Darian Wilk

Darian Wilk has done it again! With her first debut, Love Unfinished, she gave us the unforgettable couple, Emma and James, who had to find each other again to finish their love story. Now, using her authentic writing style, she has written another wonderfully paced story creating more enticing and unforgettable characters.

Claire has just lost her job, and within hours, her "perfect Charlie" decides to inform her that he's been cheating on her and wants a divorce so they could get married. Stunned and speechless, all Claire could think of was that this was 'her Charlie', the love of her life. This was the man and home where she was going to live the rest of her life. 'Her Charlie' was not incapable hurting her like this.
Or was he?

Claire's reaction and denial had my emotions all over the place. I felt like I was going through her breakup and divorce too. I wanted to reach into the book at times and give her a hug and tell her that it will be okay; while at the same time, I wanted to smack some sense into her and tell her to get over it, that she deserved better, etc. What I loved about Claire is that no matter how upset, sad or angry she was, she was never whiny, helpless nor needy. Yes, she had her moments, quite a few of her moments had me laughing out loud. But they were never unrelatable or unrealistic. Claire was so comfortable with her life with Charlie, she didn't know how to be without him to the point that she knew his dislikes and likes but had no clue as to what she preferred. She was lost. We've all been there before and know how shocking it can be when you don't have a crutch to lean on, to hide behind. It was quite refreshing to see Claire grow, learn about herself and become a strong woman. Even during her weakest moment and many mistakes, she always learned from them and became a better independent Claire.

I instantly fell in love with her large, exuberant and well-meaning-overly-loving family. They all reminded me of my own family. There is something so sweet to see grown women still call their father Daddy, it melted my heart every time I read them calling and referring to him like that. Claire's two sisters, Sam and Holly, were the perfect balance for her. Sam is the younger, promiscuous and loud one that never held back how she felt about the situation and encouraged her to start dating again. Meanwhile, Holly, is the older and married-with-children sister that would reign in the situation and encourage Claire not to give up on finding her true love someday.

So Claire takes her sisters advice and starts online dating. And a few disastrous dates later, she's ready to throw in the towel... until Claire bumps into an old friend. Mac. Mac is everything that Claire never had. Is it possible for Claire to trust and love again? Should she even try?
And then she bumps into Charlie. Charlie who is getting divorced and wants her back.
Yes, this is where I started to hold my breath too!

For all of us that have ever lost ourselves, whether in a relationship or elsewhere, Darian Wilk reminds us that it is okay to hope and dream of better things for ourselves. To remind us that we shouldn't lose or mold ourselves into what we think people want us to be. We have every right to take the time to figure things out, hold out for what's best and just be ourselves.… (plus d'informations)

If you are looking for a sweet romance with a touch of 'Lifetime' movie moment,
this is the book for you :)

To be honest, I had put off my review for this book for about a month now -
I liked the story, the writing was good, it moved along at a very good pace...
but I still feel like there was something missing - and I do not know how to put that feeling into typed words here, sigh...

The story starts with sweethearts, Carol and Ted, how they met, fall in love and then die tragically together on their wedding day...
Many, many years go by and we meet Emma and James. They meet and there is an instant familiarity and connection to each other. They just know that they are meant to be together.
I really love how Wilk was able to create the 'love-at-first' sight for both couples without making it feel like it was impossible or too soon.
However, there is a twist to the story that keeps Emma and James from being together - no spoilers here! This is where it gets to be like a 'Lifetime' type of movie for me - I don't mean that in a bad way at all! I liked it very much :) For me, it was a bit predictable, but I don't mind that at all.
The supporting characters turned into my favorites too! Emma's best friend, maid and butler - who would have thought that you could love every good character in a book! and hate the one that you're suppose to hate, like a lot, lol!

The only problem that I had was that I really wished that the connection to Emma and James' past lives had been tied into the story a lot more - there were a handful of 'mentions' here and there, but not enough for me, I wanted more of that!

And just when I thought that the story had ended, I noticed that there were too many pages leftover - I actually forgot about Carol and Ted, and why Emma and James wanted to be together... this is the part that I don't know how to explain, I'm just going to leave it that I got too into the main part of the story, and leave it at that.
The ending is truly the most sweetest ending I have ever read in a long time!

I enjoyed this and I think that anyone who loves a quick romantic read will enjoy it too :)… (plus d'informations)