Next to You Tour Stop!

 Him

…I need time. Time to heal those wings and learn to use them…

Was part of the letter Rebecca Trent, Daniel Brightmore’s fiancée and best friend left when she ran away. The person he trusted the most for the past decade disappeared without giving him a second glance. She taught him how to love, believe in family and that everyone deserves a happily ever after. Now he’s struggling between wiping any traces of her from his life and drowning his sorrows away with the help of his new best friends—Don Julio and Jack Daniels.

Her

Rebecca’s past suffocated her to the point of not wanting to continue, her lifeline and the only reason to live began to withdraw from her. She wished it had been her imagination, but heard it loud and clear: “If not, there’s always a divorce, nothing is forever.” This time it became a leave or die situation. Something has got to change—she had to change. Packing light and leaving a letter behind, she takes a journey that can help her find herself through the shards of her painful childhood.

As letters, memories and stories are exchanged, two once inseparable people reconcile what’s left of their relationship. Beyond the confines of everything they built together, they’re left with two lonely people searching for what it means to be whole. Will they find meaning under their bruised psyches or will their pasts get the better of them?

After I read the first book in this series Where Life Takes You, I was ready to throw my kindle across the room out of anger over the cliff hanger.  Becca left Daniel after they both had finally found their future together.  Next To You explains her reasons and how Daniel sees this relationship and thankfully picks up right where the first book ended. 

Becca destroyed him when she left without saying goodbye.  The letter she wrote trying to explain her thinking served only as a reminder that she didn’t give them a chance.  Becca had been a victim all of her life, she felt he deserved more than that in the woman he wanted to marry so striking out on her own, her goal was to become strong and independent.  Hoping that he finds happiness while she is gone, she gives him permission to go on dating other women but when she returns, if they have a chance she would be willing to consider it. 

Daniel didn’t see things the same way.  Burning her belongings and truck and getting drunk was how he planned on healing from the empty heart he now had. This book gives us his POV to the events and allows us to invest even more in him. While she was evolving into the woman she needed to be, he was being shattered from the powerful man he once was. Both had to suffer in this journey but at times I didn’t know if there would be anything for her to come back to the way he was suffering.  He knew she couldn’t have arranged her departure alone and their friends appeared to be supporting her choice so he felt absolutely alone in life.  Now you can read how this unfolded because giving you more description to the book at this time will take away from the emotional journey you are about to embark on.

The author gave us a powerful story of how the two dealt with the separation and once they saw each other again.  Daniel wasn’t done rescuing Becca but she did find more strength in herself and came back a stronger woman.  We also learned more about her story in this book and it made her leaving a better choice.  Trust me I was furious at the end of book one, it made no sense for her to just leave when she was on the edge of happiness, but the author showed us what she had wasn’t real and she needed to find what she had buried deep inside of her soul long ago.  It also made her love for Daniel even more realistic.  She wanted to give him the best and she was far from that even though she had a great mask on.

This story is about truth, trust and love.  It also portrays what the heart and soul can overcome when given the chance to heal and process the events.  It would have been easy for the author to let Becca keep her past buried and continue to pretend but she knew that both of these characters deserved more than that.  It did break the reader’s heart to see the pain, but I think most of us understand now and applaud the author’s courage to tick her readers off for the good of the story. 

I would recommend this series to any reader who loves realistic life stories.  The world isn’t a nice place but for people like Becca, home is even worse.  Daniel wanted to be her super hero but what she needed was a man to just love her, the real her and give her the time to find that person.  I fell in love with these characters in the first book and I think I fell even deeper in book two.  

 Amazon US || Barnes & Noble

Claudia lives in Colorado with her family and three dogs. Two beagles who believe they are human, and a bichon who thinks she’s a beagle. While managing life, she works as a CFO at a small IT Company. She’s a dreamer who enjoys music, laughter and a good story.

 Website || Facebook || Twitter || Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway