"An enchanting nostalgic revisit of the love lost and choices made by a woman."
Reviewed by Kay Quintin
Posted December 1, 2012
Romance Contemporary | Romance Paranormal
Realtor Emily Lockwood has a secret. Divorced from her
philandering husband, Kevin, she dotes on her beautiful
grown daughter, Cassidy. Shocked by her mother's
announcement about selling the family home, Emily and her
sister Holly are charged with sorting and removing their
belongings from Franny's home. Another shock is coming face
to face with her first love, Ben Landry, who is helping her
mother repair her home to ready it in anticipation of
selling. Not having seen Ben in 20 years, Em is transported
back
to that date. Back to when they were in love.
Each time Em is at the house, an uncanny out of body
experience transports her back from her childhood through
that fateful day and her most guarded secret. Ben,
misinterpreting the kiss between Kevin and Em, walks away
for 20 years thinking his love has chosen another. The day
Cassidy is born, Em knows Ben is her father. Now that Ben
is back, fear is instilled in Em visualizing the hurt she
will cause with her lies. Ben finds his way back into her
life and both are still deeply in love. The truth of that
fateful day is revealed to her through one of the episodes.
Cassidy, overhearing the truth of her parentage, tries to
run from the shocking truth which results with her in
critical condition in the hospital. The only thing
important now is Cassidy and each is left to deal with the
truth in their own way. The possibility of losing her
child is unbearable and her hope for a future with Ben is
shattered. How to pull her life together again is question.
I was so totally absorbed in this woven tale of secrecy and
magic I could barely put this book down. Sharla Lovelace is
an enchanting author. I have never had the pleasure of
reading any of her works before but I can't wait to search
out her other books. BEFORE AND EVER SINCE is all consuming
to readers
and such a beautiful and nostalgic story of a woman's
past choices. I absolutely loved this story which
completely stole my heart! Every once in a while there is
that "special" read, and this is mine!
SUMMARY
Emily Lockwood, your past is showing. Emily Lockwood has been sitting on a secret for so long, and
buried so deep that she really doesn't even think of it
anymore. Why should she? She has a successful career, an
ex–husband who rarely tests her patience, a mother who
usually does, and a stubbornly independent grown daughter.
Everything is fine, just another crazy kind of normal. Until Ben Landry comes back to town. The one person that
could change it all. From best friends growing up, to young
adults who realize their love in a night of crazy passion,
Ben and Emily had an unbreakable bond. Or so she thought.
When he then disappeared without explanation for over twenty
years, she'd had to pick herself up and accept otherwise.
Seeing Ben back again now triggers more than mere memories
and a tug at her heart. It rips the cover off an old secret
that could hurt the people she loves the most. While Emily works to keep her secret safe and her heart
safer, her sanity gets a reality check. She's been seeing
things—her past played out like home movies unreeling
before her eyes, visions that are making Emily see herself,
her family, everyone she knew, and every choice she made, in
a revealing new light and a startling new angle. For Emily,
seeing her life in rewind makes her realize she has hard
choices to make for her future. Choices that may redefine
everyone else's future as well.
ExcerptI call this one ... Never assume it's safe to drop by
Mom's house looking like Swamp Girl.
Oh no. No, no, no, no. Goosebumps ran the length of
my body and back again. Ben Landry. As I stared into that
face, I felt the old hurt I thought I'd forgotten seep
through my bones right down through my feet, rooting me to
the floor.
"You're back," I said, hearing the words and how my
voice suddenly went all croaky and hating how stupid that
was.
But I was painfully aware that I had only thrown on a
pair of jeans and a sweatshirt, and otherwise still looked
like I'd just crawled out of bed. Additionally, after
twenty–one years, I was looking at probably the only
person on the planet that ever really knew me. And could
turn my life upside down.
"Yes I am," he said, his voice quiet.
"Mr. Landry," my mother said from behind me as she moved
me over from where I'd dropped anchor in the
doorway. "Come on in."
"Just Ben, ma'am," he said, shaking her hand and then
gesturing toward where I stood with my heart slamming
against my ribs. His dark eyes warmed with memory. My
stomach threatened to send me back my four cups of coffee
as I recalled the last time I'd seen him.
"Emily and I are old friends."
Old friends.
Ben was the boy that put snakes in the teacher's lounge
and snuck into the girls' bathroom. That popped all the
girls' training bras and spent at least two days each week
in detention. That wore an old black jacket with chains on
it when he rode his bike, so he'd look like a bad ass. He
was the boy that lured me under my house when we were seven
for my first kiss, and into a closet in the eighth grade
for another one. He was the mysterious, dangerous looking
dark–eyed guy in high school who could part a room
like The Red Sea when he entered it, who always sat with
his back to the wall and never let his guard down. Except
with me.
"I don't remember seeing you around here," Mom said.
Ben grinned, an endearing expression that transformed
him back into the twenty–one year old I'd last seen
him as. Time may have dulled some of the edges, but it
worked for him, God help me.
"Well, I'm sure we met at some point," he said, smoothly
moving the conversation on as his eyes slowly took in the
walls and beams and ceiling. It was as if he were already
seeing the possibilities. "So, tell me what your ideas are
for this place."
He followed her as she talked about the paneling that
needed to go, the ceiling that needed sheetrock, the
insulation that was probably rotten, and the gaping cracks
around the windows. Just for starters.
Fortunately for me, it gave me the opportunity I needed
to release the breath I'd been holding and suck in a few
more.
"Jesus Christ, Ben Landry," I muttered under my breath
on a sprint to the bathroom. What I saw when I got there
made me want to hurl. My hair was still straight on one
side, kinked up and tangled on the other, and a zit waved
from one pale cheek. "Shit."
I dug in Mom's drawers for a brush and a ponytail band,
and managed to find an old cover–up stick for the
zit. I couldn't find any powder or mascara or blush, but
at least I'd moved up a notch from scary to just
unappealing. I couldn't remember if I'd put on deodorant,
but I saw a bottle of cologne and spritzed my neck.
"Oh God!" I groaned.
It smelled like old woman. Not old woman like my mom,
because she was fairly young at heart and active. Old like
the women with the beehive hairdos and the stripe of blue
eye shadow reaching to their eyebrows.
I found a box of wet wipes under the sink, and attacked
my neck with one, but I was pretty sure the smell was still
there along with the aroma of aloe.
"Damn it, just shoot me now," I said to my reflection.
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