Can a heart be healed after being broken?

Synopsis

When you’ve loved and lost, how do you find the strength to let love in again?

Jemma thinks she’s found the love of her life. Scott is everything she ever dreamed of and she can’t wait to begin the next stage of their life together. But just as she is heading for her happy ever after, a shock revelation shatters Jemma’s life as she knows it. Left to pick up the pieces, Jemma’s friends and family rally round to help her find the courage to move on.

Sam think he has his future all worked out. A thriving career, lovely home and an amazing fiancée. But when tragedy strikes, he finds himself alone, far from everyone he cares about. Did he do the right thing by running away and trying to rebuild the tatters of his life alone?

This is the story of Jemma and Sam. Two lost souls, desperately trying to find closure and happiness. When a chance meeting brings them together a friendship is formed, but the guards are up. 

Will it finally be their turn for a happy ever after? Or will the secrets from their pasts prevent them from moving on?

Escape to Whitsborough Bay for an emotional, uplifting story of love and friendship from top 10 bestseller Jessica Redland. 

This book was previously published as Bear With Me.

My review

When Jemma meets Scott, she thinks she has found her perfect man. and now that she is ready to take the next step, she is over the moon when Scott seems to be on the same page.
But when a revelation just turns her world upside down, it’s hard to pick up the pieces again. Luckily, she can count on her family and friends to help her through one of the darkest moments of her life. But Jemma is not only facing a broken, heart, because her mother is worrying her every day a little bit more…

Sam is still coping with the tragedy that struck his fiancée. His whole future went up in air and now he finds himself alone after running away to a place where nobody knows him.
Because despite the good intentions of his friends and family, how can he start thinking of rebuilding a life when he had it all, and lost it?

When Jemma and Sam meet, they realize that they have found someone that understand the turmoil they are in.

I honestly think I have to stop reading books from this author!  No matter what I read of her, each time it breaks my heart, and I have tears in my eyes…

Both Jemma and Sam have been going through devastating events. And even if in one aspect they are very different, yet they are very similar.
Jemma’s love for Scott has been betrayed in the worst way. And somehow I understood her feelings and actions. Yes, her heart got broken, but it’s not easy to just erase the feelings of love you have for a man who you imagined spending the rest of your life with.
So when a second chance appeared, I understood her dilemma. Yet I couldn’t forget the way Jemma found out the truth…

Sam story was a more tragic, final story. Losing his fiancée Nikki like that, out of the blue, with later on an even bigger tragedy, ugh, no words can explain what it did to me!
Also here, I understood why Sam had the need to get away from everything and everyone.

This story is about grief, coping with your loss and finding strength to trust and love people again. Every feeling the characters go through, was so gripping, honest and real. I found myself often wishing to have the ability to get into the book and just give our protagonists a hug for comfort. Or when they took a step in the right direction, a high five.
There are several painful moments, but also so many emotional, beautiful moments, that made me forget the hardest bits and I found myself smiling with tears rolling down my face… And the bears added an extra layer of adorability!

It’s not only a book about what you have lost, but also finding the courage and strength to cope with whatever will happen next.
I found it an inspirational book about how to dare to look at the future again.

The author managed again to write a story about normal people, going through heart-breaking events, but instead of just giving up, they are able to see a little ray of light.
I just loved it, what more can I say???