Review: A Lot Like Forever (Blue Moon Bay #3)

A Lot Like Forever (Blue Moon Bay #3)

Jennifer Snow

Blurb:

Whitney Carlisle has everything under control—or at least that’s what she needs everyone in Blue Moon Bay to think. She has always faced the hard times in her life head-on and come out stronger for it. But this time, she isn’t so sure. Whitney knows she needs help, but how can she put that burden on Trent, her fiancé? How can she crush his dreams by telling him the plans they made for a future together have to change?

All Trent Connolly wants is to get married, have kids, and spend the rest of his life loving Whitney. Their relationship has had its share of ups and downs—like any other couple—and they’ve always managed to get through it unscathed. So when Whitney is clearly struggling with something, Trent is ready to help. His fiancée’s strong will is part of what draws him to her—but this time, it feels like it’s pushing him away.

Whatever Whitney is hiding from everyone has to be big. Possibly life-changing. She must believe that revealing her secret would do Trent more harm than good, even if it crushes her under the weight of it. The only thing he can do now is be there for her in whatever way she needs…until a secret of his own comes to light that threatens to steal their chance at forever.

Themes:  Contemporary

Rating: 3.75 stars

Heat Rating: 

Review:

The Blue Moon Bay finale is the book we have all been wondering about, a will-they-won’t-they story that has been building from the very first story in the series.  Jennifer Snow’s series set in this small coastal town and revolving around three best friends is one that we have all been wanting to see come to a happy conclusion, but knew that some drama and angst was going to have to come first.  Whitney Carlisle is one of those women with so many balls in the air you can not imagine how she keeps it all going, but in the past, she has always been able to keep it up, but recently she has been letting thing slip, not the least of which is her relationship with her fiancé Trent.  Trent Connelly has loved Whitney for years and has no intention of either letting her slip through his fingers or letting her burn herself out, but the more he pushes her to slow down, the more she seems to push him away.  Now they are coming to a critical moment, and Trent is beginning to question if Whitney still loves him or not, but with changes comes to his own life, he needs to quickly root out what’s going on with her, or he might lose his chance with the woman he loves and the happiness he knows they can have together. I was angry at Whitney for a good bit of this story, not really able to understand why she was so resistant to reaching for the many helping hands that were being held out to her, but I guess that’s just because I don’t really understand that personality type.  For a woman that has always been known to be able to do and handle everything herself, though, I guess she felt like a failure when her health began to become an issue and she couldn’t handle everything on her own anymore.  I loved seeing her finally come to terms with her humanity and find the vulnerability and humility she needed to ask for the help she needed and understand that the love of her fiancé and friends meant taking that help didn’t make her any less than.  She is a smart (all evidence to the contrary in most of the story), sassy, sweet, kind, and determined woman that knows her place in the world and just needed to understand that her worth to those she loved didn’t revolve around how much she could do and handle for them all. Trent was the perfect man pretty much in my opinion through this whole ordeal; he pushed when he needed to, trying to get Whitney the help she needed even when she didn’t want it, worked tirelessly to help others, and even tried to give her the romance she seemed not to think she needed anymore.  Hell, for what it’s worth I’d snap Trent up and marry him in a heartbeat myself if I could, but it was obvious his love and devotion for Whitney never waned and I loved seeing that and knowing that when she finally pulled her head out of her ass, Trent would be waiting right there for her. The passion between these two, even in the flashbacks to the beginning of their relationship was intense and palpable and I loved experiencing it.  I was sad to see the series ending, and can only hope we might someday see a spinoff that will let us greet some of our old friends again.  Another fun and interesting trilogy form one of my favorite angsty romance authors. 

*eARC provided by publisher (via NetGalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review.  No compensation was provided.