by Ginger Scott
ARC Review
Release: July 8, 2014
My rating: 4.5 of 5 ⭐️
Single mom, Avery Abbot, devotes her young life to her five-year old son Max. She has no other option - he has autism and requires every last bit of her attention, but she wouldn't want it any other way either. Since his father abandoned them, she moved in with her dad, helping him run his bar and creating as stable a life as possible, with her father and her best friend Carrie as Max' family, keeping him grounded. No time or energy left for anything else. That is, until an old high school crush comes back to town.
Single mom, Avery Abbot, devotes her young life to her five-year old son Max. She has no other option - he has autism and requires every last bit of her attention, but she wouldn't want it any other way either. Since his father abandoned them, she moved in with her dad, helping him run his bar and creating as stable a life as possible, with her father and her best friend Carrie as Max' family, keeping him grounded. No time or energy left for anything else. That is, until an old high school crush comes back to town.
Chasing the dream of making his name in the music industry has kept Mason Street on the road for the past five years. But the band's reputation of ongoing hard-partying shennanigans has finally caught up with them and with his future suddenly uncertain again, there is only one place for him to try and reconnect with what started him out on this path - Ray Abbot's bar. Luckily Ray welcomed him back, but his daughter, who when he left was barely a blimp on his radar, was less than impressed. That can't be said for Mason - he was impressed as hell!
Concern for her son's stability and her own susceptible heart, Avery is less than thrilled to find Mason under foot by invitation of her father. But despite his reported wild ways of the past few years, she can't deny the lingering attraction that is still there - no matter how much she tries to suppress it. Max seems to take to Mason better than she does and through their interactions, she allows herself to view Mason in a different light as well.
Seeing Avery's devotion to her son and her selfless stance in life, has Mason mesmerized. Not to mention, has him examining his own priorities. In his determination to prove himself a changed man to her, he pulls out all the stops. But when unexpected opportunity comes knocking again, those life-long dreams are hard to forget.
*******
Oh Lord...... I cried. I really did. As a mother - as a daughter - and as a woman.
Such a heart-felt and utterly compelling story of how sometimes the cards we are dealt may seem like hardship, and at others like beautiful blessings.
This book is close to Ginger Scott's heart, because of her affiliations with families dealing with autism and autism research.
With a phenomenally intelligent and successful niece who has Aspbergers and a brilliant daughter who, I am very proud to say, specializes in autism research, the same can be said for me. It is a subject that speaks to me - loudly.
Ginger has written a love story that is set in real life. Inconvenient, messy, complicated and full of never-ending compromise. A story that, even if we don't have a child like Max, speaks to us, because we have moments when our life seems like that. Ruled by everything but our own wants and needs, where we are always at the bottom of the list. Avery is not unique in that. Where she is unique, is her ability to recognize at a relatively young age, how indelibly her son's well-being is connected to her every move. Which is why she doesn't do a lot of moving. It's safer that way. This story is a gentle reminder, that regardless of what we think we protect ourselves or our loved ones from - to stop living YOUR life to its fullest, to stop making choices that make YOU happy, to stop being the best YOU you can be - it will never be in the best interest of anyone. Remember.... 'when Momma's happy, everyone's happy!"..... there is truth in that!!
Mason's entire identity has always been wrapped up in being a musician. His home life was never the greatest althought he was lucky to have had the support of Ray Abbot who encouraged him to follow his dream. But he never really learned to find satisfaction in anything other than music, although as of late, even that had become elusive and had blurred into the partying, groupies and alcohol. Hitting bottom gave him an opportunity to re-focus, and meeting Avery a chance to re-examine. Suddenly life has such simple things to offer, that held so much pleasure, enriching in a way that he just hadn't known before. Avery showed him a lot of it, but the bulk of those lessons were taught by Max even if he didn't realize it.
The level of insight and the degree of understanding evident, is what makes this novel from Ginger Scott so very special. Yes, it is a romance and yes, it has steamy sex scenes and relationship drama - but it never loses sight of the little boy and his daily struggles, who is at the core of this awesome story!!
✨A touching, passionate and enlightning transformation.✨
**Copy provided in return for an honest review**
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