Review: A Strangers on a Train Short Story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 04 5, 2013
When Amy decided to walk away from her workaholic boyfriend she left her home in Seattle to start again in New York City. The last thing she expects is for Jeff to turn up on her morning commute six months later desperate to win her back. It was incredibly hard for Amy to walk away from Jeff, it wasn't that she'd stopped loving him she just wasn't prepared to always come second in his life and she was sick of him putting work first. Jeff built his company from the ground up and making it a success is incredibly important to him, he didn't understand how Amy was feeling so was shocked and hurt when she walked away from him. Jeff didn't realise what he had with Amy until she left but can he convince her that he really is prepared to change his ways and put her needs first for a change?Ticket Home is one of the five stories in the Strangers on a Train series published by Samhain, each of the stories has been written by a different author (the authors involved in the collaboration are Ruthie Knox, Meg Maguire, Serena Bell, Donna Cummings & Samantha Hunter) and is currently available as an ebook but I believe there will be a print bind up containing the whole series published sometime next year. These stories can be read in any order, they are linked only by the common theme that each couple start out as strangers who meet each other on a train, so there is no cross over of characters or story lines.Amy and Jeff are obviously so in love but neither of them has ever fully understood where the other was coming from, Amy never really took the time to tell Jeff how she was feeling and even when she did attempt to talk to him he was usually too distracted to listen properly. It isn't going to be easy for them to reach a compromise that keeps them both happy but as Jeff starts to realise what is really important in life he knows what he needs to do. That doesn't make it easy to convince Amy he's sincere though and she needs proof that he has changed his ways. I loved the fact that Amy was so independent and that she wasn't willing to settle for second best any more, she knew what she wanted and if she couldn't have it then she'd rather walk away and be on her own. Jeff took a little while to grow on me, he really didn't have a clue why Amy was so upset with him and in the beginning he didn't seem to feel that he needed to change to win her back. As you get to know him you start to see that he really does care about her and by the time he has his epiphany I was rooting for him to win Amy back.This is another great instalment to the Strangers on a Train series, I've been enjoying all of these novellas and am looking forward to reading more from all of the authors involved in the future. These stories are all perfect for when you only have an hour to spare but want to read a full story that reaches a satisfying conclusion and I'd recommend them to all contemporary romance fans.