Craves The Angst: BOOK REVIEW - MY SKYLAR (Gemini #3) by Penelope Ward:

TITLE: My Skylar
SERIES: Gemini
SERIES PLACEMENT: #3
AUTHOR: Penelope Ward
AGE GROUP: New Adult
GENRE: Contemp. Romance
RELEASE DATE: June 2014
PUBLISHER: Self-Pub
FORMAT: eBook and Paperback
PAGES: Approx. 314

MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: 4.5 Stars
CLIFFHANGER: No

BOOK BLURB:
From the author of the Amazon #1 bestselling romance, Jake Undone, comes a friends-to-lovers story of longing, passion, betrayal and redemption……with a twist that will rip your heart out.

Skylar was my best friend, but I secretly pined for her. One thing after another kept us apart, and I’ve spent the last decade in fear of losing her forever.

First, it was the cancer, but she survived only to face the unthinkable at my hands. Because of me, she left town. For years, I thought I’d never see her again.

But now she’s back…and living with him.

I don’t deserve her after everything I’ve put her through, but I can’t live without her. This is my last chance, because she’s about to make the biggest mistake of her life. I can see it her eyes: she doesn’t love him. She still loves me...which is why I have to stop her before it’s too late.

My Skylar is a STANDALONE novel and a companion to Jake Undone.

**Contains graphic sexual content and harsh language. It is only appropriate for adult readers age 18+

4.5 Friends-to-Lovers-to-Enemies-to-Lovers Stars!

A Brilliant, Bitter-Sweet Romance About True Love, Redemption, Lasting Chances and Learning To Trust Again!

The Review:

I’m a sucker for stories about childhood friends who become more. I’m a hopeless romantic for stories about friends who lose each other only to find one another years later and I swoon over stories about friends turned lovers. Add in some tension filled angst and you have one hell of a book about childhood friends who are separated only to find each other years later and become entangled in a struggle to be together due to one circumstance after another to finally finding their HEA only to endure more years of separation and one last chance to come together and get it all right.

Told from alternating POV’s, this story was beautiful, sweet, sexy, heartbreaking, fun and intense all rolled into one and it kept getting better with each page.

Story/Characters...

Eleven year old Mitch comes to stay with his grandmother during the summer while his parents are going through a rough time in their marriage. Not wanting to be away from home, he doesn’t hide the fact he doesn’t want to be where he is but his grandmother talks him into going to the park for the day. Begrudgingly he sits quietly while kids around him play, only to encounter one very persistent girl who will change everything. Ten year old Skylar knows Mitch is the boy next door and she can sense his despair. Taking it upon herself to befriend him, she couldn’t have known this one act of kindness would set her future on an irreversible path of both pain and happiness.

Happily spending the summer together and forging a friendship unlike any other they’ve ever had, fate steps in and they are separated only to come face to face five years later and what was once a childhood friendship, turns into more. But fate steps in once again and this time hands Skylar and Mitch almost more than their young hearts can handle. Their budding romance becomes something life altering and together they fight fate and win only to be separated once again.

Five years later and so much pain between them, they get a third chance to make it right but there are many obstacles in their way, including mistrust, pain and broken hearts.

This story goes from sweet to heartbreaking to relief to angsty tension to shattered hearts to nerve wracking disbelief to more pain and then more angsts and then FINALLY to a happy resolution that comes almost too late. I was in a angst heaven throughout most of this book and loved almost every minute of it. The only part I really had a problems with was Skylars denial of her feelings after they are reunited as adults. She endured so much and went through so much pain that I sort of understand her hesitancy but she said more than once she learned to not sweat the little things in life and to find happiness where she could. I guess knowing Mitch had the power to ultimately break her, and he had once before, made her guard her heart harder than with anything else. So I get her conflict but I didn’t like it because I felt it dragged out a bit to much.

All that being said, I really enjoyed Mitch. That boy-turned-man was phenomenal to read and he was a true hero in my eyes. The things he did for Skylar, the way he felt about her was amazing and beautiful. I wish Skylar had of had more faith in their love but I understand why she felt the way she did. She saw herself as the weak link in their relationship and it destroyed them. But I did like Skylar. She was open, honest and brave and she fought... until she felt she had finally come to her end.

These two went through so much heartbreak but that ending solidified everything they’d been through. Things had a way of working out perfectly and if one thing had of changed during their struggle, they wouldn’t have had that fantastic ending.

Thoughts...

This was the best kind of read. I both LOVED it and hated it. My love for it was because it was completely heartbreaking and emotional and I was awestruck at how into it I was. I read straight through and at one point gave my hubs the “don’t mess with me glare” because he tried to talk to me while I was reading. It was well written and the story was super angsty, just how I like them. My hate comes solely from the misunderstandings, the misconceptions and the mistrust. If the MC’s had of been honest with one another, especially the heroine, from the very beginning, all that turmoil could have been prevented. HOWEVER, all that said, if it had been prevented, then there wouldn’t have been much of a story, right?

The Wrap Up:

This is the second book I’ve read by this author and I love how she isn’t afraid to bring her characters anguish. She totally brings the suffering and then gives us an ending to remember. I can’t wait to read more of her books, especially from this series. Though this book is book three in the Gemeni series, it can be read as a stand alone. But am I going back to read the rest? YES!