Love should come easy, but what if it isn’t?

Synopsis

I was a different man, once.

I was a man with only one woman on my mind – the only woman I wanted to hold in my arms.

I was her man.

But things change. Life changes you. Choices, mistakes, resentment: they all change you.

So do unkept promises.

We hurt each other. We loved each other, then hated each other, then missed each other, then grew apart.

And then…

One day, we found each other again.

At the wrong time, in the wrong place.

Because the two of us are wrong together – we’re too far apart, too incompatible.

We’re the main characters of a story that doesn’t belong to us.

But I still keep loving her, even though she hates me.

And she keeps hating herself, because she can’t help but love me.

And we keep searching for each other, even though we’re destined to lose each other.

I wish I could be a different man, just once.

I wish I could be the kind of man who’s ready to give everything for the woman he loves.

Someone who was ready to let her go.

Because I want her to be happy more than I want her to be mine.

My review

Brian is the kind of guy nobody expects much of. He avoids responsibility and doesn’t want to change.
Everyone also knows that he is not relationship – material. But what nobody knows, that there is one woman who holds his heart. But that is also the woman that he will never have. Because he once had Darcy and he ruined it all, and now Darcy hates him.
When Darcy returns back home, her hatred is obvious, because Brian took one thing from her and she wants it back.
But there is a thin line between love and hate…

When I read some of the previous books of this series, I was a little bit frustrated as there were some references I couldn’t follow (as what happened even earlier).  So even if in this book I was a bit more up to date, I was glad that the author gave ‘the past’ and the previous main characters a little bit more space in this book!

This book, the story of Brian and Darcy was a rollercoaster of emotions on so many different levels.
Darcy feels so much hatred towards Brian, and while initially we do not know why, we could feel what it was all about.
And while resenting Brian for so long may seem a bit over the top, when I read about Darcy’s true feelings, I could understand her.
Darcy and Brian go way back, and Darcy saw something in Brian that nobody did. She knew the real Brian, and believed in him, as he showed her also a side he showed no one.
So I felt her pain when she each time returned home, because the hurt was still so palpable, and why she was so reluctant to go back home.

And then Brian… I never wished for someone that people would see the real him. Brian is still carrying the burden of his father’s past with him. And that made people being wary of him (and his brother). Add that his actions didn’t really change that impression, and you have the typical bad boy in front of you.
But there is so much more than being an irresponsible, lazy, womanizing man!
Actions always speak louder but in Brian’s case, his reasoning is way much important than what he does.
He feels that in every case, situation, is never enough and he doesn’t want to burden his ‘being less’ with anyone. For those who matter to him, he only wants the best, even if that means heartbreak for him.

While the previous stories I enjoyed reading, I found this story had that little extra.
It shows us the vulnerability of people, the doubts and low self – esteem people can have. But also the mixed feelings…While Darcy is adamant to hate Brian, it’s obvious that she really doesn’t. But the hurt she felt so many years ago, is not easy to put that aside.
And Brian has to see that he is worthy of being loved, and love, because it won’t always result in losing that person.

This book shows us self – esteem can make or break a person. And that yes, in the process of accepting ourselves we can hurt people. But also that sometimes opening up, and showing the love we feel, can result in a beautiful love story.
I realized while reading this book that even if we get hurt by those who (are supposed to) love is, sometimes it doesn’t mean that we are not enough, but they don’t feel like being enough.
But loving someone means trusting that we are enough, and that even if initially maybe reluctantly, we are ready to change our whole world and be with that One True Love is everything we want and need to feel complete and worthy.