Title: In Flames
Author: Jessica Jayne
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Newsletter
Publisher: Jessica Jayne
Release Date: July 23, 2018
Genre: Contemporary, Romance
ARC Provided By & Reviewed For: IndieSage PR
Gracelyn Riley married a firefighter and knew that came with risks. But she never imagined herself widowed in her early thirties with two children to care for on her own. Even though her marriage to Chad Riley had its difficulties, dealing with the last year without him has not been easy. Her brother-in-law, Matt, has been the rock that has kept her from collapsing or imploding.
As a Mason Ridge fireman, Matt Riley had been at the scene when his brother, Chad, was killed. For the last year, Matt has suffered from survivor’s guilt and drank himself into oblivion. His sister-in-law, Gracelyn, supported him, lending him a shoulder to cry on. Her friendship has pulled him through time and time again until he finally sobered.
With the year anniversary of Chad’s death upon them, Gracelyn and Matt turn to each for support and comfort. What they didn’t expect was to realize that their feelings for each other go beyond the solid friendship they share. Can they overcome the guilt and the scrutiny of their family and friends to find love together?
There's no time limit for grieving. It's something I really, truly believe in. It doesn't mean that I'm okay with someone fading into nothing because of their grief. There's so much life to live beyond that deep rooted sadness; you just need to figure out what that life is now.
Sometimes the best one to help you along is the person you leaned on the heaviest in your grief.
I... I both hate and love this story. Hate it for the emotions, mainly sorrow, it evoked. Yet I love it for the same reason. The depth of Gracelyn and Matt's sorrow took my breath away, swept me up, left me struggling with vines of hope that one day they would feel whole again. Loved again. Feel like they could love again without regards to who it is.
It's stunning, not shocking, that it turned out to be one another. Comfort did that, and it was, honestly, beautiful to watch it turn into the beginning of love that was deeper than friendship.
I gleefully write this part not out of some twisted delight in watching two people who desperately deserve happiness and love after tragedy suffer, but because I believe it's real, that it happens. I can't speak from personal experience yet I can't imagine the pursuit of this kind of love in this kind of circumstance wouldn't be without backlash from people who were familiar with their circumstance. Going into this would draw fire from all sides and cause confusion among the children that Matt and Gracelyn had from before. The question that begs to be asked is, is it worth it?
And, I suppose, the bigger question could be how could it not be worth it?
I believe that love is worth the struggle, the fire it draws, the desperation to hold onto the belief that they are worthy of what they feel, of what they could have when that love is right. And I also believe that love can be birthed from shared grief, from comfort given, from firsthand understanding of what it's like to lose everything in the blink of an eye and to find everything in a heartbeat.
Ms. Jayne knows how to write life into fiction, how to fill it with emotional upheaval, and how to settle it with happily ever after. Gracelyn and Matt's story is steeped in tragedy and guilt, yet the glimmer of a brighter tomorrow hovers just over the horizon. The shadows that threaten to swallow them whole retreat as they journey towards it until they stand tall and proud and happy and deeply in love in the light of an amazing future together.
Jessica is a born and raised small town Ohio girl, who moved to the Sunshine State after graduating from college. She graduated from college with a bachelor’s degree in English. What college major could possibly be better than one that makes you read novels and write about them! Now she is thrilled to be able to share all the stories floating around in her head!
Jessica loves to travel and travel often! She’s a huge sports fan, especially college football and the Ohio State Buckeyes! She’s a wine-making (and wine-tasting) aficionado. She loves all music. And nothing is better than sunset at the beach!
In the journey of life, she also married a wonderful man and had three beautiful (and sometimes crazy) children. Life is always an adventure.
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