Review: Between Us

Author: Mari Suggs
Started reading: February 20th 2020
Finished the book: March 8th 2020
Pages: 326
Genres: Romance
Published: March 24th 2020
Source: Digital copy from the author
Goodreads score: Not enough ratings
My score:

Synopsis

Conformist Emma Clark is unsatisfied with her life. She hasn't written in years and feels trapped in the same humdrum routine with her three best friends from college. She wants something new, but she doesn't know how to break free from her predictable existence.

When she meets Danny Watkins, an enigmatic businessman, Emma is pulled along on a new adventure. There's only one problem: Danny is going through a nasty divorce and there's only one person he's looking out for. Himself.

They quickly become friends as Danny inspires Emma to face the blank page again, and she helps him restore his farmhouse. But when love blooms, they both have to ask, what are they willing to give up for the sake of love?

My thoughts

This book is pretty special to me since I was a BETA-reader in the process and it was the first time I did something like that, EVER. It was so much fun and so educating to be a part of the journey. The first time I read it, still in draft, it was already so good. The characters were amazing and the story felt so real. Now that it's finished, and I read it again, I still feel that it's a very good book, just like Mari Suggs' first book Falling For you. It seems that she keeps up the high standards.

Pros

• Snippets of information: I love how you get snippets of information at just the right time. When you start wondering about certain things, Mari just drops the information that you need; exactly at the right time. It didn't feel like an overload of information being piled on me, like some books can do. It just felt very fluently and at just the right pace.
• Characters: There are a lot of different characters in this book and it was not hard to keep them apart at all. An author really has to give depth to the characters to make sure you can keep them apart. I can relate to the main character a lot, since she's a teacher and not sure if that's what she wants to do forever. I remember feeling exactly like that when reading the draft. Luckily I found my joy back in teaching, so I'm sticking to it, for now.
• Just fall into it: It's such a nice feeling when you just fall into a story and the past is not just a long list of things that's being told to you. Mari Suggs lets you drop into the story right in the middle of Emma and Danny's life, who are, at that moment, not that happy. There are little flashbacks in the story that give you all the history that you need.
• Real life: The book felt like a real story, instead of a romanticized novel. It shows the ups and downs in life and the way nothing is only black or white and can also be gray. The emotions came across so vividly that I actually felt the happiness and sadness drip out of the book and into my heart.

Cons

Nah.

Overall

I remember the first book by Mari Suggs like it was yesterday. I loved the characters and the story was surprising. It also felt like a believable book, just like this one. I feel like she's not just pumping out books like crazy, but really taking the time to write something with quality. I hope my review will attract a lot more readers, because she deserves it.

Thanks for reading!

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