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Review

“Hearts have a way of finding their way home.”

AL Jackson has once again delivered a beautifully poetic, highly emotive book that had me sucked in from the very beginning, and completely swept away by the romance and drama. Jared and Aly’s story is heartbreaking but beautiful, and I absolutely loved it!

Jared and Aly grew up together. As the best friend of Aly’s older brother, Christopher, Jared was a constant part of Aly’s life, and took on the role of her protector and defender. Their childhood was idyllic, until one event changed everything, sending Jared’s life spiralling out of control and eventually leading to him disappearing from Aly and Christopher’s lives.

Years later, Jared is a broken man. Still very much living with the demons of his past, he feels like he is toxic to all that he touches. He lives alone, full of hatred and self-loathing, feeling too undeserving to move on and find happiness, living his life as penance for the sins of his past.

While aimlessly travelling, Jared finds himself back in his home town and runs into Christopher, who is thrilled to see him and offers him a place to stay while he is in town. Not intending to stay long, he accepts the offer, only for everything to change when he discovers that Christopher shares a flat with Aly, bringing the two together again for the first time in six years.

Jared Holt was here.
A whisper of a smile curled my lips. He was real, no longer a veiled mystery that I’d hidden away in my heart. He lived. He breathed.
And God, if he wasn’t the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

Aly has been in love with Jared since she was a teenager. He is the one person that touched her heart deeply, and she has never been able to forget him. For his part, Jared had never seen Aly as anything other than a friend / younger sister figure, but seeing her all grown up effects him in a way he could never have imagined.

“You grew up on me, Aly,” he murmured, the words rough, almost in awe.

Aly recognises that Jared is broken, and reaches out to him, wanting to help him and heal him. Despite his self-loathing and fear of hurting Aly with what he perceives as the ‘corruptness’ of his life, he is drawn to her, and when he starts (platonically) coming to her room at night, the two of them open up to each other, rediscover the connection that they always had, and deepen their bond in a way that alters them both irrevocably.

Mom once told me Aly had me wrapped around her little finger. She’d been wrong. Aly had held me in the palm of her hand.

I love Aly! She is so strong, and completely accepting of Jared’s past and who he has become. She wants nothing more than to be there for him and help him to heal from the scars of his life. She has such a huge heart, and she doesn’t shy away from telling Jared how she feels, and I love the way she handles their reconnection.

“What do you see in me?”
For a moment she just looked at me, intensity pouring from her, before she drew me down to bring us chest to chest. Her breath came as a whisper across my ear. “I see beauty and pain. Joy and sorrow. I see the good and I see the bad . . . and I love it all.”

She loves him whole-heartedly, and the romance – in a change from your standard romance novel – is very much led by the heroine, and it is absolutely beautiful. There are some beautifully sweet moments, and a bit of steamy time as Aly leads Jared into something incredibly special, and it’s dripping with feels all the way.

“It was always you, Jared. Always. I can’t remember a day in my life when I didn’t love you.”
…
“You were my first crush.” She sobered, her voice strained as sincere green eyes slanted up to me . “And my only love.” Her throat bobbed as she swallowed, almost painfully. “I’ve been waiting for you my whole life.”

But Jared can bring the swoon too, and even though he feels unworthy, he can’t deny his feelings for Aly, and the way he expresses himself to her is gorgeous.

“Look at you . . . you have to be the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.”

The story is told in alternative POVs, so we not only get to see Aly’s love for Jared, and her fears for him, but at the same time we see how Jared’s feelings for Aly battle with his hatred and brokenness, and how her unwavering faith and love for him impacts upon him.

If I believed in soul mates or any of that shit, I knew she was mine. I could feel it, this connection with her I couldn’t possibly share with anyone else. Like we fit, this fucked -up puzzle that made no sense until we aligned the pieces.

Their idyllic childhood is revisited through flashback, all leading up to the big mystery of Jared’s past, and the event that led to him leaving town and their subsequent separation. It’s brutal, and it’s heartbreaking, and the impact that it had on not only Jared’s life, but those who cared for him, is absolutely devastating. It’s beautifully told though, and I love the way that Jackson gets us inside of Jared’s head and cleverly weaves the past and the present together.

The drama is intense, and my emotions were up and down as I watched Aly and Jared’s amazing romance unfold amidst Jared’s healing, and his moments of continued self destruction. My heart ached for both of these characters and all that they go through, and while the book ends on a happy note, there is still a lot more story to tell, and I am looking forward to continuing on with their journey.

4.5 beautiful stars.

 

Closer to You series

 

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