4.5 stars
Lailah and Jude have moved to New York following Lailah’s successful heart transplant and are building their forever together. She’s back in school and he is at the helm of the family business. Between the stresses of classes, meetings, and wedding plans, they have plenty of time to visit with family, develop friendships outside the walls of the hospital, and count their blessings together.
These two fought for their happy in Within These Walls, and now they are living it. At one point, I started questioning if I wanted the happy that Jude and Lailah had built to face a challenge major enough to fill a whole novel. I loved where they were at the end of Within These Walls, and the thought of more pain was just too much.
I spent much of the first half glad that things seemed relatively smooth for these two. Wedding planning, honeymooning happiness is exactly what I wanted to see for them. While I knew the easy couldn’t last, it was so great to see while it was there.
But as much as I loved the happy moments, the last 30-40% crushed me. Because they face a challenge they thought they had prepared for, and fears they thought were past them are back to haunt their dreams and threaten their future.
Feeling their fear as they navigated an unknown future hurt. But by the end I was loving it again as I wiped up the mess my tears had made in the meantime. These two were both fighters. Lailah fights to survive, Jude fights to be her support. And when their bond is threatened, they fight for each other.
I absolutely loved how much mystery this built about Roman, Jude’s brother. Irresponsible and barely able to make it out of bed by noon one day, and successfully leading a board meeting the next, his polar behavior was as much a curiosity as it was a tease (I’m sure) for his book, Behind Closed Doors.
I was gifted a copy in exchange for an honest review.