What do you do when your soul mate marries your best friend?
If you're Kate Evans, you keep your friend Rachel, bond with her kids, and bury your feelings for her husband. The fact that Shane's in the military and away for long periods helps-but when tragedy strikes, everything changes.
After Rachel, pregnant with her fourth child, dies in a car accident and the baby miraculously survives, Kate upends her entire life to share parenting duties. Then on the first anniversary of Rachel's death, Kate and Shane take comfort in each other in a night that they both soon regret.
Shane's been angry for a year, and now he feels guilty too - for sleeping with his wife's best friend and liking it . . . liking her. Kate's ability to read him like a book may have once sent Shane running, but their lives are forever entwined and they are growing closer.
Now with Shane deployed for seven months, Kate is on her own and struggling with being a single parent. Shane is loving and supportive from thousands of miles away, but his homecoming brings a betrayal Kate never saw coming. So Kate's only choice is to fight for the future she deserves - with or without Shane. . .
MY REVIEW 5 STARS
Have you ever finished a book and wanted to read it all over again right away? This is the book that I couldn't put down after finishing, so I read it again. Be ready for a love hate relationship with Shane who was a total jerk to Kate. I wanted to throat punch him repeatedly in this book and cause bodily harm until the very end. Brace yourselves, this one is going to cause anger to rise. But here I am writing this review when I want to go back and start the book all over again, for a third time. I don't get it, this book has been on my mind all day.
Did I love the book, yes, one-hundred percent!
With the death of his wife and her best friend whom he grew up with stepping in to look after his 4 kids, what could go wrong? I could not believe Shane and his behavior to Kate. I started to hate him, plot his demise because let's face it, he was...is...a jerk wad.
Kate, let's go ahead and give her the award for mother of the year. For a best friend to step in, put her life on hold and do the things she did, well she deserved better than how Shane treated her. But, when you love someone, you let them find their way or, give them some Cyanide. I liked Kate, loved how she rearranged her entire life for the kids. I felt she needed to be more firm with Shane but, I understand why she let things slide with him.
Overall this book is perfect, one of my top reads. So go check it out and let me know what you think.
EXCERPT
I don’t remember the drive to the hospital or even where I
parked that afternoon. I can’t recall what the nurse looked like as she
searched for Rachel’s name in their computer system or the walk toward the room
where I waited for someone to speak to me.
The first thing I remember clearly is the white-haired
doctor’s kind face as he sat down across from me, and the young chaplain’s
small smile as he chose the chair to my left. Their words became a litany that
I would hear in my dreams for years.
My Rachel was gone, but her son was alive and in the NICU.
“Is there anyone you’d like for us to call? Any family or
friends that you’d like to be here?”
The question jolted me out of the fog that seemed to be
getting thicker and thicker around me. Dear God.
“I’ll make the calls,” I answered, looking blankly at the
wall. “Can I have some privacy please?”
“Of course. I’ll be right outside if you need me,” the
chaplain answered, reaching out to pat my hand. “I’ll take you up to the NICU
when you’re ready.”
The room was silent after they left, and I fought the urge
to scream at the top of my lungs just to hear it echo around me. I understood
then why people hired mourners to wail at funerals. Sometimes the lack of sound
is more painful than the anguished noise of a heart breaking.
My hands shook as I pulled my phone out of my front pocket
and rested it on the table in front of me.
It only took a moment before the sound of ringing filled the
room, and I rested my head in my hands as I stared at the name across the
screen.
“Hello? Kate? What’s wrong?”
“Shane—” I said quietly, my voice hitching.
“What? Why are you calling me?” His voice was confused, but
I could hear a small thread of panic in the urgency of his words.
“I need you to come to Tri-City Hospital,” I answered, tears
rolling down my face and landing on the glass screen of my phone, distorting
the letters and numbers.
“Who?” His voice was frantic, and I could hear him moving
around, his breathing heavy.
“Rachel was in an accident.” I sobbed, covering my face to
try and muffle the noise.
“No,” he argued desperately, as I heard two car doors shut
almost simultaneously. “Is she okay?”
I shook my head, trying to catch my breath.
“Kate! Is she okay?” He screamed at me, his anguished voice
filling the room as I’d wanted mine to just minutes before.
“No,” I answered through gritted teeth, feeling snot running
down my upper lip as I heard him make a noise deep in his throat. “She’s gone.”
He didn’t say a word, and less than a second later, the
connection was broken.
I rubbed at my forehead, trying to convince myself that it
was all just a nightmare. Where was I supposed to be? What was I supposed to do
now? My best friend in the entire world was there in that hospital, but not
really. I couldn’t bear to see her. I couldn’t help her. Where the fuck was I
supposed to go?”
I made my way to the NICU as quickly as I could, and within
minutes, I was holding my new nephew in my arms. The nurses told me that he’d
passed all of his tests with flying colors, and I was in awe as I sat down in a
rocking chair, cradling him to my chest.
“You sure got a shitty beginning, little man,” I murmured
against his fuzzy scalp, rocking back and forth gently. “I’m so sorry, buddy.
You’re probably missing your mama and that warm bubble you’ve been in for so
long. I can’t help you there.”
I sniffled, closing my eyes as tears rolled down my cheeks.
My whole body ached, and even though I had that little boy in my arms, the
whole day seemed like some sort of surreal dream, foggy in some parts and
crystal clear in others. I wanted to hop up and take his sleeping, little form
to Rachel, to tease her about the weird Mohawk thing he was sporting and make
joking comments about how men always seem to sleep through the hard parts of
life. I wanted to see her smile proudly at the sturdy boy she’d produced and
grumble that I was hogging him.
I wanted everything to be different.
I hummed softly with my eyes closed for a long time, holding
the baby close to me. It was quiet where we sat, nothing breaking up the
stillness of the room until I heard someone open the door.
“There he is,” the nurse murmured from the doorway.
My eyes popped open to see Shane’s ravaged face just feet
from me. He looked like he was barely holding on. I swallowed hard as his red
rimmed eyes took in his son carefully before rising to meet mine.
“Is he okay?” he asked thickly, searching my face. I’d never
seen him so frightened.
“He’s perfect,” I answered, my voice throbbing with emotion.
“The nurses said he’s a rock star.”
He nodded twice, reaching up to cover his mouth with his
hand, but before he could say another word, he was stumbling and falling to his
knees with an almost inaudible sob.
AUTHOR INFORMATION
When Nicole Jacquelyn was eight and people asked what she wanted to be when she grew up, she told them she wanted to be a mom. When she was 12, her answer changed to author. Her dreams stayed constant. First, she became a mom, and then during her senior year of college—with one daughter in first grade and the other in preschool—she sat down and wrote a story.
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THE DEEP END by Kristen Ashley (March 7, 2017); The Honey Series #1
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