Love and Other Lost Things Published by Bookouture by Melissa Wiesner
on August 6, 2024
Genres: Abuse, Romance, Second-Chance Romance
Pages: 349
Source: Netgalley
Format: ARC, eBook
Find the Author: Website, Twitter, Instagram
Find the Book: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads
ISBN: 1835256767
Rating:
A completely heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, and unforgettable romance, perfect for fans of Colleen Hoover and Paige Toon. When two lost souls are thrown back together, is it far too late to fix their broken hearts?
Jane McCaffrey is only back in her hometown of Linden Falls because of her father’s death. She swears she’ll leave again forever—it’s not like her childhood home holds any happy memories. But Jane hadn’t planned on bumping into Nik…
The boy she fell hard for was a skinny teenager with messy hair and his glasses askew. Now he’s broad-shouldered and stands well over six feet tall: but his deep brown eyes are just the same. And when he breathes her name and caresses the fresh bruise on her cheek—like he can’t help but touch her—Jane is thrown right back to the best and worst time of her life.
Jane and Nik once shared everything: kisses, hopes, and teenage dreams. Taking in his blue scrubs and doctor’s ID badge, Jane’s heart lifts that at least one of them got to live their dream. And as they catch up over the beautiful music they once loved, it’s like the years between them fall away.
But Nik doesn’t know the heavy secret Jane carries about the real reason she left town. Or who put that bruise on her cheek… or about her plans to truly disappear, forever.
So when the past comes calling, can Jane and Nik find the strength to fight for each other? Or was Jane dangerously wrong to think she could outrun her secret—and will it destroy them both?
Love and Other Lost Things will shatter your heart, make you sob with joy, and remind you of the beautiful pain of lost love.
This book was a pull-at-your-heartstrings kind of read. With themes of domestic violence, this may not be an easy read for some.
Jane, the main character, escapes her home, after her father physically hurts her one night. After years of experiencing her mother being hit, he finally hits her in a fit of rage. It didn’t really stop there, however, as he also used mental abuse tactics to hurt her.
So she leaves at 18. She leaves her home, her friends, and Nic–her kind of boyfriend, but definite best friend.
Fast-forward ten years later and Jane’s dad has died and Jane finds herself in the same exact predicament–in a relationship with an abuser. Only she’s going to do what her mother was never able to do and leave him. So she gets him to let her go home to see her mom after her dad’s passing and plans her escape.
This was oftentimes a really difficult book to read because Jane was just so sad and stuck in her life. Also seeing her mom and how broken she was after years of abuse was tough.
The only light was Jane’s daughter… and her getting reacquainted with Nic.
Even though this was difficult to read sometimes, the relationship between Jane and Nic definitely helped ease some of that. It was nice getting to see them reconnect since all of their previous love story is told in the past tense–and not much of it.
The writing in this one was superb. I felt Jane’s heartache and desperation as she sought an out the only way she knew how.
Definitely worth the read–just be prepared for some difficult scenes.
About Melissa Wiesner
