Coming Up For Air

Liz, a woman in her 50s, has loved Tom Williams since she was a young girl. However, the secret that Liz keeps from Tom is connected to the accident that killed her brother Bohdan, who was Tom’s best friend. It also left Tom with a disability where his sense of time is impacted. Liz is beginning the process of divorcing her husband and with it, she re-evaluates her love for Tom. A powerful story of love and heartache.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

First time reading this author’s works and certainly won’t be the last. Really enjoyed the creative way the author incorporated some chapters set in the past. Enjoyed reading a love story that wasn’t your typical romance’s 20-30 year old hero and heroine, as well. Their ages were older then the genres typical couples but it was STEAMY. The couple had a lot of baggage to work through physically and emotionally, as well, which made for a unique read.

thank you NetGalley and chaos publishing for this arc! I loved the story. A deep story that focuses on true feelings !

Eliska is a 50yr old woman who has had enough of her husband of 30yrs, who has constantly been telling her she's not good enough and that she's hard to love, or she's cold. He never listens to her and then accuses her of not telling him what she needs from him. She goes back to Ohio to spend a week with her family for a wedding and a family reunion, she tells Paul, her husband, not to contact her while she's away and that she needs space from him but he can't give her that. He constantly calls her and texts her and then throws a tantrum when she doesn't reply.

While she's in Ohio, she hooks up with old flame, Tom. Though I guess not really an old flame when they've continued to have a sexual relationship for the past 30 years. They've known each other since they were kids, Tom was her brother Bohdan's best friend and when they were in their late teens/early twenties the two got together but this upset Bohdan because he was in love with Tom. Unfortunately, Bohdan pushes Tom off a tower and then jumps himself - Tom is injured but Bohdan loses his life.

Eliska saw the events unfold and then found the suicide note when she packed up his belongings but she never told anyone - not her parents, not her friends, and certainly not Tom. But now that she's left her husband, she's finally realised that she loves Tom and wants to be with him so he needs to know the truth.

Honestly, it took quite awhile to get to this point and for grown woman, she was extremely bad at communicating her feelings, especially to Tom. She's used him countless times over the years but he always allowed it because he was content taking what he could get from the woman he loved. He does start to push back a bit though when he finds out she's not happy in her marriage and is ready to leave her husband, he seems to finally have his moment but Eliska needs to be the one to realise this and he can only push her so hard.

This book is emotional and complicated. It shows that life is not as simple as we might want it to be and loving someone isn't always enough, or sometimes we just run out of love for a person who constantly puts us down. Elisks was relatable and while sometimes frustrating, it was easy to see where she was coming from because these things are not so black and white. I do wish she's properly confronted her mother though, she really needed to be put in her place!

Thanks to NetGalley and Chaos Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

A second chance romance with a mix of thriller is a combination of 2 of my favourite genres. While it is a bit of a slowburn this is a well written book that kept me glued.

I loved the way the characters were fleshed and the element of a second chance romance for mature characters. Something that I haven't read before. That added a different layer to the storytelling. A well written book with an intriguing premise.

Thank you Victory Editing and NetGalley for this e-arc in exchange of my unbiased review.

This was a bit of a slow burn but man, it had some steamy parts! This was a pretty powerful love story with some mystery elements to it.

This is a mature, spicy, second chance romance that follows a woman who is finally ready to start putting herself first.

The book follows Eliska, who in her 50s, finally decides it’s time to start living for herself and finding true happiness. She has been married to a man for 30 years who has told her the entire marriage that she is hard to love and has made her feel less then. She has always been in love with her brother’s best friend Tom, but felt she could never truly pursue that relationship because they are the reason her brother died over 30 years ago.

This book was just ok for me. I felt the first half of the book was very slow. There was a lot of miscommunication and the fmc just refusing to tell the mmc how she truly felt. I wanted to throw my kindle several times due to the same argument happening over and over. The last 20% was much better and earned the book an extra star. I gave this book three out of five stars.

Thank you Victory Editing and NetGalley for providing an arc copy of this book for review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.