Review: You can't help but fall for Sam..
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 2, 2014
The story in a nutshell…Sam Burnside is struggling to get everything right in his life, his soon-to-open health clinic, his relationships with his brother and sisters, and the words that come out of his mouth that never seem to match whatever it was that he was really feeling. Doing a favor for his partner in the health clinic, he delivers a bunch of petunias to a local farmer who’s making green spaces in town and meets Nina Paz. Something about this farmer, who has made a good life after a tragic loss, draws him to her. And as he volunteers in her farm for the season, he discovers more and more about who she is, how she is, how she makes him feel and more importantly, how she sees him.What worked for me?Sam and Nina. Nina and Sam. Sam. Nina. I love these two, both as individuals and as a couple. In LIVE, Sam was harsh, brutally honest, irritable, and restless. In LAUGH, he’s still some of those sometimes but we get to know him better and as we understand his quirks, his personality, his heart that is just full of love there’s no room for any other thing, we accept him wholeheartedly and we love  him. He struggles to express the love he feels especially to his siblings. And he somehow almost always says the wrong thing when in fact, his heart is always in the same right place.Nina is just one amazing woman. She’s built her farm and her life after a tragedy and has surrounded herself with people who love her and care for her. Meeting Sam has changed a little of her perspective especially the one that concerns what she sees to be the whole of her happiness. And I just love how well she’s gone to know Sam as a person. That’s probably one of the things I love most about her, how she looks at Sam and just sees Sam, not the sometimes neurotic, sometimes forgetful, cannot-stay-still man, but just Sam and everything that name represents and the man himself with his intensity and deep-abiding love for his family.What didn’t work for me?I initially had a small issue about Sam falling for Nina so soon. But in retrospect, I think I can understand how you can fall for a person who really speaks to your soul and to your heart and it wouldn’t matter if you’ve met him or her within a short or a long span of time.My over-all take on it?Mary Ann Rivers delivers another achingly beautiful story of acceptance, love, and seeing your truth in another person. I think this was better written than LIVE although it might be just because this is the second book in the series and did not have the task of having to lay the groundwork for the other books.And again, Mary Ann Rivers’ prose just astounds me. They hit you right where it hurts, right where it matters, right where it makes perfect sense.PJ’s story is up next. And. I. can’t. wait.Disclaimer: I received an eARC of this book from the author/publisher in exchange  for an honest review. Yes, these are my honest and personal thoughts on this book.