Review: Second chance love story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 6, 2014
This is the first book by A. L. Parks that I have purchased and really enjoyed the story.  It brought some painful reminders from my marriage/divorce and I could empathize with both Eve and Jake.  I liked that the main characters are older and closer to my age and I love second chance love stories.As the book progresses, I felt the infatuation and excitement when Eve and Jake met, thinking of each other often, and anxiously awaiting their next time together, almost like teenagers.  They are able to laugh and talk and everything was so sweet and sexy.  Everything happens so quickly between them, which probably explains some of their issues as time passes.  I felt the pain that Eve has suffered for many years.  Eve grew up in a wealthy family but was put in boarding school at age 12 and very seldom saw her parents.  Then when her husband betrays her, it is just one more example, in her mind, that no one cares for her for long.  These feelings cause her to believe that she and Jake are in love, but just not for the long haul.Jake had a difficult marriage, with his ex-wife constantly berating him for not making more money, not changing to a more influential profession, etc., and so these thoughts are on his mind, even though he falls madly in love with Eve.  Due to her wealth and as an attorney/judge, he feels like he would never be enough for her since he is a Fire Chief.  Jake also has to deal with only seeing his daughter once a month due to the distance from each other.This book covers the three weeks when Eve leaves her home in Newport and goes to Colorado to get the vacation home ready to sell.  There was a lot of up and down with the characters, causing my emotions to veer one direction to another, and thinking these people need some counseling!Eve returns to Newport but is brokenhearted without Jake.  She tries to decide if she should stay in Newport, where she hates being a judge, and the only friends are wealthy, back-stabbing snobs, or return to Colorado.  Her ex-husband and his new wife are in the vicinity, so she has to deal with a lot, including not being able to see her two daughters often (the eldest is 20 and studying in England and the other is 14 and chose to go to a boarding school after the parents divorced.  Unfortunately, a divorce not only affects the couple, but children and others.)This book was very well written and the author was able to make me feel all of the emotions of the characters.  I was so interested in the story that I couldn't wait to read the sequel and immediately started reading Return to Newport.  I definitely recommend this book.