Strangers by A.L. Parks

Review by Kimmi:
To be left alone on the day you've dreamed of for as long as you can remember.  Your daddy is telling you how beautiful you look using his big awkward hands to help you set your veil just right.  You begin to hear the whispers through the church walls, as the whispers get louder, and louder you begin to get curious.....then you hear the sobs. They make their way to your bridal room, your dress, hair, and make up just right, everything is as it should be. And when you look up into your daddy's eyes, his avoiding yours as he makes his way back into the bridal room, shutting the doors and blocking the whispers and sobs, but once he looks through the veil he straightened he isn't smiling anymore.  His face has gone pale, his eyes no longer sparkle with pride and joy, they now glisten with tears..............  The groom can't make it, there's been an accident and he isn't going to make it. "...... a car accident...... he was on his way......hospital...... he was trying to meet you at the alter........."
Your white gown is now stained red in blood because you wrapped your body around his trying to hold him and keep him safe and with you.  Then you look in to his face and all you see is peace and him quietly saying goodbye.............

~Five years later.....Valentine's Day~

When you freeze your heart and keep it frozen for five years refusing to try because know your one true love died five years ago on his way to make you his wife.  When anyone has been dealt a blow like that, you tend to expect Karma to continue being the bitch that she is.  Life continues on for everyone else and the world never stands still.
Abby has been to the brink of insanity and skated on the razor's edge of reality since her wedding day.  She wasn't a jilted bride, no.  Hers was a story much much worse.  The day that her fiance wasn't able to meet her at the end of the aisle was the day that she lost faith in love and in happily ever afters.  Her world stayed still while it continued on around her until the Valentine's Day morning that changed her path in life yet again and a man named Bryce bought her a cup of coffee.  While he introduced himself she saw the same sad eyes that belonged to someone that had given up on life and hope, the same eyes that stared back at her in the mirror every morning.
I absolutely loved this book, from page one I knew it was one that would keep me awake through the night and that I wasn't going to be able to put it down until I finished the last chapter. AL Parks didn't just knock it out of the ball park with her debut novel, she hit a grand slam at the bottom of the ninth that won the game and put them in the world series. Strangers was a beautiful, heart wrenching story about the loss of happy ever after, loss of faith, and the loss of believing that true love lasts forever. It is also a story about picking yourself back up, only to fall back down. It's a story or perseverance, strength, and healing a scarred and shattered heart. 

When two people are drawn together, but both have lost the love of their lives by the hand of death, can they leave the memories of their first true loves behind?  Is it worth risking the possibility of the impossible becoming their reality and happening again?
I give Abby and Bryce's story 5-If at first you fall down, pick yourself up, and try, try again-Kimmi Stars *****

Get Your Copy Today For Only 99 cents!!!!!!