Book Review: Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Reviewer: Samantha

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Summary:

Someone Else’s Love Story is beloved and highly acclaimed New York Times bestselling author Joshilyn Jackson’s funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be.

Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Nathan, aka Natty Bumppo, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced parents. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up and falling in love with William Ashe, who willingly steps between the robber and her son.

Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his world. But William doesn’t define destiny the way others do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in facts and numbers, destiny to him is about choice. Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, making choices that will reveal unexpected truths about love, life, and the world they think they know.

Review:

Someone Else’s Love Story is a complicated and complex story that kept me on my toes. I loved Shandi’s back story, not how she came to conceive her son, but how hard she worked and how determined she was to make sure he had a good life once she became a mom. This book definitely isn’t a light and fun read, but is it a page-turner and makes you think – about your own love story, about destiny and about fate. Sometimes I honestly thought it was a bit too complex – the story weaves from past to present without warning which took me a bit to catch on to, the surprise at the end really threw me off guard, and sometimes I just wasn’t sure what I thought about any of the characters and the love stories they should get. That being said, I still really enjoyed the book. It was well-written and well-researched and a good, solid story. I’m happy I read this one.

4 stars