In This Life by Christine Brae : ARC Review

Title: In This Life
Author: Christine Brae
Published Date: January 22nd 2016
Genre: Contemporary, NA, Romance
Page Count: 
Format: Kindle

My Rating: ★ ★.5

Goodreads Summary: 
Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere,
They’re in each other all along.
RUMI

It starts 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. 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.
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 My Review:

"There is sacredness in tears, someone once said. What I learned that day was that without pain there could be no deliverance; without sin, no salvation. That in this life, it is only through sadness that one could truly experience joy."

First off I would like to say I am not the normal target for this type of book. I don’t really read much new adult nor do I really like reading it. I accepted the chance to read this book though without realizing that this was new adult, and after I found out I decided to go ahead and continue reading and to give it and this genre a chance.

 Anna was a very real character, but she was extremely flawed and at time those flaws became very annoying.  Anna goes to Thailand in order to get away from her mother who she feels has betrayed her and the rest of the family through having an affair.  I got why she felt this way, but when certain things happened I wished she would have left Thailand and gone home.  Instead she didn’t and ends up greatly regretting that decision and it massively changes her and how she deals with things.  While she was in Thailand though Anna meets Jude who is also running from something (we don’t find out what this is for a very longtime.) while mostly their relationship is platonic it all changes when Anna gets a tragic phone call and basically needs comfort/distraction from what’s going on at home. 

Fast-forward several years Anna is now with Dante and they have a somewhat happy life. Until Anna see’s Jude again and then everything spirals out of control and Anna starts going back and forth between the two being unable to make a decision of who she loves more/ who she wants to be with.

This is when I really started disliking the book. Anna to me got so annoying throughout this time because every time she would act like she had chosen one she would panic and then leave and go to the other one.  It was just way too much back and forth and was just destroying all of their lives and was very confusing and could have been avoided. (If you ever find out something about someone who someone had previously had a thing for and still possibly loves tell them. Just do it.)

I do feel like some of the romance was rushed because of the time frames they needed to fit into and it made it seem like the connection shouldn’t have been as strong as they apparently were.

Overall I did have a lot of problems this book, which were mostly because this genre is just out of my comfort zone and I just don’t like reading about certain things.  

I received this book as a gift from Red Coat PR and Christine Brae in exchange for my honest review.