Love, Always by Yessi Smith

Well if there is ever a story that will tug at your heart strings then this is it.

It will suck the breath from your lungs and drain you of every emotion with the intensity of feeling that flows from every page. And then it will stroke your back gentle as it puts the pieces of your heart back together. I found myself with a tear almost permanently trickling down my face for much of this book and I can honestly say it did not bother me one little bit, because this book was worthy of my tears.

This story is the complete package, it is a story of love won and then tragically lost, of new beginnings, of unrequited love and of second chances at a happy ever after.

Dee is Josh’s woman, that is the way it has always been but she is also Adam’s best friend after Josh, so when fate takes Josh from Dee on what should have been the most magical of occasions, Adam knows what he has to do – he has to take care of Dee the way Josh would have – he has to make sure she is Ok and most of all he has to keep not only Dee but Josh’s baby safe.

With the weight of expectation heavily laid on him, he steps up to the plate and is not found wanting.

This is one seriously awesome guy – an absolute sweetheart with the heart of a lion and the determination to be all things to those who need him.

Throughout the book we get to hear from Adam from the age of six onwards, when he tragically lost his father in a shooting and the impact that had on his life is not a mere scratch on the surface it has seriously tainted his view of the world – he believes that bad things happen to people around him when he keeps them too close – I suppose in a way it is his defence mechanism but really all he wants is for someone to want him, to love him unconditionally and for them to never leave.

That isn’t too much to ask for now is it?

Losing Josh has broken Dee, she is desolate. Life without him holds no comfort for her and she begins to hurtle back towards depression, something that she has struggled with since her teenage years. Her parents are something else – believe me when ii say that you will be cursing at your kindle when you are introduced to her sorry ass excuse of a mother and father – they are reprehensible!!!

Without Josh, she barely functions but with a baby growing inside her and Adam by her side she begins to find her feet, or that is what we are lead to believe, but she is great at putting on a show and everyone sees exactly what she wants them to see, inside she is withering away, her soul lost the night she lost Josh. Perhaps if she took a look at the man beside her she would see how all of this was hurting him too. But his feelings were all contained inside because with Dee he had nothing but love and admiration.

Dee and Adam were glorious friends, but the chemistry between them was kept firmly under wraps, neither wanting to be the one to admit how they felt – Dee could do nothing to move on from Josh and Adam could do nothing to defile the memory of his friend – the man he thought of as his brother – but he loved Dee and had done for years. He could see a future for him and Dee and with little Josie already firmly established as his daughter – he almost had everything he wanted – expect the woman that owned his heart.

The book paid due attention to Dee’s depression and I felt that it was handled with both accuracy and sensitivity. It tackled head on, a subject matter that is prevalent in today’s society but on many occasions almost regarded as taboo, bravo Yessi for including and dealing with it in such a positive manner.

Oh and by the way – way to go with Hayley – she was bloody brilliant!!!