Random Acts of Trust
I'm reviewing this from my own personal copy that I dug up on my kindle. :-)I read this series when it first came out, but I wasn't recording everything on GR yet. I was given the opportunity to blog about the series, and I leapt on it. (Another post will come later, but that one is super seekrit)
This is the second book of this stellar series, and it's a "what could've been, what will be" story. It starts off a little slow, revealing the backstory a little at a time - while being in the present - mostly with Amy, when she sees Sam after a four year absence from her life.
Amy and Sam both have baggage, some that come from each other, and some that come from difficult home lives. They manage to add onto that with present day issues, and it's a perfect storm of angst.
The side characters add so much to this book. Darla who has a rocky path to friendship with Amy, and is in the previous book AND next book with her relationship to the band. Trevor, Liam, & Joe - the other band members - who are friends to both Sam and Amy from their youths. And we also meet Tyler in this installment. He doesn't have a big part here, but he'll have his own book later on.
To say Amy and Sam's relationship is complicated is putting things mildly. They had a lot of things to work through, most of it had been caused by terribly unfortunate, and sometimes tragic, circumstances - that were handled badly when they were young.
Now they're all grown up, but stumble through old hurts to get to the heart of what matters. Neither one wants to admit to things that might make them seem like "less than" in the others' eyes, but vulnerability is always hard. It helps the reader to connect to the characters, and by the time things get heated up, I was in tears.
This will always be one of my favorite series', and it was nice to come back to it again. Forever Five Stars.