Near & Far (Lost&Found #2) by Nicole williams
Book Name: Near & Far (Lost & Found #2)
Author: Nicole williams
Genre/Tags: Contemporary Romance
Publisher: Self-Published
My Rating:
There’s optimistic. And there’s Jesse Walker.
If he wasn’t so charming, his sunny disposition and incessant grin would get old. Fast.
Falling in love with the broken girl who had at first seemed immune to anything resembling love was the best thing to happen to Jesse since the Walkers adopted him when he was five.
As Jesse’s life continues at the ranch and Rowen begins making her mark in the Seattle art community, they wonder where the middle ground is. Or if there even is one.
As push comes to shove, they’re forced to make choices neither are eager to make, and Jesse and Rowen have to face what their lives might look like without the other.
Can two people with such tragic pasts and different presents expect a promising future together? Whatever the answer, they’ll need a lot more than love to make it.
*Recommended for mature readers due to moderate content and language.
Jesse really struggles with his past in this book. He may seem like he has it all together, but when his nightmares start to surface, plus the distance between he and Rowen is starting to get to him... it is a recipe for disaster.
"I realized that our past never leaves us. We might think we've left it behind, but that's when it sneaks up and beats the hell out of you. Our past is always a part of us..."
Hearing about Jesse’s past really just broke my heart. I know that the author touched on it in book one, but to hear the details... it’s intense. He wants to shield Rowen from it. The more they struggle as a couple with distance and time apart, the more Jesse’s mind turns against itself and convinces him that the woman he adores is better off without someone as unstable as him in her life.
“I don’t want her to know. I don’t want her to be a part of it. I don’t want her near it. I want her as far away from the poison flowing through me as I can keep her.”
My Rating:There’s optimistic. And there’s Jesse Walker.
If he wasn’t so charming, his sunny disposition and incessant grin would get old. Fast.
Falling in love with the broken girl who had at first seemed immune to anything resembling love was the best thing to happen to Jesse since the Walkers adopted him when he was five.
As Jesse’s life continues at the ranch and Rowen begins making her mark in the Seattle art community, they wonder where the middle ground is. Or if there even is one.
As push comes to shove, they’re forced to make choices neither are eager to make, and Jesse and Rowen have to face what their lives might look like without the other.
Can two people with such tragic pasts and different presents expect a promising future together? Whatever the answer, they’ll need a lot more than love to make it.
*Recommended for mature readers due to moderate content and language.
“For you, I’m a
weak, weak man. I’m so weak for you that you could break me with one word. You
could end me with one look. You could ruin me with one touch.”
Near & Far
is the second book in the Lost & Found series by Nicole Williams. It is no
secret that Nicole is one of my favorite authors and getting to read and review
this book made me crazy excited. If you haven't read Lost & Found yet,
please please please do so! You can read my review for Lost & Found by just clicking on the link.
Near
and Far starts off where Lost and Found left off. In this book we
follow Rowen and Jesse through the first year of their long distance
relationship. The main conflict of the book is whether or not Jesse and
Rowen can maintain their long distance relationship. Jesse is needed on the
ranch while Rowen is becoming a rising artist in the Seattle city life. Long
distance relationships aren’t easy, but they are making it work. Every few
weeks Jesse drives to Seattle, or Rowen takes the Greyhound to Montana. It’s
not ideal, but it’s okay.
Rowen is now in a new city, pursuing
her passion in art and slowly making a name for herself in this new world far
away from the only place she ever considered home – Willow Springs. Her love
for Jesse grounds her, keeps her from reverting back to the scared and angry
little girl that she once was, but knowing he has been and always would be the
light at the end of the tunnel she used to live in, makes her constantly
fearful of losing him, of him finding someone better than her, almost expecting
it to happen sooner or later. She loves him with all her heart, but her
self-destructive tendencies resurface at times, convincing her that she would
eventually end up destroying the little piece of heaven she has found with
Jesse.
“I always knew I would be the one responsible for tearing us apart because that’s what I did and that’s what I was good at. No matter how hard I tried to be something else, something better, I couldn’t keep the destructive part of me fully contained.”
“I always knew I would be the one responsible for tearing us apart because that’s what I did and that’s what I was good at. No matter how hard I tried to be something else, something better, I couldn’t keep the destructive part of me fully contained.”
I fell for Jesse
Walker while reading Lost and Found. I was happy to see that I loved
him just as much in this book. He wasn’t quite as perfect, but he was still
amazing and real. Jesse is just a lovable charming guy. He is sweet, sexy,
honest and caring. He’s just that type of guy.
“Do you always have to see the good in everyone”
“No, I don’t have to. I choose to.”
“Do you always have to see the good in everyone”
“No, I don’t have to. I choose to.”
But
all is not well!!
Jesse
is secretly fighting his own demons while away from Rowen. His self-control is
failing him, nightmares from his childhood have returned and his anxiety and
fear of losing the love of his life are rearing their ugly heads at night, when
he’s most vulnerable, and torturing him with flashbacks from his abuse-ridden
childhood. His mind has equated the fear of losing Rowen to the fear he
experienced as a little boy at the hands of two cruel parents.
Jesse really struggles with his past in this book. He may seem like he has it all together, but when his nightmares start to surface, plus the distance between he and Rowen is starting to get to him... it is a recipe for disaster.
"I realized that our past never leaves us. We might think we've left it behind, but that's when it sneaks up and beats the hell out of you. Our past is always a part of us..."
Hearing about Jesse’s past really just broke my heart. I know that the author touched on it in book one, but to hear the details... it’s intense. He wants to shield Rowen from it. The more they struggle as a couple with distance and time apart, the more Jesse’s mind turns against itself and convinces him that the woman he adores is better off without someone as unstable as him in her life.
“I don’t want her to know. I don’t want her to be a part of it. I don’t want her near it. I want her as far away from the poison flowing through me as I can keep her.”
Jesse
has always been there for Rowen. He’s been her calm, her constant, her
strength. Now, it’s time for her to return the favour.
Jesse isn't the only
person who's grown. Garth, yes the jerk we see in L&F, while still snarky
and sarcastic, is a huge friend to both Jesse and Rowen. He is freaking
hilarious, but it is obvious he is deeper than he initially appears and he
feels more than he lets on. I love that he and Jesse have tenuously mended
fences in this book. Garth has a unique way of looking at the world and his own
way of protecting those he cares about. I loved that he plays a big part
in helping Jesse and Rowen's relationship. I really cannot wait for his book to
come out next year. You wouldn’t think it, but he gives good advice...
"I don't know much about these kinds of things, but it seems like you don't fall out of love with someone because of their fuck ups. It seems like if you really love someone, you love them in spite of their fuck ups."
“So you messed up. Big time. So you messed up big time. We all do. It’s time to start practicing what you preach and forgive yourself. If any guy deserves a second chance, it’s you, Jess.”
“That’s what I would have done. I’d keep the truth from someone if I thought it would save them some pain.”
"I don't know much about these kinds of things, but it seems like you don't fall out of love with someone because of their fuck ups. It seems like if you really love someone, you love them in spite of their fuck ups."
“So you messed up. Big time. So you messed up big time. We all do. It’s time to start practicing what you preach and forgive yourself. If any guy deserves a second chance, it’s you, Jess.”
“That’s what I would have done. I’d keep the truth from someone if I thought it would save them some pain.”
All our old favorite
characters are back, and we also meet four new people ( a couple of them made
my blood boil) who all play a pretty large part in the story... Alex, Rowen’s
roommate (LOVED her); Jolene, what a bitch!!! I wanted to reach in my
Kindle and slap the shit out of her; rowen’s TA, Jax, I found him to be an
egotistical douche and I did not like him; and
Mar, a homeless woman Rowen befriends (don’t even want to think about her).
In N&F, the
split between Rowen and Jesse's POV is a huge plus in my eyes because, if you've
read Lost and Found, finding out and learning what goes on in that
philosophical/deep mind that Jesse has become my top priority. In L&F we
saw Rowen grow out of her shell and become a confident and determined person.
In N&F we see not only a growth in the couple's relationship, but also a
personal growth in Jesse. We see Jesse learn to trust himself as well as Rowen
to make their situation work.
If you’re
looking for a series written with heart, impeccable skill and capable of
turning you into a gushing mess over a gentle cowboy whose mere presence on a
page will make you grin ear to ear, look no further than the Lost and Found
series.
In this book we
will see that loving someone isn't always easy from a distance even with
compromises. Sometimes love isn't enough when you let your head mess with you. At the end of the day, when
it's all said and done, is the love and bond these two have strong enough to
stand the test of time, others who threaten their relationship, their own
demons, long distance, but ultimately: themselves?
Some of my favourite quotes
from the book
“Promise me that when you’re done telling me
what you need to, that we’ll be okay. Promise me nothing’s going to change
between us. Promise me that, and I know I can deal with anything.”
“When
Jesse and I were close enough to share the same breath, confusion and
uncertainty were distant memories.”
I
was hers, she was mine, we were each other's. It was powerful stuff that hit me
in moments like that. I knew it was the kind of profoundness that would get me
labeled as whipped sap, and I didn't give a damn.
“Our priorities aren’t what we
say they are. They’re what we show they are.”
“A
woman like her was every man’s dream. A woman who couldn’t be shaken and would
stand shoulder to shoulder in the face of a storm. I’d found that kind of woman
and, beyond all belief, she loved me. And I had to let her go.”
I wouldn't let the self-destructive person I'd locked up months ago out of her cage, and would do everything in my power to make sure I never ran out of luck when it came to Jesse. Whatever came, whatever obstacles we faced, one thing was certain: he was there now. He chose to give his love to me, and that had left me forever changed, not matter what happened.
I wouldn't let the self-destructive person I'd locked up months ago out of her cage, and would do everything in my power to make sure I never ran out of luck when it came to Jesse. Whatever came, whatever obstacles we faced, one thing was certain: he was there now. He chose to give his love to me, and that had left me forever changed, not matter what happened.
