Title: The Time in Between Author: Kristen Ashley
Series: Magdalene #3
Release date: August 29, 2017
(Sub)genres: Contemporary Romance
Pages: 563
Buy: Amazon US ~ Amazon UK
Rating:
I received this book from Inkslinger PR in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.
After a painful loss, Cady Moreland is coming to Magdalene to start the next chapter of her life. A chapter that began eighteen years ago but had a heartbreaking ending. The time in between was full of family and friendship, but Cady could never get the man she fell in love with all those years ago out of her heart.
Coert Yeager has learned to live without the girl who entered his life right when she shouldn’t and exited delivering a crippling blow he never would have suspected. The time in between was full of failing to find what he was missing…and life-altering betrayal.
But when that girl shows up in Magdalene and buys the town’s beloved lighthouse, even if Coert wants to avoid her, he can’t. A fire in town sparks a different kind of flame that won’t be ignored.
As Cady and Coert question the actions of the two young adults they once were thrown into earth-shattering circumstances, can they learn from what came in between and find each other again?
Is it possible to get a second-chance at love? To make it work with the person that hurt you the most? Kristen Ashley’s new book The Time in Between tells the story of Coert and Cady who had a brief and intense relationship eighteen years ago. It ended badly, but now they get another chance to build a life together. I love their story.
“My decisions might be unwise but they were a part of me, and in the end, they’d put me right there. So I should embrace them. Because they were me.”
Eighteen years ago, Cady and Coert fell hard and fast for each other. Their love was real, but when reality caught up with them hearts were broken and hasty decisions made. Both move on with their lives, but deep down they know they’ve lost something very special. With Cady moving to Magdalene, she and Coert see each other for the first time after their break-up. Coert is still angry and hurt based upon assumptions he made all those years ago and Cady is just lost. It’s very clear there’s still love between the couple, but first both need to know the whole truth.
“That can’t happen,” I told him quietly. He shook his head once. “It’s already happened, Cady.” I shook my head too, more than once. “I…this is me saying now, after what happened tonight, that I’m seeing the way things are and it can’t happen.” “Something like this starts, you can’t stop it.”
The Time in Between is the third book in the ‘Magdalene Series’ and takes the reader back to the coastal city of Magdalene. Like the other books in the series it tells the story of a couple in their forties, who both have lived lives. Alternating chapters in the past and the present paint a full picture of the story of Cady and Coert. The Time in Between is a typical Kristen Ashley book with a heroine you want as a friend, an Alpha hero (who’s not over-the-top), lots of family/friends and beautiful descriptions of outfits and houses. I would love to spend some time in Cady’s lighthouse.
I love the ‘Magdalene Series’, and The Time in Between is a perfect addition. I was a bit upset with the choices Cady made all those years ago, but I get her. She was so hurt and desperate, she only accepted the kindly offered help. Coert, Coert, Coert… I wanted to smack him a few times for the grudge he holds towards Cady. I know she has hurt him, but he played a big role in the whole breakdown. For the rest, Coert is absolutely a great guy; he’s a wonderful dad to his four-year-old daughter, a hard worker and I love the fact he doesn’t talk bad about his former girlfriends. I love Cady and Coert together. Once they’re past the anger and hurt, they are a great couple that truly belongs together.
“I wouldn’t have put you through all this, if I wasn’t all in, if I didn’t still love you. You said you still loved me too. So we have that. We hold on to it. And we ride these rapids until I can get us to safety. You with me?” “I’m with you.”
I love Cady and Coert, and their second-chance at love. I give The Time in Between 5 stars.
Excerpt
Present day…
I took in the mess of the large, circular room we were in and at first saw nothing but the mess—decaying furniture, a soot-covered stone fireplace, a kitchen that might have been put in in the forties but had not only not been touched the last nine years, it perhaps had not been touched the last nineteen (or more).
Then I saw more.
The extraordinarily carved railing to the sweeping wood staircase that ran the curved side of the house. The red brick walls. The plank wood floors.
“Once upon a time, long ago,” the realtor was suddenly talking wistfully, “someone loved this place. Put that love into building it. Put that love into keeping it. Nine years and more when no one really gave a whit, and still you can see it once had a lot of love.”
Oh yes.
You could see that.
“It’s got a basement, more like a big crawl space,” the agent declared, surprising me with his quick change in tone back to businesslike and informative. “The furnace is down there. You can get down there through a door in the floor. The furnace was put in a while back, and full disclosure, though an inspection will catch it, it probably needs to be replaced.”
Through his words I stared at the fireplace, which scoured would be magnificent, and I noticed it didn’t have a chimney as such, but the smoke probably went out a vent in the wall.
“This floor has a powder room under the stairs,” the realtor kept on. “You can look at it if you want, but if you wanna save yourself that, I’ll just tell you straight, it needs to be gutted.”
I decided to take his word for it and told him that.
He looked relieved when I did before he stated, “Place has a garage, two car. Not in good condition, but think you saw that. Still, it’s close to the house and there’s a covered walkway to that door over there.” He pointed at a door that was across from the door we’d walked in. “Means you might feel a chill but you won’t get wet, unless it’s raining sideways, which happens.”
With a breeze that plastered my jacket to me on a sunny, early spring day, I did not doubt that.
“Garage has a loft space above it, which could be renovated as a studio rental if you’ve a mind to do that sort of thing. As for the property itself, it also has a building where the generators are stowed,” the realtor carried on. “Hook up for a washer and dryer and good space in there. Lots of it for storage. Which is good because there’s not a lot of storage in here for tools and Christmas decorations and whatnot.”
I glanced around seeing he was right. There wasn’t even enough cabinetry to house the things a decent cook would need in her kitchen. Though there was room for them. In fact, if you fought back the gloom, there was quite a bit of room.
“And there’s a place outside, could call it a studio, could call it a mother-in-law house,” he shared. “Whatever, it’s got goodly space, two bedrooms, big kitchen. Could be renovated to be a guest house. Or like I said, a studio if you’re artsy. Or you could rent it out like a B and B. I’ll show you all of that after we have a look at the lighthouse.”
“Thanks,” I replied.
“Now, since I mentioned full disclosure, you have to know it all,” the realtor continued.
Slowly, my eyes went to him.
When they did, he launched in. “Like I said, it’s automated. And like I said, you won’t really have to concern yourself with the functionality of that unless the electricity goes out, but then the generators automatically kick in. There are two. But you’ll need to keep fuel on hand to keep them going in case a blackout lasts awhile. And just to say, this is coastal Maine. We get weather. Blackouts can last awhile.”
When I nodded to share I took that in, he kept going.
“And if you’re, say, away on vacation, you need to make sure someone is playing backup in such a case.”
“Okay,” I replied when he stopped talking, thinking this probably wasn’t a good thing since I knew no one in Maine (or not anyone who wanted to know me) and thus couldn’t call on anyone to do something like that.
I also didn’t hold high hopes I’d make friends and win people. I hadn’t had a lot of success in that in my life.
And last, although Patrick believed it completely, I held no hope that the reason I was out there was going to come to fruition.
That being me having a happy ending.
That being what Patrick thought would be my happy ending.
Which might mean I’d have someone, a certain someone, or actually two (at least), even though I knew I never would.
Giveaway
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