Book Description:
When you’re ready to live again, love often has a way of finding you.
Four years after tragedy, Meredith Harper is tired of hiding in her corner of Texas and living life like a game of dodgeball. She packs up her grief, awkward social graces, and sizable life insurance in search of a vacation and investment property in Colorado Springs. A botched dinner reservation throws her into the path of a bona fide movie star, and Meredith pushes through her comical celebrity neurosis to discover he is charming but a terrible dancer.
A viral video of a daring rescue makes Harlan Holcombe’s celebrity star stronger, with millions of his fans deeming him a real-life Hercules. But a minute of heroism doesn’t absolve his past mistakes. As Harlan and Meredith spend more time together, he helps her believe there might be more for her not just in life but in love. And she might be part of the solution to restore the legacy he fears is tarnished. But what happens when the path to redeem his mistakes collides with the path to redeem her loss?
A poignant and humorous contemporary romance of second chances with swoon but no spice, grief and healing, celebrity meets reluctant widow, love after loss, and new beginnings. Clean and wholesome love story.
Narelle’s Thoughts:
I enjoyed reading Even After This, the first book in Deborah Clack’s Shelter and Sky series set in Colorado Springs and Dallas, Texas. Meredith is a grieving widow who, four years earlier, lost her husband of ten years and young children in an accident. Meredith is dealing with past trauma. Her family and friends are trying to support her in her grief journey.
Meredith travels from Dallas to Colorado on a solo vacation at a Colorado Springs resort. She struggles with anxiety and, since the accident, has a history of being triggered by specific circumstances that send her into an emotional meltdown. Heavy women’s fiction themes are explored in the story including grief, codependency, and mental health challenges.
Harlan is a Hollywood actor who grew up in Colorado Springs. He’s filming a movie in Colorado Springs and staying at the same hotel resort as Meredith. He’s also dealing with grief and a challenging family situation that’s a consequence of unwise past decisions.
Harlan and Meredith’s meet cute, in an exclusive restaurant at the resort, is awkward and embarrassing. Meredith is unprepared for the sparks of attraction flying between her and Harlan. They both have emotional baggage to unpack and process during the story.
I loved journeying with Meredith and Harlan in their fun and complicated friends-to-more romance that’s full of hope and possibilities for a better future, despite their difficult circumstances. There were a few poignant moments that weren’t easy to read.
I recommend Even After This to contemporary romance readers who like clean and wholesome celebrity friends-to-more romances with characters from different worlds, second chances, family drama, and women’s fiction themes including healing from grief and loss.
