Wednesday

Review : Beautiful Illusion by Jacquie Underdown (CR)


Book Blurb

A beautiful, spiritual story about a woman who meets the man of her dreams — and then wakes up...

The last thing Leah thought she’d get out of a shocking car accident was the perfect boyfriend. But there was Brennan in the hospital bed next to hers — equal parts charm, cheek, and chocolate. Their relationship, their love, her life, is almost too good to be true.

Then, to Leah’s horror, she discovers that it is. Her new life with Brennan is only a fabrication of her injured mind — a coma dream that ends when she wakes up.

Struggling with injuries and grieving for a man that never existed, Leah battles to put her life back together. But a series of coincidences hint that for some people, love can transcend all barriers and achieve the impossible.

Toot's Review by Stacy Sabala

Leah wakes up in the hospital after being in a coma. She was involved in a car accident when a semi truck hit her car and sent her into an ambulance on its way to the hospital. She finds herself in a hospital room with another patient, Brennan. He was the patient in the ambulance when it was hit. He also had a head trauma from being hit on the head with a crowbar while saving a little girl.

Leah finds it strange that they are sharing a room but he is good company while she is there and he offers her chocolate. They get to know each other a bit as they recover and when they finally are released, Brennan sends Leah a going home gift with his phone number. She is excited and calls him right away. They enter into a new relationship together with a bond they forged while in the hospital. They become serious quickly. Leah meets Brennan’s brother and sister-in-law. Joanne, his sister-in-law, instantly doesn’t like her which baffles Leah. She calls Leah a fling and basically calls her a dumb blond. Leah is hurt and leaves with Brennan on her heels. He makes amends and ends up taking her to the family farm to meet his parents. She has new experiences on the farm that she never would have expected for someone who lives in the city. She and Brennan get even closer if that is possible and everything is wonderful until Joanne arrives with Brennan’s brother Alex. It is a tense exchange between to two women and the rest of Brennan’s family picks up on the awkwardness. Leah decides to be the bigger person and smooth things over.

After the trip, Leah invites Brennan over to meet her father and sister. Things go well even when an embarrassing secret gets revealed. Brennan and Leah’s relationship grows. Things are going so well. Until one day Leah leaves work early feeling sick and heads to Brennan’s apartment. As she approaches she sees Joanne walking out of the apartment whispering to Brennan. He is missing his shirt and kisses her on the cheek. Leah can only see betrayal and flips out. Her past baggage causes her to start screaming at Brennan and run. Once home she realizes what she has done, destroyed everything they had. Brennan surprises her when he shows up at her door and she tells him everything, all the details that happened with her last relationship. Knowing that Leah lost her mother at a young age, Brennan takes her back to his. Leah cries on her shoulder and embraces the motherly attention she is getting. Things get better for her and Brennan decides he can’t live without her. With happiness in their hearts they look forward to a future together. However, it looks like their injuries are catching up with them and everything changes.

This love story was very sweet, almost too much so. I knew something big was going to happen to derail it. In fact I had a suspicion about what direction the author was going to take it. I was so right. Once you get to the twist the author throws at the reader, you are so invested in the characters’ relationship, it is heartbreaking to read. There were parts where I teared up, I’m not going to lie. It was definitely an emotional ride as the story progressed. I would definitely recommend it though. It was sweet and a great read.

I give it a 4 out of 5.

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