Eight Goodbyes by Christine Brae
Published by: Vesuvian Books
Adult, Romance
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Synopsis
One universe, nine planets, 204 countries, 809 islands and 7 seas, and I had the privilege of meeting you.” –Unknown
When Tessa Talman meets Simon Fremont for the first time, not only is she attracted to him, she’s intrigued by how different their lives are. He’s a dedicated scientist, practical, pragmatic, and grounded—while she’s a head-in-the-clouds romance author. As their relationship grows, they agree to meet in places around the world, while continuing to live on opposite sides of the globe.
Though their feelings for each other deepen, their priorities remain the same. Simon is in a hurry to be financially sound and settle down, but Tessa is enjoying her freedom and newfound success. Neither is willing to give in, but as each goodbye gets harder, Tessa begins to wonder whether fame is the path to happiness, or if she has everything she needs in Simon.
Just as Tessa finds the courage to go after her own happily ever after, the unthinkable happens, separating them in ways they never imagined.
To move forward, she must let go of the past, and determine once and for all if love is truly more powerful than the pain of goodbye.
Review
I was really intrigued by the concept of this book – two people from different parts of the world who meet, are attracted, and keep meeting up in different places around the world as they act on that attraction and get to know each other. It’s an interesting idea and a really fun set up, but this book took me by surprise in many ways. I have really mixed feelings about it, and am still sorting through the emotional rollercoaster that this story took me on, so please bear with me as I process.
Tessa is an American romance author who lives her life wild and free and who has struck gold with her first novel and just started a year-long book tour. Simon is a British scientist who is sensible, stable and down-to-earth. They meet when they are both travelling away from home and based in the same hotel – she for a book signing, he for a conference, and it all starts from there.
One hour. That’s all the time he’d spent with her. One hour, and yet he knew that his life had been forever changed.
Over the following weeks and months they continue to meet up as Tessa’s travels take her around the world. But whereas she wants to keep things easy and commitment-free, Simon wants more.
“Why would I let you go?” He held her hands in his. “We could be beautiful. What we have, I mean.”
There is some back and forth as they figure it all out, with Tessa doing her best to keep her distance. She has issues to overcome, but their relationship progresses naturally and easily despite her hesitance and their eventual fall is beautifully written with lots of emotion.
“Simon, tell me what you want. Please just tell me”…
“No more goodbyes,” he whispered.
And then the story twists into a direction I was not expecting. It’s so shocking and so unexpected, that I had to stop and reread it again to make sure what was happening was actually happening. It’s a definite surprise, and it not only shifts the whole story, but also my feelings about what I was reading, giving the book a whole new dynamic.
I won’t say any more because I don’t want to spoil anything, but damn, this book messed with me, and I’m still struggling to figure out how I feel.
Firsty, I need to declare my love for Simon, because wow! He’s fun, sexy, sweet, and an absolute sweetheart. He’s open with how he feels, and he’s accepting of Tess and her feelings, and he absolutely won me over with his unapologetic love for her, and his patience, understanding and commitment.
“It’s okay. You don’t have to worry about anything at all. I know if I push too hard, I’ll lose you. I’m going to give you time to figure it out. But don’t take too long because I’m there.”
And then there is Tessa, who I struggled to connect with. I didn’t particularly like her, and some of her actions and behaviours ticked me off – one incident in particular at the beginning of the book had me ‘WTF-ing’ out loud. But as her character developed throughout the book, she definitely grew on me.
I enjoyed their love story, I thought it was paced really well, with lots of emotion, and I could feel everything happen for them. And I loved the travel aspect and the exotic locations that serve as the background to their unfolding story.
“You must know, more and more, I die with every goodbye. It used to be okay. It used to be easy to separate you, keep you in a different section from the rest of my life. Now, all I want is for you to be in it.”
My biggest issue is that it contains my number 1 pet peeve with books, which is usually an instant trigger for either a DNF or a complete disconnect…
Uuuugghhhhhh. I can’t deal with that! I get that there are unusual circumstances in this one, but still… it’s not ok. And in a book where I had only just started liking the heroine, this certainly didn’t help. But I was invested enough (mostly in Simon) to finish the book and see how it would all play out, and though it’s an emotional rollercoaster, the story does end well.It’s a hard book for me to rate. Had I known what was going to happen, I wouldn’t have read the story in the first place, but I did read it, and I could appreciate the writing, the emotion put into the book, and the beautiful, tumultuous love story. So I’m sticking in the middle with 3 stars.
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Giveaway
To celebrate the release of Eight Goodbyes, the author is giving away a $20 Amazon Gift Card!
ENTER GIVEAWAY HERE
The Escapist Book Blog is not responsible for this giveaway
Author Bio
Christine Brae is a full time career woman who thought she could write a book about her life and then run away as far as possible from it. She never imagined that her words would touch the hearts of so many women with the same story to tell. Her second book, His Wounded Light was released in December, 2013.
Christine’s third book, Insipid, is a standalone that was released in June, 2014, and her fourth book, In This Life, released in January 2016.
When not listening to the voices in her head or spending late nights at the office, Christine can be seen shopping for shoes and purses, running a half marathon or spending time with her husband and three children in Chicago.
Christine is represented by Italia Gandolfo of Gandolfo Helin Literary Management.
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