Title: In This Life
by Christine Brae
Date of Publication: January 22nd 2016
Genre: New Adult | Contemporary Romance
It started out so simply. Anna runs away to Thailand, drags her best friend Dante with her and spends a few weeks away, taking on other people’s problems while getting away from her own. She meets the enigmatic Jude Grayson, and for as long as it’s clear to both of them that it ends when they leave, she thinks she’s got the perfect fling planned out.
Or does she?
Anna returns home to find that her life is no longer the way it once was, and that she can’t stop thinking about him. She learns through tragedy that nothing she’s ever believed in has turned out to be true. The worst part? The people she loved were keeping a secret from her. And that no matter what she does, no matter how hard she fights against it, every path she takes keeps leading her back to Jude.
This is a story about love, found in a faraway place by two very unlikely people. It is also a story about friendship and loyalty and fighting for what you have despite the illogical mystery of fate. And with the struggle between morality and guilt, faith and acceptance, there comes a learning that even the best-laid plans are powerless against the alignment of the universe.
From the beaches of Thailand to the streets of New York, three friends, Anna, Dante, and Jude will learn the hard way that once providence steps in, there is nothing in the world that can change what is truly meant to be.
“He’s
a force that pulls me towards him, a cliffhanger in a story in need of an
ending.”
I’ve
finished reading Christine Brae’s In This
Life recently, and by recently, I mean around ten hours ago. As I was
reading it, I typed some thoughts out about this book that was sort of like an
outline of my review so that it won’t be hard for me to make a coherent and
cohesive book review.
It
didn’t help at all.
I
actually don’t know how I’m gonna write this review, so I’m just going to wing
it from here. You should know first that I really
liked this book. I’ve read so many New Adult Contemporary Romance books, so
it’s hard to get me to be impressed by the plot of books from the same genre
now, but In This Life…yep, like the
title suggests, there’s really nothing I could compare it to.
The
thing is, I didn’t immediately like
this book. If you’ve been following my reviews, you’ll know how much I loathe the
insta-love trope. The romance in Thailand was whirlwind and it made me cynical
about the characters’ feelings because I kept on thinking that maybe they just
felt what they did because of grief. I mean, in all the books I’ve read, I know
how much a part grief can play in uniting two people. So, there’s that. I also
didn’t like Jude right away (I’m actually #TeamDante) because of his
inconsistent characterization. Sometimes, he’s a good guy and sometimes he
influences Anna to do things that aren’t necessarily…good. His jealousy wasn’t
a plus either. There’s also the fact that Anna held on so much to the past that
she wasn’t able to appreciate what she has in the present. She was back and
forth during the first half of the book and was prone to knee-jerk reactions.
But.
When I
decided to look at the book as a whole, I saw it for what it really was—a book
that contains a lot of valuable real-life lessons.
Anna’s
confusion and indecisiveness wasn’t that at all. I learned that it just proves
that people experience different kinds of love in our life. This book perfectly
captured what it’s like to be torn between faith and passion. It taught me that
once you set your mind and heart to follow a certain path, the rest will just
fall into place as long as you keep on believing that there’s something happy
at the end.
I also
love that this book took me on a roller coaster ride of emotions. Honestly
speaking, I didn’t expect this from Christine. There were times earlier in the
book that I got totally blindsided. It was a terrific and good kind of surprise
on my part because I love to read the unexpected. The last 20% of the book
totally gutted me. Like I said, I didn’t expect Christine to write what she did
in this book. I know how emotionally-loaded her books tend to be, but I still
wasn’t prepared. Again, that was a major plus in my book.
Book Trailer
Character Profile
Playlist
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 is scheduled for release 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.
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