I’m actually very anxious to see what is next for these two, even though it isn’t exactly necessary. As a reader it could be left up to you in the even that the author doesn’t continue. The writing, it was beautiful and descriptive and she’s able to make the characters come alive. It’s all very exciting and captivating. I started this book Friday afternoon and I told myself that I was finishing it Friday night. Without fail! And I did. It was just that good that I found myself with tears in my eyes after 11pm.I feel like this is adult contemporary romance at its best! I will definitely be looking forward to whatever else this author plans on writing.An Advance copy was provided by the publisher. This review can also be seen on Fic talk.
