StarAngels' Reviews

A Review by Diane

It's Not Over 

by

Grahame Claire

Five Wonderful, Everything Stars!

*****

Love sometimes is a fickle and elusive creature.  Some are lucky to find that special someone because a friend knows a friend and introduces them.  And then some have fate intervene, and when you least expect it, that special someone crosses your path.  You know it the minute they speak, or the minute you touch.  The question is, are you brave enough to grab on and not let go?  Or do you allow fate to have their way, and watch that person leave your life?  Or, in the worse scenario, are you smart enough to grab on, only to push them away for fear of losing them another way?

And so starts the saga of Daniel and Vivian in our story by Grahame Claire.  A unique and different story that doesn’t start at the beginning; it begins in the middle with Daniel telling Vivian “it’s over.”  Their eight year love affair coming to an abrupt halt, and our blindsided Vivian not knowing why, and we are right alongside her as the reader.  Why, we ask?  Why?  Why?  And her response to Daniel?  “It’s Not Over.”

Through a twist of fate eight years earlier, Daniel and Vivian meet at a silent auction for Paths of Purpose, an organization that has Vivian’s heart.  A place where abused women need help and a place that Vivian has a kindred spirit with, having been cut off by her parents for making what they consider an inappropriate life choice…..a career.  In New York no less.  No decent young woman leaves Texas for New York.  They settle down and marry the man of her parents’ dream.  But not our Vivian.  She has her sights set in a different direction.

 

Daniel is drawn to Vivian as she is making a donation at the Paths of Purpose fundraiser, but as he approaches her, he suddenly is aware that he is dealing with a confident, young woman that can’t be bought with his amazing wealth, or bribed with his incredible good looks, or charmed by his smooth talk of an amazing night of sex.  No, our Vivian has depth and value in herself.  If Daniel wants her, he will have to earn her, but oh when he does…..he will have everything!

As Daniel and Vivian begin the dance of courtship, we vacillate between their present lives and their lives from eight years ago.  The present is filled with heartache, despair and Vivian searching for answers while Daniel quietly watches over her from afar.  The past is filled with Daniel and Vivian falling in love, while we as the reader invest ourselves in a relationship that has the depth we all long for.

But there is a dark side.  Daniel has secrets.  A life of danger and enemies.  A life he has managed to keep separate and away from his beloved Vivian, the love of his life, and Muriella, his closest friend, a girl he rescued when she was younger.  Both of these women have become his family.  Through an unbelievably difficult upbringing with a father that seemed respectable on the outside, but was the devil incarnate on the inside, Daniel is rescued by a mobster named Donato who is the devil to the outside world, but a caring father figure on the inside.  A man that has come to mean more to Daniel than he ever thought possible.  It is through these interactions, we begin to see the dynamics by which Daniel is made the person he is. We begin to understand why he has kept his two worlds separate and why he knew he could never keep Vivian.  Now these two worlds are colliding and in his desperate act to save those he loves, he pushes them out of his life. 

Grahame Claire has weaved a very clever tale. As a reader, this author draws you into her characters’ lives and allows you to get into their minds, slowly at first, so you see the reasons why Daniel is doing what he is doing and Vivian is refusing to accept “it’s over.”   There is no great “ah-ha” moment.  She graces her readers with the same intelligence she has given Vivian and Daniel.  We see through their eyes, and feel the same in our heart as our two main characters journey their path. 

In one simple word, this book was amazing!!  Yes, I agree, it starts out slow.  And since you don’t know yet what is happening you want to throttle Daniel, maybe even put this book down.  But don’t.  It’s not over!!!!  And isn’t this part of the journey Vivian was on?  Aren’t you in her shoes?  Isn’t that what our author wanted?  Oh what a gift as a reader we have been given, to feel the same as our characters!   And Daniel?  There are lessons to be learned.  By trying to save Vivian the way he thought he had to, by pushing her out of his life, he was saving no one.  It was only when he started to include her in both his worlds, and thus his entire life…. then he saved everything.  He had everything.  And that’s a wonderful thing for anyone to have!

A writer. A blogger. United by our love of stories and all things romance. There was definitely some insta-love. Hello? Books involved. A little courting. A lot of writing. The result...Grahame Claire.
Soulmates.

Unashamed of our multiple book boyfriends. Especially the ones that rooted in our heads and wouldn’t leave us alone. Don’t worry. We’ll share.