The Story of Us by Tara Sivec Publication Date: June 11th 2017
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From USA Today bestselling author Tara Sivec comes an emotional, breathtakingly romantic new book about the power of first love and the promise of second chances.
How much can a man take before he breaks?
1,843 days. That's how long I survived in that hellhole. They tried to break me, but I resisted. And I owe it all to the memory of warm summer nights, the scent of peaches, and the one woman who loved me more than I ever deserved to be loved. Now, I'll do anything to get back to her.
Only Shelby Eubanks isn't the girl I left behind all those years ago. She's someone else, a stranger. My Shelby-my little green-eyed firecracker-would never give up her dreams, would never disappear into her mother's ambitions. But I won't give up on her. On us. I may be broken, and scarred, and not the man I used to be, but I will do whatever it takes to remind her of the story of us.
The Story of Us is really the tale of two books for me, there is the story of Eli and Shelby a love story about second chances and how to deal with war and loss – loss of both time and the person who you left behind. This is the story I loved. Then there is the story that is supposed to have been the why the things happen to Eli and Shelby – the mystery and that is the part that I had a hard time with.
Eli has been declared dead – when the truth is he and his best friend Rylan have been held captive for over 5 years. The only thing that has been keeping him alive is Shelby the girl he left behind – the one he vowed to never talk to again but certainly never forgot. Now he is free and has returned home to find Shelby who has been held in her own captivity over these last 5 years.
Shelby’s entire life changed the night Eli left her and in order to keep his memory safe she has had to given up her dreams. Then Eli turns out to be alive and its getting harder to stay away from him and then to find out that everyone has been keeping secrets from her has made her question everything.
What worked for me is the love story between Eli and Shelby – it was raw, passionate and full of longing and ultimately love that was so beautifully written. Told in dual POV’s we get to see the full arc of these characters and when they find the truth about each other and what they both went through I was sucked into that part of the story. Also, I have to commend Ms. Sivec and the way she handled the PTSD aspect of the story – it was raw and had me tearing up in more than one place in the story. Where I had a hard time with is the mystery of what really happened to Eli and Shelby and why it happened. That part of the story was hard for me to believe and almost seemed out of place. I did enjoy the secondary characters – they moved the story forward.
All in all, I recommend this book for the love story for sure.
