Nothing But It All by Adriana Locke is live!
A beautiful, real and heartwarming story of a marriage on the edge of collapse, and a couple’s fight to get back on track and find their HEA again. This is a beautifully written story with great characters and a gorgeous romance, and I loved this one!
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Narrated by Amy Hall & Ryan Duncan
Blurb
From USA Today bestselling author Adriana Locke comes a warm and romantic novel about a marriage in trouble, two conspiring kids, and the meaning of long-lasting love.
After twenty years, the cracks in Lauren Reed’s marriage are showing. She and her husband, Jack, feel more like roommates than a loving couple. What they have in common are two wonderful teenagers, Michael and Maddie, and the same wistful When did it all go wrong? Now that Lauren’s decided to get on with her life—alone—divorce is inevitable.
Not to the kids. They aren’t giving up so easily.
Michael and Maddie have conspired with their grandfather to bring everyone together for a vacation in the family’s favorite summer getaway, a rustic lakeside cabin in Story Brook, Ohio. Awkward? Yep. A little deceptive? Sure. But as far as traps go, Lauren and Jack agree—the meddlers couldn’t have set one that was more scenic or filled with so many bittersweet memories.
This trip is going to be life-changing for the whole family. Fourteen days of hope, heartbreak, and unexpected possibilities—like maybe falling in love all over again.
Review
4.5 stars!
A beautiful, real and heartwarming story of a marriage on the edge of collapse, and a couple’s fight to get back on track and find their HEA again. This is a beautifully written story with great characters and a gorgeous romance, and I loved this one!
Jack and Lauren have been married for 20 years. They have two smart and funny teenagers, but with Jack completely consumed with running his own business to support the family, and Lauren left to take care of everything else, they’re living separate lives. After years of struggle and loneliness, Lauren is finally ready to take charge of her life and move on without her husband – who has no idea how dire the situation really is. Until their kids conspire with their grandfather to bring their heartbroken parents together for a family vacation in their lakeside cabin for two weeks over the summer.
As much as the kids shouldn’t have done this, I’m grateful they did. It gives me two weeks to figure this out. Because I have to figure this out.
I’m not losing Lauren.“We did this for twenty years, babe,” he says softly. “Pretty sure we can do it for fourteen days.”
There is still a lot of love between Jack and Lauren, but life has interfered and they’ve both lost sight of each other. I could absolutely feel for Lauren, her struggles and emotions are real, and I could empathise with her anger, frustration, sadness and loneliness. She has lost herself while taking care of her family, and just wants her husband and partner back. And my heart ached for Jack, a man who knew he and his wife weren’t happy, but who is doing his best to provide for his family and give them a good life, having no idea how bad things actually are.
It’s pure hell being around a woman you love so fucking much and knowing you’re making her miserable.
I love these two. I could feel how much they love each other, but how completely lost they both were in dealing with their situation. Lost in different ways, but they’re finally together and in a place where they can open up and be honest about their issues and how they’re feeling. And here is where their fight begins.
Having her beside me and not being able to touch her – being afraid to even speak to her – was an eye-opener. What is it about confined spaces that brings truth to light? Maybe it’s because there’s nowhere to go. There are no distractions available to avoid reality. There’s no running from what’s real.
They’ve both made mistakes, and I felt so much for both of them. I could see where both of them were coming from, could understand how it got to where they were, and I was cheering for them every step of the way. I especially loved seeing Jack come to some pretty huge realisations, and I so admired how he accepted and dealt with it all, fighting hard for the woman he loves so much.
“I’m not walking away from this … I’m fighting for her – for us.”
“What do you need from me, Lo? Ask for it. Let me love you like you want to be loved.”
Their kids, Michael and Maddie, are fantastic characters, and I loved their interactions with their parents. And I loved that while their parents are dealing with their relationship issues, both of them have their own encounters with love over the summer. And Jack’s fabulous father is also along for the ride, bringing his own unique perspectives on love and family.
This is a beautifully written story, full of raw emotion, and I loved watching Jack and Lauren navigate through their challenges and find their way forward.
4.5 stars!
An Advanced Review Copy was generously provided by the author for an honest review.
Meet Adriana
USA Today and Amazon Charts Bestselling author, Adriana Locke, writes contemporary romances about the two things she knows best—big families and small towns. Her stories are about ordinary people finding extraordinary love with the perfect combination of heart, heat, and humor.
She loves connecting with readers, fall weather, football, reading alpha heroes, everything pumpkin, and pretending to garden.
Hailing from a tiny town in the Midwest, Adriana spends her free time with her high school sweetheart (who she married over twenty years ago) and their four sons (who truly are her best work). Her kitchen may be a perpetual disaster, and if all else fails, there is always pizza.
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