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Unconditional Love (2012)

by Andrew Grey(Favorite Author)

4.2 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1613725442 (ISBN13: 9781613725443)

languge

English

genre

Romance

publisher

Dreamspinner Press

series

Seven Days

review 1: My first introduction to Andrew Grey author was his collaboration in a book I was reviewing for Amy Lane and Mary Calmes, called The Three Fates. So, now as I open my first story, it is his book, Unconditional Love, which I am reading. Like its title, the story is written in a series of 7 Days. The days, though, are not consecutive, sometimes skipping by years.Day 1- we meet sixteen year old Donald Pottier. He lives in the small town of Chincoteague Island, Virginia. It is a summer beach community that lives for the tourists’ season. Donny shares his life in a small house with his mother, who works two jobs to keep them afloat. Donald is no slouch either, working at the local ice cream store, Mr. Whippy. He rides a bike to work, always looking over his shoulder for the... more school bully, Harmon Krepke, who terrorizes Donald and classmates, alike. Don and a school friend Kristen are dippin’ ice cream when Jason Greene arrives. Fate 101.Jason comes from the wealthy side of the tracks, but has nothing Don does. His parents are rich, dismissive, and busy with their worlds, leaving this boy to revel in Don, and his mother’s warm home and closeness. Crabbing and crab cakes and swimming and kissing make for a fine summer as these two boys fall in love. This is such a quiet lovely love story of two young boys who find their soul mates at such a young age. Yes, they fall in love that summer, and Harmon Krepke, in a rage, ‘outs’ Jason to his family when he sees them kiss. Jason is swept away from Virginia not to be seen or heard from again. But Fate has other plans and it is:Day 2 -Five years later, Donald and Jason are graduating from college and meet again. I will not spoil a moment of your voyage to read this wonderful story. The side characters are wonderful, but the story just grows with the trials the fates have in store for these young boys growing to the fine young men they can be. Join Jason and Donny and the next Five Days spanning their lives as Fate has them intersecting until they get it right. See how amazing it can be. It was poignant, heartbreaking and yet such a sweet read, I could not put it down. I invite you to give it a try. I do not think you will be sorry.Review by Gloria LakritzSr Reviewer and Review Chair for the Paranormal Romance Guild
review 2: 4 stars for the beginning, and 2 for the end for 3-3.5. I really enjoyed the first probably three quarters of this book, in particular the beach setting, which was beautifully detailed, and the contrast between the way the setting is seen from the point of view of the tourists as opposed to the locals. I could almost smell the sea air as I read this, and it made a wonderful backdrop for a very sweet story of first love.Jay and Donald's evolving relationship is tender, realistic, and well done as they meet, become friends, and then much more. Their youthful mistakes when it comes to dealing with each other are balanced out by how deeply they come to care about each other and some of the things they do to show it. It was very sweet and really makes you recall just how it feels to fall in love for the first time. The author evokes that lust and confusion very well, and it grows believably into commitment, at least as much commitment as possible between two teenage boys who are destined to be torn apart because they live so far from each other and have very different family situations. I really felt their pain when life seemed determined to keep them apart, and being just kids, they can't do much about it.I also enjoyed the examination of what is really valuable in life and how these young men learn to recognize what really matters. One of them is poor but has a very caring, supportive mother, while the other is rich with selfish, uncaring parents. At first Donald envies what Jay has: a nice computer, a chance to go to college, etc, but he soon realizes he's the lucky one because his mother accepts him. Of course it's not that simple, though. Neither of their lives is perfect, but they support each other as much as they can.Unfortunately, a plot turn about 120 pages in really ruined this story for me. It was just too impossible a coincidence, how these guys found each other again after many years, and I couldn't swallow it, even in a romance novel. More than that, it made me mad that the guys didn't work to stay in touch or find each other again, that it wasn't their love or commitment that brought them back to each other, but an unbelievable quirk of fate. I want to see my heroes get their happy ever after because they deserve it, not because of some impossible plot twist. less

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