Love Realized

Beautiful! <3

This book reminds me so much of the Significance series by Shelly Crane. They are both such beautiful books that go against so many ugly cliches that are a trend in YA/New Adult (and even Adult) romances today.

Every character has its flaws and as much time I spend hating some of them, the author somehow always manages to make me fall in love with them all by the end. There are some moments of irritation because of punctuation but I have chosen to ignore it seeing as how much I loved everything else. As much as I cried for few moments in the book, it has overall made me ridiculously happy and I would be more than happy to read this book all over again and go through a few more tears if I could achieve that single moment of happiness I achieved just a few hours ago by the end of the book.

The story is simple and every single element in this book draws you in. The characters are very realistic and so are the settings and conflicts in the book. Both Jake and Gillian are very realistic characters. Sure, I had some trouble trying not to imagine choking Gillian because she was too sweet at times but I think overall, I still loved her. She’s a mother of three, she has to be patient and supportive and she really can’t just throw a fit because she’s hurt. She has to think about her children and I loved her for that.

Cliches I am happy this book DOESN’T have:
1. The false pretense that the are made for each other and Gilly has always secret loved Jake
2. One or the other have “saved” themselves
3. The guy is a ex-playboy
4. No kids—which in romance, I’ve noticed, translates to “baggage,” because then the author comes up with these “turmoils” the characters seems to be having being together because of the children
5. There is always a misunderstanding that leads to a breakup before the couple gets together…
6. …because the girl or the guy is very insecure/unwilling to trust the other
7. People never forgive each other or are able to move on
8. There’s no such thing as second chances

These are such repetitive plots that they are so frustrating and unoriginal. To me, it felt like Jake and Gillian were fitting and molding themselves for each other in their lives and it was such a breathtaking love tale.

This book comes the closest I’ve even seen to what real life romance is. You get married at the wrong time, you have an unexpected pregnancy, one partner or another will cheat, you spurt lies to family or friend—it takes hundreds of mistake to get it right and I love that about this book.

Favorite quotes:
“Can I have you Gillian? […] Will you catch me Jake?…I’m falling for you, Jake, but I need to know that you’ll catch me.”

“You would be much more than ‘just enough’ for me Gillian.”

This was worth the money and the time, definitely among my favorites as of now. If you want a sense of family and together, a real, pure romance, and a heart-throbbing tale of how to get it right—read this book and your heart will tingle for hours. I just have no other words but one I’ve constantly repeated—BEAUTIFUL.

P.S. Can I please just be allowed a moment to gawk at the beautiful (oops, there I go again) cover? Though there is something wrong with the male model’s bottom lip. :-?