Always by Sarah Jio was a book I read through quickly because I needed to know what happened. In 2008 we have Kailey and Ryan, much in love and a really nice couple. She is a journalist and he is a big time wealthy developer. They are perfect in every way except that their values seem to be somewhat misaligned.

One day Kailey sees a homeless guy outside a restaurant and she gives him the food in her hand. When their eyes meet she recognises him and we are taken back to 1996 to the time when it was Kailey and Cade who were very much in love. So what has gone wrong? How did Cade a musical genius in terms of spotting the next great band and wealthy in his own right reach the place he is in now? The element of mystery held me... wanting to know more.

Kailey has been for a long time interested in the homeless and has fought through her journalism to have their plight and rights recognised. And soon this is even more important to her as she seeks to find out what has happened. She begins a fight to help him regain his health and his rights.

I was most interested in the 2008 part because that was where the now was. The 1996 part that is woven into the story filled in the backstory of Kailey and Cade. And they had been a perfect couple.

It is an emotional story of love. I really felt for Ryan as he was a good guy and he was in danger of losing someone precious to him. But Kailey and Cade had had that too and more. So in the end the ending was a little bittersweet.

I felt things wrapped up a little to easily and tidily, there were aspects of the story I would have liked to have been developed a little more but to discuss them would be to give the plot away. So I'll leave you to read and enjoy it as I did.

I usually enjoy Sarah Jio's books and find them to be super quick reads, so I was excited to check this one out. I found it to be more of a typical chick lit/soap opera story than her usual, but was still sucked into the story and read it quickly during our big snowstorm! Worth a read :)

A bit of a warning, this book is a tear-jerker from the beginning. I was a bit surprised at how early the tears started in the book for me. I went into reading Always knowing that it was chick lit and chick lit always turns me into a mushy mess. I just wasn’t expecting it by Chapter 2.

While I sympathized with Kailey, I was kinda annoyed with her. She should have told Ryan what was going on with Cade from the beginning, instead of keeping secrets. I mean, her boss (who was super supportive and unlike any boss I have known) and her best friend were voices of reason. “Tell Ryan. He’ll understand.” She doesn’t and then gets upset when Ryan finds out and he gets upset. What was he supposed to be? Happy that she is devoting all her time to helping the one man who disappeared on her 8 years earlier. The fact that he was at least understanding showed what a great guy he was.

Even before she realized it, I could tell that Kailey was still in love with Cade. I mean, she went and hunted him down after she saw him outside the restaurant. She became his advocate when the hospital decided that people who had insurance and were rich had more priority over those who were poor and didn’t have insurance (which is an unfortunate reality for most people these days).

Speaking of that, the love story between Cade and Kailey took my breath away. They loved each other so much and it just came off the pages. Like any couple, they had their problems. So when he disappeared, I could see why Kailey was devastated.

But what sold me on the book was the realistic insight to homelessness. People who are homeless are treated like they are below other people. All because they don’t have money or a place to live. People are under the incorrect assumption that most homeless people are drug addicts. Not true. A huge majority of people homeless are people who used to have a house and a job and through unfortunate events are living on the street. There are not enough shelters to keep up with a growing homeless population….which was correctly portrayed in the book also. As was people’s views of them. A little compassion can go a long way because you never know, you could be that person on the street. At the end of this review will be a link to the National Coalition for the Homeless. Click on it to learn more about how to help shelters in your community.

I did like the ending of the book and felt that the story had come full circle.

How many stars will I give Always: 5

Why: This was a genuine tear-jerker of a book. Like I said above, I started crying about the 2nd chapter and didn’t stop. The love between Cade and Kailey was so real, so raw that it came off the page.

Will I reread: Yes

Will I recommend to family and friends: Yes

Age range: Adult

Why: Sex and language

National Coalition for the Homeless

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

WRITING

I always love her writing. It is flowery and lyrical. It is also readable. You will read it, and understand it the first time around. You do not have to go back and read again and again for you to be able to get the sentence. I love how the music was imported into the story. It plays into the romantic between Cade and Kailey while they were seeing each other. I love how Sarah tried her best writing the feeling of Seattle music scene in the 90s. The link to the Spotify link is down below.

One thing that attracts me with Sarah’s writing is how well she was able to weave the story together, the present and the past. The chapters would go back and forth with the present and the past.

Sarah herself said she was inspired to write this story after bumping into someone that she knew years ago that ended up being homeless. That moment never left her and was telling her to write the story as you see today.

PLOT

This book is more character driven. The plot is lacking in some aspect. The plot itself feels like it needs to be polish up more because something is missing. There are unanswered questions about some of the directions that the book went into such as how did Cade lived for ten years and what happened truly with Cade. This book could be so much more.

When Kailey found out about Cade, she was determined to help because she was still in love with him, and that he was homeless and brain damaged. Now, I am not sure if it was a good representation. I need to research more and see if it is or not. Be aware when you read this book.

CHARACTERS

There are two main characters, Kailey and Cade. They fell in love and dated for a while. They met while Kailey and her best friend, Tracy were at a bar. The character development for both main and side characters was spot on. They were engaging and they felt real.

Kailey is engaged to Ryan. It is obvious on how much both Cade and Ryan loved Kailey but it is also obvious on how much more Kailey loves Cade. It was shown by how Kailey made her decisions when it comes to Cade.

OVERALL

Overall, this is a good book but not her best. It was predictable. The story is touching and heartbreaking. I am happy to say this is one of these books that does not end on a bad note, at least. One good thing that I took out reading this book is when it comes to homeless people, we would assume wrong about most of them when in reality, it was a good reminder to be more sensitive.

If you want to read a book of hers, I would suggest The Violets of March, her debut novel, and The Bungalow. These are my favorites of hers. I love Sarah Jio’s covers. It is always beautiful and it always tells a story.

I give this novel three stars out of five.

Oh my God, this is an immediate five stars of a rating for this book. I can't even begin to wonder at the ratings that aren't fives, because this is one of the most emotional reads I've gotten through this year, if not the past couple of months. The writing was simple but so sweet, and the roller coaster of drama and feels was crazy. I went from finding it nice and easy, to complicated, to irritating at one point, and then suspenseful, and then I pretty much just cried the rest of the way.

I thought I had the plot pinned down, but at some point, maybe a little more than half way through the book, I started to have doubts about who she'd end up with: the man she once loved or the one she was sure of. Lots of drama definitely had me frowning or crying or lying about just wondering what I'd do in certain situations (I've concluded that I'd just fall and cry) and like, damn. I've never read a book that dealt with homelessness before, so you can imagine how impacting it was for me as a new topic introduced into my life. It was really heartbreaking just thinking about someone I love out and alone like that for so many years. I tried not to concentrate on any of those things too much, and focus more on the love that life threw back at her, and even that was another heart-wrenching thing. How do you choose between the guy you used to dedicate your heart and soul to, and the guy that dedicated his own when you were at your lowest?

Overall, I think this is a must read. The writing had me reading the whole thing in a matter of hours, if not less. I'm an urban fantasy reader. I don't do these kinds of books, but I took a chance, and I am so glad I did. I can't imagine finding another book that could impact me more than this did. I feel like you'd be missing out if you didn't give this a chance.

I checked my e-mail yesterday night and I received a message from Random House. The manager of the publishing house asked me to post as soon as possible a review for the launch of Always by Sarah Jio. Eeeek...Bloody Hell, not yet read, I thought in complete panic without thinking that the launch was yesterday.

I decided to change my schedule and I started to read the eBook yesterday night. I finished it today.

You'll need to keep close to you a box of Kleenex because Always is moving and one of th most interesting love-stories I read since now.

I picked up this book by Sarah Jio time ago for various reasons.

I love her books, I had read previously other novels she wrote.
Seattle is in my heart.
One of my best pen-pals - yes you know paper and pen, envelopes and stamps, that dinosaurs thing of the 1990's - with which I am still in contact with is from Seattle.
One of my favorite movies Sleepless in Seattle set in that city.
Being a friendly reality I have also other connections as well.
I feel the thematic of homeless a lot and I thought while I read the synopsis of this book in NetGalley that this one could have been potentially a very good love-story. As always, my instinct didn't fail. I was approved and joyous for it.

Always by Sara Jio is impressive because it's not just a love-story.
It's something else. It's a love between a man and a woman stolen by destiny and then re-donated at the protagonists.
It's the book of second chances.

It treats of loss and return, of waiting, love and defeat, and at the same time of crucial choices in our life and understanding. Of real love able to set free the partner for love, of gratitude and dignity and sentiments respected.

The book is never superficial but profoundly explores the sentimental dynamics of a lady who thought she had found a stability in every sense and that maybe she must re-think all her life again.
Maybe.
Because the past better than the present, because simply, the love of the 20s for Cade too strong for being thrown away again not giving to it another possibility.

It's a book that will speak at the heart, at the conscience, at the life and at the dignity of people and their lives trying to have respect for every point of view.

The story starts with Kailey and Ryan, a happy couple at the italian restaurant Le Marche of Seattle.

Kailey is a reporter of the Herald and she reached the success she desires. Ryan a very successful man. A happy couple who intend to start a life together, celebrating the joy of staying together with a wedding pretty soon.

Kayle is a reporter very involved in social problems and she treats the topic of homeless very often. That night while leaving the restaurant Le Marche while she was waiting for her fiancee and their car she notices this homeless pretty starved close to the restaurant. She presents him something to eat and when she looks at his eyes she recognizes him. Impossible to fail: this one was her boyfriend Cade McCallister, never forgotten.

Cade had a label and was very famous in the music industry of Seattle during the mythical 1990s. Why now Cade is here, in this state, homeless and what happened to him during these past 10 years? She asks a desperate Kayle to herself.

Kayle is shocked, and she starts to live in a life of flashbacks.

Oh: the power of the twenties and the magical idea that everything is possible and that life is in your hands. You can imagine to find mr.Right, and building a good existence with him, having some children, working and being a satisfied girl.

In general it goes in this way, but not for Kayle.
To Kayle the dream of marrying the man she loved so badly broken. Broken because she knew something: that Cade was her Mr. Right and the man with which she would have wanted to spend the rest of her existence. And he just disappeared like a ghost from her, without to tell her why, without an explanation.

Once this dream over she didn't think at love anymore with the intensity of the past.

Two years spent together, from 1996 to 1998 one day Cade simply evaporated from her life.

Her dream of a family, of a love, some children, replaced by a successful work and other gratifications. Her heart locked until later she would have met Ryan. Other age, a more mature love, her sentimental life back.

Kayle accepted this second chance with enthusiasm thinking that life must be lived and truly loving deeply Ryan. Cade McAllister buried in some corner of her heart but now inoffensive.

But...What happen if the past returns, and which can be the reaction of a person at the return of someone so beloved?


It's what the book wants to analyze, and it does it with great maturity and class according to my point of view.

Memories of the moments Kailey spent with Cade are back in all their intensity. They had lived a real, beautiful love-story. Walks discovering secret corners of Seattle, trips as the one they did at Big Sur, Carmel, Monterey, where Kailey's grand-dad knew his future wife, unforgettable moments for both of them, moments spent together enjoying the company of each other and thinking that yet, they were made for spent the rest of their life together.

Few characters all very well centered, the book doesn't know any kind of dispersion but focus in the relationship created by the two protagonists at first in 1996. The book is divided in two part: a first part is set in 2008 the crucial year of the return of Cade and a part from 1996 to 1998 the years of the first relationship between Cade and Kailey.

Not only.

Always is also a book that wants to speak at the heart of people revealing the social conditions of American hospitals, sometimes too cold with people marginalized by the society for many reasons.
It wants to speak at the heart of people reclaiming that we are all human being, and it is not important if we are rich or poor, each of us has dignity and should be cured very well.

But in which state Kailey finds Cade? In a miserable one. This man must suffer of some mental retard, she thinks desperate. Maybe he remembers her, maybe not. At the beginning the reporter can't interact with him because the man is absent, starved.

Kailey once saved by him decides that now it's arrived the moment of helping her biggest love of her life, but at what price?

Ryan will understand her feelings? And mostly: is she still loving Ryan as much as she should love him considering that very soon they will be married?

Always is a book that tells of changes. The changes that can occur during our life, the differences that we can find in a person we love so badly and we thought we had lost forever and the acceptance of this person transformed by life but also of the immutability of love when the feeling has been real and sincere with all the crosses that can bring with it.

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë is another example of a great love for a wonderful, conflictual man. At the end of the book the protagonist will discover that her love, unforgotten, Edward Rochester had lost the vision from both his eyes because of a terrible incident but she won't go away from him because real love is able to resist everything.

The title Always created because of a tattoo the protagonists once will decide to do while in vacation, in french, Toujours, while the cover of the book speaks of true love. There is the tradition of put a red wrap in a branch of cherries tree everytime you think you have found your true love.

I highly suggest you this book for the maturity I found while I was reading it. It is written by a writer who gives dignity to each protagonists and at the end of the book in the happiness and unhappiness that some protagonists will live, no one will be completely defeated by life because love will always win in every case.

I thank NetGalley and Random House for this book.


Anna Maria Polidori

Sarah Jio returns following The Look of Love (2014) with her eighth novel, ALWAYS. Written with the passion, past love, romance, relationships, the music of the 1990s, TBI, and of course the art, beauty, and charm of "spectacular" Seattle. When love never lets go.

“To old love and new, but, most of all, to the kind that lasts, always.” A perfect Valentine read.

It is 2008 in Seattle, Kailey Crane, a writer for the Seattle Herald has it all. A successful career, a charming new Craftsman bungalow and an upcoming wedding to the perfect guy, Ryan. He has wealth, looks, and the entire package.

As the book opens, the couple is having a leisurely dinner at the upscale French restaurant, making their upcoming wedding plans. As they are leaving, Kailey comes face to face with a homeless man and his piercing eyes. Shockingly, she recognizes him. Cade McAllister, the love of her life.

Cade was part of her past. They had dated back in the 1990s. A famous record label owner. He loved music. They had matching tattoos. Skin inked a decade prior- a glaring reminder of the past that did not become a future, of the dreams that evaporated into thin air. How did he go from success to thin, frail, boney, loss of memory, and homeless? The sight of him haunts her. Why did he disappear so long ago?

Their tattoos. The word: Toujours, French for “always,” remained on her shoulder. Thinking of Cade reminded her of Tracy her best friend and former roommate. They both had been wide-eyed and idealistic. They believed in true love and happy endings. She and Cade had planned their future.

Kailey is working on an article for work, regarding a series about Pioneer Square and the homeless. Ryan, of course, does not agree with her opinions. They agree to disagree on the areas where their professional interests diverge. Ryan is a developer and thinks they should dynamite the six-block radius. He thinks there is nothing but addicts and vagrants. The homeless.

She wants to help the Hope Gospel Mission, the non-profit organization, the shelter for the homeless. The new proposal would entail demolishing thousands of low-income units and shelters. Currently, they were in the midst, of a gridlock with the city.

She believed these establishments needed to keep their doors open. Ryan worked with builders which were ready to throw up apartments, displacing the lifeline for hundreds of homeless people in the process.

Kailey cannot get Cade out of her mind. They had been in love and he left. She had tried to locate him and never found him. He did not recognize her. She must help him and find out what happened to him.

She begins searching the streets for him and ultimately finds him to learn, he has TBI. Traumatic Brain Injury. She puts Ryan, and her wedding plans aside since she is obsessed with helping get Cade off the streets and the medical help he needs.

We revisit the 1990s and the early days of the couple's relationship. Kailey now is torn between her loyalty and love for Cade, and the man she is about to share her future with. Why did Cade leave without a word?

A little different novel than some of Jio’s typical historical fiction (have read them all). She brings forth all the charm of Seattle and the strong emotions of a woman, who has to make a difficult choice between two different men.

However, the story of Cade, his former business partner, and his ten years on the street were very undeveloped. The story was quite intriguing, keeping you hooked; however, like most reviewers and readers, have referenced: we all were hoping for more to "fill in the blanks." I would love to have a POV from Cade. His voice would have been a nice enhancement to the overall story. The ending was tied up in a neat bow; however, left you wanting to learn more about the events leading up the night Cade lost his memory and after.

Possibly more research and discussions regarding TBI, and the homeless social issues. I am a huge fan of Seattle and have spent a lot of time in Pioneer Square, the jazz bars, quaint B&Bs, coffee shops, (ArtWalk, MusicFest), markets, as well as charming inns by the sea in Puget Sound and Snohomish. One of my favorite cities. Nice to revisit through the book.

An intriguing subject, since we learn —as in the book, every homeless person has a story. Any one of us could find ourselves in the same situation, if not for the help of others. We never know their “real” story or their journey. Instead of judging, we all need to join forces to help our communities continue with resources to assist.

The cover is stunning (received the paperback copy) as well as the digital copy. The cherry blossoms, the red scarf, the music, the setting, and the love story. As always, Sarah Jio continues to entertain, with compelling topics and those proposing critical life changing heart-wrenching questions/life choices. What would you do when faced with this difficult choice?

For fans of Colleen Hoover and contemporary romantic fiction.

A special thank you to Random House, NetGalley, and LibraryThing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

JDCMustReadBooks

On a side note: I reside in the urban downtown Arts & Entertainment area, West Palm Beach and walk everywhere; we have many homeless people, while surrounded by wonderful funky art, grunge, with character and flair among old converted lofts with a similar vibe to Pioneer Square. There are projects here facing the same controversial issues of billion dollar condos going up and replacing the low-income housing, leaving these people displaced and nowhere to turn.

Always, Sarah Jio’s much anticipated new release, takes on the homelessness epidemic using the powerful medium of fiction. I received my copy in advance in exchange for an honest review; thank you Net Galley and Random House Ballantine for the DRC. This title is available to the public today, and if you have enjoyed Jio’s other novels, I am confident you’ll like this one too.

Kailey Crane is a journalist living in Seattle during the 1990s, and she has the whole package: a great job, a wonderful city, and a wealthy, handsome fiancée. It’s the life other little girls dreamed of but didn’t get. Then one night as she and Ryan are leaving a restaurant, she literally bumps into a long lost love. Cade McAllister is the man Kailey had been going to marry until he disappeared. He practically vaporized. Stunned and humiliated, she picked herself up and rebuilt her life, and now here he is, a half-crazed homeless man living downtown on the streets.

What the heck happened?

Kailey wants to marry Ryan, but she also wants to help Cade find housing, medical care, and food. Ryan makes it easier by agreeing that she should do the right thing. Quickly she learns that it isn’t as simple as it seems. There’s a whole safety net in place for people like Cade, except that it doesn’t work. In fact, without her own ready access to Ryan’s money, she can do virtually nothing for Cade. But it’s all right, because Ryan is on the side of the angels; he sees that this cause is a just one, and he’s a generous guy. He’s in love, and he’s feeling expansive.

The problems begin when Kailey starts missing key wedding events because she’s off helping Cade, or trying to. She becomes so involved with one thing and another that before she knows it, she’s over an hour late. There are out of town relatives that are present, but where’s the bride? And before we know it, she’s telling lies, and sometimes they don’t even seem necessary. I want to reach through the pages of the book, yank Kailey into the kitchen and talk to her.

What are you doing, girl?

Fissures in her relationship with Ryan turn into fractures as he senses the level of her obsession, and he doesn’t see things as she does anymore. His material interest is involved, since a project his development corporation is about to undertake conflicts with an already established homeless shelter in Pioneer Square, a historic part of Seattle’s downtown. He questions why so many resources are required for the homeless; aren’t these mostly drug addicts and crazy people? There ought to be a simple way to dispatch the problem.

A strong story overall is somewhat tarnished by what feels like a glib ending. I recall a favorite episode of the Muppets when Miss Piggy is working a jigsaw puzzle, and she hates to be wrong, so she slams a piece into a hole where it doesn’t belong and howls, “I’ll make it fit!” The ending of this story brought the episode back to me, because Jio seems to be doing more or less the same thing.

Recommended to fans of this successful romance writer.

Sarah Jio is great at writing stories about the human journey. Always takes you into the lives of Kailey, Ryan, and Kailey's first love Cade. It is an emotional journey that makes you question your own first love and back to the time that you said you would love them Always.

While the depiction of life in 1990s-era Seattle is quite engaging, the story itself was too predictable and overly sentimental for my taste.

He saved her life once, now it’s her turn.
In bestselling author Sarah Jio’s, new novel ALWAYS (Penguin) Kailey Crane is on top of the world. She has a perfect, gorgeous, rich fiancé who worships the ground she walks on, a fabulous writer’s job and a lovely new remodeled Craftsman home in chic, Wallingford, a section of Seattle.
After enjoying a special candlelit dinner at one of Seattle’s most popular restaurants, as they are leaving, Kailey notices a thin, bearded homeless man on the sidewalk. She offers him her leftovers and is shocked when their eyes meet. She is looking straight into the eyes of her very first love, the love of her life, Cade McAllister.
Kailey and Cade met ten years earlier and fell in love immediately. On their first date, each learned the other lost their parents when they were young, and on a hiking trip, Cade saves her life sealing their love forever – for ALWAYS. It was a once in a lifetime kind of connection, but it all ended when Ryan just disappeared.
Now this homeless man, is an empty vessel of his former self. Immediately Kailey wants to learn what happened and help him, but she loves Ryan and he knows nothing about this part of her past. Over the next few weeks, Kailey meets Cade secretly and helps him slowly put his life back together and learn why it all fell apart, in the first place.
Alternating between the past and the present, ALWAYS is a beautiful exploration of a woman faced with an impossible choice, a woman who discovers what she’s willing to save and what she will sacrifice for true love.
ALWAYS is the kind of love story that immediately draws readers in and never let’s go. I love the characters, the deep sense of frustration and capacity to love. I never wanted ALWAYS to end, but it eventually did leaving me incredibly satisfied. I’d suggesting reading ALWAYS with a nice cuppa and a little good chocolate. You won’t be disappointed. Thank you, Sarah.

Sarah Jio is the #1 international, New York Times, and USA Today bestselling author of eight novels. She is also a longtime journalist who has contributed to Glamour, The New York Times, Redbook, Real Simple, O: The Oprah Magazine, Cooking Light, Woman’s Day, Marie Claire, Self, and many other outlets, including NPR’s Morning Edition, appearing as a commentator. Jio lives in Seattle with her three young boys.
We have one copy of ALWAYS to giveaways to one lucky readers of out blog. Just tell us which of Sarah Jio’s previous eight and now nine novels is your favorite. We’ll announce a winner Monday.

I loved the tension between the old and the new. Kailey is defenetly caught between the past and two futures and she must choose which one is for her, but she genuinely cares for both Ryan and Cade and that only complicates matters for her further. The tug of war is better sweet and I was so glad she shared it with me.

Heartwarming!

Always is a fun "beach read" book - light, easy to put down and pick up again, fun to read. I couldn't wait to find out how the story concluded. The ending was somewhat predictable, but satisfying.

No spoilers this time just a few comments about what a good book this one was. I can not help but fall in love with a book set in Washington state, knowing where each place is and on what street its located. Sarah does not disappoint with this one either. Yes Kailey is a little wishy-washy but most woman are right? The only thing I would falter on was the ending it wrapped up a little fast for me I want to know more....... perhaps a sequel is in order!!


My thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Kailey is living the perfect life, on the cusp of the perfect marriage to the perfect man, when she has a chance encounter with the one who got away- the love of her life who disappeared without a trace years ago and now crosses her path as a homeless man with no memory of her or what happened to him so long ago. Torn between the new path she has forged for herself and the memories that she could never quite let go of, Kailey decides that she must help Cade before she can truly move on.
Jio's latest is a solid tale that touches upon the serious issues of homelessness and the ever changing nature of relationships, and adds a bit of mystery and romance as well. Fans of the author will be satisfied, though newcomers would be better served by picking up one of her stronger works such as Goodnight June or Blackberry Winter.

Kailey Crane is a thirty-something-year-old journalist engaged to a good man, Ryan Winston. They are in the midst of arranging for the upcoming wedding and life is good. Well, as good as can be expected when you're engaged to someone involved in real estate and you're writing an investigate piece about how developers are in the process of destroying a necessary social services institution, namely a homeless shelter. Kailey and Ryan have their differences, but they do love one another and are looking forward to building a life together. Ryan knows that Kailey has a past and that her past has involved a lover or two, but he's willing to let the past stay in the past as long as they can build a future together. Everything is going well until the man from Kailey's past returns and his disappearance and return are surrounded by a mystery. Can Kailey ignore the old love of her life in order to build a new life? Can she help the old love of her life without destroying her new love life? And more importantly than either of these questions, is that old love truly dead?

I've just got to say that I loved Always. I ripped through this story without interruption in one sitting on Sunday evening. This story touched me in so many ways, but primarily because I have a good friend from high school that suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of a severe beating and his recovery has been long and hard. Ms. Jio has taken several sensitive subject matters, traumatic brain injury or TBI and homelessness and incorporated them into a story about loss and love. I enjoyed the twin storylines, as they provide the reader with a glimpse of Kailey's early relationship with Cade and its development, as well as her current relationship with Ryan and the impact finding Cade has on it. I enjoyed all of the characters, the action, and the settings. Seriously, I loved this book and can foresee me rereading it over and over again. (Yes, it was just that good in my not-so-humble opinion.) Always is more than just a love story it is a story that pulls at the emotions as it asks what will and won't we do for the sake of love. If you've read any of Ms. Jio's writings then I encourage you to go out and grab a copy of Always to read. If you've never read anything by Ms. Jio then Always may be the perfect starter book. I will say this, set aside enough time to read uninterrupted and for those of you that get a little misty when reading emotionally laden books, grab some tissues.

Love is timeless, endless and knows no boundaries. What a beautiful love story I have never read such a unique story it was unexpected and thoroughly enjoyable. The power of love and finding your one true life mate and never giving up is beautifully told in this story of endless love.

"When someone wants to leave, you let him."

Always had an intriguing synopsis and a great cover. I love second chance romances and it sounded like this one had a good one.

Kailey Crane is ready to get married. Her fiancée is a nice man who loves her and wants to give her the world. After finishing a meal at a restaurant and while Ryan is retrieving their car, she sees a homeless man. When she approaches him, she realizes she knows him. He's the love of her life. The one man she can't forget. His name is Cade McAllister.

Cade disappeared a decade ago without so much as a phone call or a message. No one knows what happened to him during those ten years. At some point, he suffered a brain injury and his mind is in disarray. Cade used to be a successful business owner. His world was music. When he goes missing, Kailey is lost without him until she meets Ryan. Despite the pain Cade has caused her, Kailey can't leave him when she sees him so vulnerable. She knows she has to help him even if this could cause trouble with her relationship with Ryan.

Always had a good premise but it was predictable. Like I mentioned before, I love second chance romances and first loves are always fun to read. I was hoping for big drama and very tough decisions but I didn't get them. The end felt rushed with all issues resolving in a matter of minutes. Still, I couldn't stop reading it.

Cliffhanger: No

3 Toujours Fangs

A complimentary copy was provided by Ballantine Books via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis from Goodreads
Always by Sarah Jio is a romance novel that deals with love, heartbreak, and shows that the heart never allows you to forget who you really love.

The main character is Kailey Crane and she living with a man named Ryan. They are serious and are planning a wedding. As the story goes on, we find that while Kailey and Ryan get along well, there is something missing. They just don't seem to be as in love as would be expected from two people who are getting married. They each seem consumed with their jobs and their romance just isn't the stuff that makes a good romance novel.

In comes Cade McAllister. He is a homeless man who the couple encounters while out to dinner one night. Upon further glance, Kailey realizes that the homeless man is none other than Cade, her long lost love. Kailey and Cade had a wonderous, magical romance back in the day until one day, Cade disappeared. Kailey never knew what happened to him until now. Gone is the uber successful and handsome man she loved in her past life, and he is replaced with a man who is broken, down on his luck, and a shell of who he once was.

The book alternates between present day and Kailey and Ryan's life together and the past where Kailey and Cade exist as a couple. As the book continues on, we find out what caused Cade's life to spiral out of control and we also find out where Kailey's heart truly lies..and with whom.

The story was an interesting one and I loved how it alternated between the past and the present. However, it felt a bit sappy to me. I won't spoil the mystery of Cade's disappearance and his apparent fall from society but I will say that it was kind of...shall I say it? Soap Opera-ish. And then Kailey's struggles between the two men(not a spoiler, it is evident this will be a central theme from the story if you just read the blurb), is kind of eh. They make Ryan out to be such an unlikeable character(in my opinion) that you just want her to be with someone else just because its emphasized so much that they don't have that magic spark and that its a relationship of comfort, not true love. Its pretty cookie cutter and the ending is pretty predictable. The main part that I thought would be interesting is when we find out what leads up to Cade's disappearance. And I will just say that part fell flat and we waited too long to hear who was involved only to be let down by what we find out. I give this book a 3/5 stars. Solid, quick read but a bit sappy and predictable.

I was given the opportunity to review this book when I received a free e-book advance review copy from NetGalley and Ballantine Books. I received this book in exchange for an honest review.