Review: An emotionally charged story about loss, grief and learning to move on.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 29, 2013
3.25 starsLily has been living in Florida, away from her family since she lost he parents and her sister in a car accident. She's content with living at the beach, tanning and writing, but in reality she's only rolling with the motions and not truly living.In comes Kyle, a handsome man she met at the beach. Although initially fearful of getting close, she can't deny that the attraction between them is huge. He makes her feel things she didn't expect to feel again. However, along with those feelings comes in the fear and the doubt. Now it remains to be seen if Kyle can get through the walls she has surrounded herself with for the last couple of years.I won't lie and say that I liked this story from the start. Although Alicia Rae did a great job of drawing me into the story, she came too close to losing my interest when events kept turning up that had me shaking my head and muttering 'WTH?!' I won't go into great detail about it, because what may not work for me might work for you, but I thought I should put it out there regardless.I liked Lily. Her grief was well-founded and I though that the author did a wonderful job depicting the range of emotions a person goes through when dealing or denying their grief. Lily does both. She runs away from the grief only to realize that she cannot move forward with a relationship with Kyle if she doesn't confront it.Now Kyle. I liked him fine in some ways, but he exasperated me in others. Although thoughtful and caring, he came across as overbearing too. Something I did not appreciate. He was sexy and handsome, but way to cagey for me. I couldn't really form any sort of connection to him throughout the story, so in the end I just went along with whatever the author had set out for him, figuring I would get some kind of insight into who he was. I didn't. That alone lessened my enjoyment of the story.As I stated before, there were things that I believed where not necessary for the story to be told. I'm not a fan of 'insta-love', but I can accept and deal with them if the connection between the characters is palpable enough to jump off the page. Yes, Lily and Kyle did have amazing chemistry, but along with it came some things that I just couldn't overlook. I won't list them, I'll just say that sex as go-to way of strengthening a connection between characters that just met, IS NOT the way to go. Give me flirtatious banter and sexual tension, getting-to-know each other dialogue, emotions regarding the new found feelings, growth as a couple. These are the things that make a story and awesome read for me.I did enjoy the little bit of mystery that the author threw into the mix and the growth that Lily achieved as the story progressed. I also enjoyed the addition of the secondary characters, especially Lily's cousins. Through them I could see the girl that Lily used to be and how much the accident had affected her. I enjoyed their interactions and their banter. She truly came out of her self-imposed shell when she let go with her family and I took it as my reward for sticking with the story when at times I wanted to just give up.Beautiful Chances is the first book in the Beautiful series. It has a bit of romance and an abundance of sex coupled with a small cliffhanger and an unsolved mystery. I'm curious to know how Lily and Kyle fare in My Beautiful, the second book released November 5th. I am especially curious to know if the author will give me the chance to get to know Kyle better. I really do want to like him.All in all, an emotionally charged story about loss, grief and learning to move on.I received this title in exchange of my honest opinion.