All it took was one night, a wild party, and a split second for Andrew’s life to change forever. Fifteen years later, he’s still unable to forgive himself for what happened when he was just a teenager. Despite serving in a war zone, he is still haunted every minute of every day by what happened that night in high school. Andrew knows he deserves to be hated by those he hurt — especially Isabelle. … especially Isabelle. She has to live with the pain of losing someone she loved.
Luckily for her, Andrew is only back in town to see his brother get married, then he’ll be out of their lives for good — out of her life.
There’s just one thing he didn’t count on…and that’s finding a reason to stay.
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First of all, Andrew needed to high tail it out of that town and not look back. They didn’t deserve him. He was as much a victim that fateful night 15 years earlier as Jessica was. She paid the ultimate price and Andrew suffered dearly while the two drunks got off scott free.
Now that I’ve got that off my chest, this book will have you emotionally pulled into the characters. They all have problems. They all deal with those problems very differently. Andrew seemed to be the only honest person around. Everyone else didn’t hesitate to pass blame around or be in denial to not have to fece the truth. What happened that night 15 years earlier was awful but there was a whole lot of people to share the blame. Andrew, the one who got most of the blame, was the least guilty.
Was that why they all drank so much? They passed beer and wine around like it was Coke…. and Miles’ personality seemed way overboard, rather than funny
Character Observations:
… Andrew: If ever there was a good guy, he’s one. He saved their backsides more than once.
… Miles: Way too flippant and blamed his brother for staying away. Did he have no concern at all about his twin battling emotional scars or worry about him while fighting in a war? Miles was very immature.
… The Mom and Dad: Maybe, just maybe if they had faced their own issues, their son wouldn’t have felt the need escape. Their REAL problems started before the accident. The accident should have exposed that bombshell. But nooooo…. instead, dear ol’ daddy keeps telling his son to ‘suck it up’, that he had to clean up the mess his son caused! Uhhhh, don’t think so, dear ol’ dad. You had to clean up your own mess. Quit passing the blame.
… And when the truth finally gets told, dear ol’ dad only says ‘we were having a rough time back then’. Yep, blame the wife for his bad choice! Nothing can justify what he did! However, that accident gave daddy 15 extra years to hide and cover it up. And it was the home-wrecker that drove her car head on into Andrew’s car. Don’t blame him!
… Lucy: What is not to like. Like Andrew, she’s the truly innocent.
… Isabelle: Why so bitter and angry at the beginning, Isabelle? You knew what happened so why blame Andrew? Anne was every bit as guilty as Andrew if you are passing out blame. And Warren and Cassie played BIG roles in Jess’ death. However, it was Jess that made the choice to drive drunk Anne home and also to have sober Andrew drive later that night.
… Warren and Cassie: Neither are worth the time to even write about them. Disgraceful, self-righteous and selfish.
WISHES:
Would like more depth and development into the dad. How did he live with himself? He comes across all tough and .self-righteous…. and he is way to hard on Andrew, both after the accident and 15 years later when Andrew comes back. Also, how did the mom handle all this? When did she learn the truth, what was her reaction? It had to be an emotional impact. And how are they all acting like one big happy family when the truth finally is revealed? A bombshell like that needs development.