Review: 4.5 stars friends to love story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 25, 2014
We met Will in A Cry for Hope. He is Jamie's playboy, firefighter, younger brother. Will knows how life can change in an instant so he is determined to live it to the fullest and do what he wants when he wants. He holds himself back and has limited true connections with women and even with his own family.(Quote)I was commitment phobic and wasn't ashamed to admit it. I could never imagine myself with one woman for the rest of my life. The mere thought of the same piece of a** forever depressed me.When Will ends up in the hospital, he meets burn nurse, Gabby. She brings a little happiness to his days as he is recovering. Her life is also in a rut and she feels powerless to change it. All she really has going for her is her work.These two lost souls develop a witty, engaging rapport that turns into a true friendship that builds at a realistic pace. They truly begin to look out for the other and provide balance. They become friends who could read each other so well in some ways and were so clueless in others.I loved them together. She truly made Will a better person--one that cared about someone besides himself and brought out a loving, protective, vulnerable man. But also a confused, scared,and jealous one. But he had insecurities that clawed at him and was paralyzed at the through of losing her from his life so did not want to jeopardize that.(Quote)What Gabby and I had was something special, something that I never had with any other person. We had a connection and that was so much stronger than sex.And Gabby was just adorable, sassy, sweet, strong, and had a huge heart. But deep down she was also somewhat broken, insecure, and felt inferior. But she really had no clue how high up on a pedestal Will placed her.(Quote)He was my knight in shining armor. The one and only friend that I knew I could always depend on.Their connection had a sweetness about it and underlying chemistry. But it built slowly over time. It was not insta-love, insta-lust, or insta-sex. This timeline was realistic even if it at times it got frustrating seeing them deny, miscommunicate, and push each other away. It both made me appreciate that it was a more natural progression, but also made me want to speed up the pacing because I was dying for them to move forward. I seriously wanted to shake sense into both of them at times.But they needed each other in ways that neither of them even realized. They were catalysts for each other and they challenged each other to make important changes in their lives and face issues that had deep impacts on their lives that they had been avoiding .There are twists and turns that made it more special and emotional. It was engaging, funny, heartbreaking, and heartwarming. We got to see a bit more with Hope and Jamie and his family that we met in the first book. But this one can be read as a stand alone. We met some of his friends that added both comic relief and some drama to the story. And they both had family dramas that added conflict as well. It was told in both Will and Gabby's points of view so we got to know each character intimately and understand their hesitations and fears. It was a sweet story of hope, growth, love, and fate.I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.