Like a Memory by Abbi Glines

Like a Memory by Abbi Glines

Kindle Edition

Expected publication: February 14th 2017

Review in Portuguese and English.

Blurb:

One memory. 
One special summer. 
The one thing Bliss had lost herself in when the fear and sickness were too much, moments never to be damaged by the harsh reality that followed… until now. 

Bliss York didn’t live a normal teenage life. She didn’t go to Friday night football games, walk the halls with her friends every day, go to her prom or even walk to receive her diploma. It had all been taken from her the fall that she was fifteen years old and she was given the diagnosis no one ever wants to hear. 

She had leukemia. 

Seven years after spending a summer with a girl who he knew would always be his first love and the one who got away, Nate Finlay returns to Sea Breeze to help his fiancé open her new boutique clothing store. When the new employee walks in Nate is taken back seven years to the girl he thought he’d love forever. The one who never answered his calls or returned his text. The one who shut him out completely with not even a goodbye and broke his heart. 

They’ve each become someone different. No longer the young teens with stars in their eyes. But does that matter when your heart still says that’s the one.

Review:

Eu li várias resenhas negativas e ao conversar com minha amiga Simone eu resolvi encarar a leitura.

Nada poderia ser pior do que Grant e Nan, então eu iniciei a leitura.

Nosso herói é um menino rico criado em uma família amorosa e com um círculo de amigos legais.

Mas ele tem a mente fodida e é fraco, egoísta e um covarde com medo de encarar a vida e os sentimentos que viver plenamente despertam. Ele arruma a mulher ideal para encaixar no mundinho dele. 

Acho que o dedo podre da Nan deve ter tocado a alma dele quando bebê.

A noiva dele é rica e com uma personalidade horrível, mimada, esnobe, controladora, gosta de sexo em lugares públicos, fria e acha que está acima de todos. Ela faz ele de empregado e mandalete e ele obedece numa boa. O relacionamento deles é frio, distante e baseado somente em sexo e o fato de pertencerem ao mesmo círculo social. Os dois combinaram de nunca terem filhos e viajarem o mundo todo.

Ao ficar encarregado de montar a nova loja da noiva, enquanto ela está na Europa, ele reencontra nossa heroína. Os dois se conheceram na adolescência e tiveram um amor de verão. Nossa heroína cortou todo o contato com ele ao enfrentar um câncer e só agora esta reiniciando a viver normalmente e é empregada da noiva dele.

Os dois ainda tem aquela ilusão sobre o primeiro amor deles e aquelas memórias afetam os dois até hoje.

Na verdade eu acho que o suposto amor deles é baseado somente naquela ilusão adolescente mesmo, porque os dois cresceram e mudaram muito ao longo dos anos. Ela afetada pela doença e a superação dela e o retorno a vida como uma pessoa mais forte. Ele como um típico riquinho desencantado com a vida e que só toma decisões egoístas. Em nenhum momento ele pensou nos sentimentos da heroína ou até mesmo da nojenta da noiva dele. 

Ele acabou o noivado através de mensagem de texto. Só isso já demonstra a covardia do suposto herói.

Aquele drama todo com a noiva dele foi uma pobre explicação do comportamento deplorável dela. Ela era uma pessoa egoísta e sem sentimentos que só pensou em se vingar do herói da maneira mais desprezível imaginada. Só faltou trilha sonora de novela mexicana para acompanhar a cena.

Confesso que a história não me afetou em nenhum momento e a leitura foi quase clínica. Não encontrei aquela química entre o casal e o suposto amor deles não me empolgou nada. Fiquei curiosa sobre os amigos da heroína e achei eles mais interessantes que o casal.

Espero que a autora publique uma árvore genealógica porque fiquei muito perdida.

Dei graças a Deus quando o livro chegou ao fim e não terá continuação ou acabou em cliffhanger. Temos que agradecer ás pequenas bençãos que alcançamos.

Recomendo para fãs ardorosos da autora ou aqueles que amam Grant e Nan. 

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I read several negative reviews and talking to my friend Simone I decided to face reading.

Nothing could be worse than Grant and Nan, so I started reading.

Our hero is a very wealthy boy raised in a loving family and a circle of cool friends.

But he's got the mind fucked up and is weak, selfish and a coward afraid to face life and feelings that the full life awakens. 

He arranges the ideal woman to fit into his own little world. 

I think the rotten finger of Nan must have touched his soul as a baby. 

His fiancée is rich and with a horrible personality, spoiled, snob, controller, likes sex in public places, cold and she thinks she is above all people. She treats him as an employee and handyman and he obeys like a puppy. Their relationship is cold, distant and based solely on sex and the fact that they belong to the same social circle. The two agree never to have children and travel the world.

Our hero to be in charge of setting up the new shop of his fiancée, while she is in Europe, he finds our heroine again. The two met as a teenager and had a summer love. Our heroine cut off all contact with him when facing a cancer and it's only now that she is restarting to live normally and is employed from his fiancée.

The two still have that illusion about their first love and those memories affect the two until today.

Actually I think the love between the two is based only on that adolescent illusion, because the two have grown and changed a lot over the years. She was affected by the disease and her resilience and return to life as a stronger person. He's like a typical rich boy who is disenchanted with life and make selfish decisions. In no time he thought heroin's feelings or the feelings of his fiancée.

He ended the engagement via text message. That alone demonstrates the cowardice of the supposed hero.

That whole drama with his fiancée was a poor explanation of the deplorable behavior of her. She was a selfish person and without feelings that just think about getting revenge on the hero in the most despicable way imagined. The only thing missing was the soundtrack of Mexican soap opera to accompany the scene.

I confess that the story does not affect me.  The reading was almost clinical. I couldn't find that chemistry between the couple and the supposed love of them even touched me, my feelings were neutral. I was curious about the heroine's friends and found them more interesting than the couple.

I hope the author post a family tree because I was very lost.

I gave thanks to God when the book came to an end and will not have continued or ended in cliffhanger. We have to thank at small blessings we've accomplished.

Recommend to ardent fans of the author or those who love Grant and Nan.

Highlights: 

"Octavia fit me. We were more alike than my mother realized. We both wanted to make our own mark on the world separate from our well-known parents. We wanted to travel and didn’t want kids. She was a touch spoiled. No, actually Octavia was ruined, but we’d agreed to sign prenup agreements to protect both of our interests."

"Bliss York had been my first love. Or so I’d thought back then. Come to find out she’d been my first lust, because I had no idea how to love."

"Once I finally got it through my head that Bliss York wasn’t the perfect girl, I’d let myself forget her entirely."

"If she told me who she was and asked if I remembered, I could still act as if I’d forgotten."

"NATE FINLAY. HOW did this happen to me? Not that it was going to be an issue because he didn’t even remember who I was."

"Nate Finlay was engaged to Octavia, who had given me my very first job."

"I had just hoped that the memory I had of Nate would remain untouched. But reality was ruining it."

"I loved Eli. I wasn’t in love with Eli. I loved him the way I loved my brothers."

"Drama and women were more than I could handle. Octavia didn’t inspire drama. She was too busy making her life appear perfect. I fit into her role and she fit into mine. It worked."

"Octavia hadn’t called to check on things. She knew I would handle anything that came up and that should make me happy. Instead, it greatly annoyed me. Didn’t women normally text or call their fiancés? Wasn’t that fucking normal procedure? When did I become so needy?"

"She was nothing but a childhood fling."

"The more I got to know Octavia through her calls, along with the texts she sent, I realized she thought that way. I myself didn’t exclude anyone, because I didn’t want to be excluded. This, of course, made me wonder about Nate. Who had he become? Someone attracted to that?"

"I loved Octavia in a way of speaking. Loved the idea of “us.” We fit. The sex was hot. She wasn’t needy. It was and had been the easiest relationship I’d ever had. I’d be stupid to destroy it."

"Octavia couldn’t burn me. She was safe. The effort was minimal."

“The girl beat cancer. Fought and won the war. Strong girl. Town really loves her.” “Cancer?” What the fuck did he mean she had cancer? He nodded. “Yeah. She’s got a lot of friends in Sea Breeze. Worried the whole bunch to death.”

"Octavia would never be my center. I was safe from that kind of heartbreak. I could continue on breathing and living if something happened to her. Sure I’d be sad, but I wouldn’t die from it, which was healthy and normal. That was all I wanted in life. Shallow? Yes. But shallow is safe. I’d convinced myself of that."

"Octavia was a drama free selection. Easy, unchallenging and simple. She had been a relief. What I thought I was looking for. Until I came back here. Until I saw Bliss again. Then I remembered what perfect actually was. What I wouldn’t have. What I had once had."

"She was Sea Breeze and her world was here. Mine was out there waiting. Getting the hell out of one coastal town and settling in another wasn’t change. It was another fucking coastal town."

"Once I thought that the scripture in the Bible about not being promised tomorrow was depressing and lacked any joy. Now I knew it was real. Something we all needed to accept."

"I needed mental preparation for this. To remind myself why I chose Octavia and why Bliss wasn’t a fit. I had no place in my heart or future for all that Bliss would require."

“Hmmm, one of the many reasons I love you,” was her response then the distinct sound of kissing followed. It wasn’t loud. It was just the sound of bodies pressed close. Breathing erratic and choppy, and silence when there had been talking. I stepped back. Eavesdropping was never a good thing and those who did it deserved to be punished. This was my punishment."

"Octavia was back and that was enough to remind me what I needed in a life."

“Octavia is spoiled and thinks she’s entitled. She’s been a good boss, but if she thought I was a threat, she’d get rid of me in an instant."

“Bliss, you’re making a mistake. He still has a thing for you. It’s in his eyes. I’m never wrong about that. But he’s not man enough to admit it."

"She’s not like us. She doesn’t need to think she could fit into your world and mess up the best opportunity she’s going to get in this town. God knows women can be stupid when it comes to you.”

“Bliss isn’t like us. You’re right. She’s a farm girl from Alabama with an inferior education and very little sense of the real world. She lives in a bubble here in Sea Breeze. One she won’t ever get out of or hope to break free from. But that makes her safe. She’s a good employee and one we now know you can trust.”

"I’ve never known you to settle for someone so beneath you.”

"I grabbed her waist, pulled her against me, and kissed her until neither of us could breathe."

“Free. Without attachment.” He wanted to feel nothing. He didn’t want to chance the pain to experience the great. He was a coward. He didn’t love Octavia. He loved how simple it was with her."

"Picking up my phone I texted her just that: Why the fuck are we engaged? I don’t want to be married. And damned if you do. We don’t fit."

"When had I missed the fact Nate Finlay had become an asshole?"

"The simple text I had gotten from her said more than enough: Glad you figured that out sooner rather than later."

"I want to be the girl a guy will throw it all away for. A girl he fights for. I want to be worth it.”

"I wasn’t ready for her. To be the guy she wanted. I wasn’t sure I’d ever be that guy for anyone."

“Are you and Octavia actually broken up?” I asked needing to know I wasn’t doing something wrong. “Oh, yeah. That’s done.”

"I’d never get pregnant. I couldn’t. I had survived cancer but it had taken so much from me. The one thing that hurt the most was that I’d never be able to carry a child inside me."

"The traces of blood were there on my skin and the inside of her thighs. Mixed with my semen. Making her mine when I knew she never would be."

"The first time she wanted to do it, we did it in the men’s restroom at a club. With a guy who walked in watching. She told me to go harder when the guy came in and she became a maniac while he watched. He’d started jacking off while watching us and that made her come. None of us were anywhere near sober but that night I was sure I could live with Octavia the rest of my life."

"If this was why men got married and settled down, then I completely got it. They found the hottest pussy attached to someone as sweet and beautiful as Bliss and they were begging to be tied down."

"Octavia’s stepmother found her two hours ago. She . . .” God, I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply. The image was there in my head. Burned so deeply even though I hadn’t seen it. The clarity of it and the pure horror wrecked me. “She was hanging from the banister of her father’s home. A rope around her neck and a note.”

“Pregnant. She was four months pregnant,”

"I just don’t understand it. How someone can be so upset that they take their life knowing the devastation they’ll leave behind.”

“WHEN YOU MEET a girl that you still love once she’s a woman then you don’t give that up. .” Grandpop’s words replayed over and over in my ears."