All I can say is "Wow", what an ending! Do I have to wait until Spring, 2014 for the last installment to this mind-blowing series?...lol!
***POSSIBLE SPOILERS PRESENT WITHIN REVIEW***
Raw, emotional, heartbreaking, loving are just some of the words that I can use to describe the second book to author, Amy Queau’s Progress series. Oh, my – just so riveting with ups and downs. Emotionally charged. High intensity. So many ways to describe only 284 pages of taxing upheaval. Wow! I really didn’t see revenge being a key factor between Jesse and Charlie. I mean, I knew that Jesse felt abandoned and was hurt beyone recognition from Charlie’s final decision to end their relationship. But, I didn’t think he had it in him to violate her trust and just take her so unattached and callous-like – especially when one knows that the feelings that he has for her are so deep. Damn! I think I was crying too. And, that doesn’t happen often when I’m reading a book. I don’t know if I still liked Jesse. He was just such an unpredictable ticking time bomb always hanging around waiting to explode. And, Charlie was way better than that. Charlie who always wanted to fix everyone. In reality, I thought that she must first fix herself. Her insecurities. Her sense of self-depreciation. So, Charlie leaves after finally sleeping with Jesse. And, he’s so angry. In fact, way beyond angry. He’s outraged and ready to detonate.
“Jesse was fueled with hatred. He had trusted the wrong one. After finally gaining the courage it took to confide in and respect someone, she left him. Just like the rest of them.” (pg. 4)
But, Charlie thinks she’s doing the right thing by leaving him because she believes she will never be what Jesse really needs. She feels guilty about it. He was a beautiful broken man that was begging her to stay so he could tell her what she meant to him, and she disappointed him by being so selfish. Jesse was just not ready for things that Charlie was at this point in her life. He would probably eventually reject her since he doesn’t “do” relationships.
“Love isn’t supposed to be the place you go, just because you have no place left to run.” (pg. 14)
Jesse realizes that he needs to leave. Not just his employment at the restaurant, but a living change of of scenery. The Crimson is looking for a Delivery Manager in Rye, New Hampshire, which would be an excellent place to start a new beginning away from the destructive relationship with Charlie.
“She had taken away the bullshit. She had successfully removed the misery from existence; it was so easy to forget when I was with her. And now it’s all back, and then some. If I don’t get out of here, I don’t know how much fight I have left in me.” (pg. 11)
Jesse leaves her without saying good-bye, and Charlie is so wounded and heartbroken, but maybe eventually everything happens for a reason. Maybe it was just not meant to be. But, that still doesn’t make her miss him any less – her best friend. She thinks about him every day. But, knows deep down that she’s made the right decision.
Enter Samuel. He comes into Charlie’s life like gangbusters, and is she ready for a new relationship when the one that she just got out of with Jesse is still so fresh in her mind? Sam is just so sweet! So cute! So charming! And, he likes her. Besides, he comes with no drama. Their relationship is tender and heartfelt. He understands her. Will they be able to keep this passionate romance together if and when Jesse comes back into the picture? Or will they be forced to re-evaluate the true meaning of their fascination with each other only to not be certain if it is exactly what both are searching for?
The author does a great job with moving the character development along. Just when I had Charlie all figured out and rooting for her “happily ever after” there’s another monkeywrench thrown in the equation to throw everything off. She did something so stupid and so out of character for her that I was extremely shocked and disappointed. Never did Charlie think that Jesse was so filled with revenge and hate towards her. But, I just chalked it up to just the effect that Jesse had on her and their relationship. Unfortunately, though, Charlie is left to her own demise. Just something more for the reader to have questions as to what will happen between the characters in book three. Will Sam still be around? Will Charlie and Jesse finally remain together as a couple? Or will Jesse’s manic depression be so out of control that something big will happen that finally seals the fate of his often downward-spiraling unpredictable behavior?
What an awesome read! So much heartbreak and turmoil amongst some powerfully compelling characters. The only one that I was basically sure of their intentions was Samuel. He seemed to be the most stable of the three. Charlie wasn’t unstable. She was just unsure of what and who she wanted. Who was essentially better for her is the big question. Samuel was safe. Jesse was unpredictable. Samuel was self-confident. Jesse was unreliable. Samuel was connected; existent. And, Jesse was broken; lost. Both men were beautiful in their own way. Jesse was her weakness, and he just seemed to consume her entire existence. Charlie had to chose. Let’s just hope that she’s made the right decision and that it’s precisely what she is looking for. Win or lose, though, ultimately somebody will get hurt.
“Does every woman feel this way? Are we always brought back to thoughts about the first man we’ll feel in l-no, strike that. Not love. It was never love. Was it? Okay, so maybe it was. But it was only because I didn’t know what the real stuff felt like. Jess was the closest I had ever been to falling for someone, so I guess instead of trying to guess what it was, I can just call it that.” (pg. 227)
As Charlie goes back and forth between both men, trying to figure out what is right for her, she tries to understand exactly what the past and present mean to her. The past is Jesse and his uncontrollable urges that always result in toxic consequences. And, the present is Samuel who just radiates stability and safety. But, when Charlie finally wrecks her new-found level of balance between emotional respectability and physical security, she questions what her real intentions could have been? Poor Charlie! Always trying to do everything right...well, she really messed up this time, and she treks to the cemetary. There’s just only one person that she can talk to for maybe some type of an answer. Some hope that she could possibly be redeemed. Forgiven. Try to make it right. Somehow, someway just trying to condone the disappointment in herself could maybe shed some light on why she hurt Samuel and their relationship.
I loved this book, and I can’t wait for the third and final installment of this trilogy! It was amazing! A great addition to this intoxicating series by talented author, Amy Queau...