Love is patient.
It can happen when you least expect it,
where you least expect it,
with whom you least expect it.
Love is kind.
But love may not grow out of kindness.
It can happen with the person who hates you most
because love knows no bounds.
And it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love doesn’t hold a grudge.
Love forgives.
Love forgets.
But when the healing of your heart
breaks the hearts of the ones you love …
it may seem impossible to
Find joy
Yay! Adam and Allie are
back! I love, not just these two, but all the characters in this story. If you
read book one, Remembering Joy, you know why. If you didn’t, stop reading this
review and go buy it (You can scroll to the purchase links.) You can check out my review for Remembering Joy by
following the link below. I’m telling you, stop now if you have not read it.
This review of Finding Joy contains spoilers to book 1.
Okay, so if you are
still with me, you read Remembering Joy, right? Let me give you a quick recap.
Adam was plotting against Allie because he hated her. Allie was involved in a
car accident that killed his little sister, Joy, but she had no memory of it.
As Adam tries to plot against her and ruin her life, there is a lot of trying
to push feelings away, but the two fall in love. Adam decides not to tell her
about Joy and to just let it go. But Allie finally remembers killing Joy when
she accidentally sees Adam’s movie for class. Understandably she freaks out and
runs away. Adam isn’t letting her go, though. He fights for her and the two
embark on a relationship without secrets and hidden agendas.
In this book, Finding
Joy, there are more secrets, hurt, guilt and forgiveness. The secrets that
Allie and Adam keep from each other are not malicious, though. They are just
trying not to hurt each other or “rock the boat.” Though they have gotten
better at communicating, when it comes to the really big issues, they are still
working on it.
Through most of this
story, Adam is the rock and the glue in their relationship. He has to keep
reassuring her that he has let go of the past and that she is his future. Allie
has a harder time letting go. She is still riddled with guilt, but works to
move past it. The love between the two is so strong and they are both willing
to put in the work to make their relationship last forever.
The parents come in to
play a bit more in this story. Remember, Garrett Harper, Allie’s father, had
gone to great lengths to ensure that Allie didn’t remember Joy. We find out how
great those lengths are in this book. There are so many issues that her and her
dad have to weed through. Also, Adam has to learn how to get past the years of
hate and anger that are directed at the Harpers. If he is going to be with Allie
he has to figure out a way to forgive them, so they can be a part of Allie’s
life. This man will do anything for her. I just love Adam. Not only did he
forgive her for taking Joy, but he tries every day to make her happy. He is
just awesome.
Adam also has to break the
news of his relationship to his mother, who is a recovering alcoholic. He is
afraid that when he tells her, it’s going to send her back to the bottle. I
enjoyed understanding Adam more in this story. We learn more about his difficult
childhood. He is such a great, solid character. Does he have some downfalls? Of
course. He isn’t perfect. In my opinion, his flaws make him so much better.
Allie and Adam’s relationship
isn’t easy. At. All. But with the support of the great people around them, and
most importantly, each other, they make it work. The author did a flawless job
at tying up any loose ends from Remembering Joy. I feel like the ending is
perfect for them. It leaves you feeling hopeful for them. I believe this is the
final book for Adam and Allie, which is too bad. I really enjoyed them.
Jenni Moen lives in her hometown
in Oklahoma with her husband and three crazy, exuberant kids that have the
potential to burn the house down at any moment.
When she's not chauffeuring kids around town, performing her mom duties as a short order cook and maid, or vacuuming for her fastidious husband, she hammers away at her keyboard at her big girl job as a patent attorney. While vodka and exercise have provided some relief from the daily grind, it is reading ... and now writing ... that are her true escapes.
What
inspires me to write:
Honestly, reading inspired me to write.
I’ve had my nose stuck in a book most of my life. I think most avid
readers wonder at some point or another whether they have what it takes to be a
writer. During the holidays last winter, I went on an eight week reading
binge that involved a lot of angsty and smutty new adult and contemporary
romance novels. When I finally came out of it, I decided to take a stab
at it myself.
As for what inspired Remembering Joy,
specifically, I can honestly say that real-life inspired it. On my
seventeenth birthday, I was involved in a car accident. It didn’t end
tragically but it could have. Remembering Joy is the result of
letting myself consider the absolutely worst case scenario. Also, there
are little pieces of me and my closest friends in each of the characters.
Hardest
Scenes to Write:
That’s easy for me to answer. The
hardest scenes for me to write are the most heartfelt ones … the ones where the
characters gush and pour their hearts out to one another. I’m not a
gushy, gooey kind of girl. I’m more likely to show you how I feel than
talk about it. However, I guess deep down I must be a hopeless romantic
because it’s all I want to read and write.
Cliffhangers:
I’m a rebel on this one. I love
cliffhangers. The more cliffy the hanger, the better. I love a book
that leaves me wanting more, more, more. I love to throw my hands up in
the air and scream and curse at the end of a book. And I don’t mind waiting
for the next book. I’d rather wait for a well-written novel that’s not
full of typos and fragmented sentences than get the next installment as soon as
possible.
Despite my love of
them, Remembering Joy does not have a cliffhanger ending. I wasn’t sure
about this whole writing business or that I wanted to be committed to writing a
sequel. However, I left enough loose ends that I could if I wanted to.
Now that I’m about 1/3 the way done with the second book, I’m loving
where the story is headed. I can’t wait to give Adam and Allie the ending they
deserve.
No comments:
Post a Comment