When I See You. Katharine Owen.

ARC supplied by Netgalley.

Well, what an incredible romance, so very different from much of what is around. Its a kind of love triangle, but then in a way not a conventional love triangle… with amazing characters, and Katherine does a fantastic job of playing with our emotions and feelings when writing their story. You feel deeply for all of them.

Jordan’s famous actor parents were killed in a tragedy when she was just seventeen, leaving her alone except for a grandfather who didn’t want her. She has her best friend, but has learned to rely only on herself and thinks happiness doesn’t last. When she met Ethan, A Navy SEAL she embarked on a whirlwind romance, became pregnant and they married. Eight weeks after meeting he’s off on his tour of duty in Afghanistan. Now its four years later, he’s home on leave before returning for his final tour. He brings along his childhood friend and team-mate SEAL Brock. There’s something between Brock and Jordan instantly, though neither wants to acknowledge it.

Without giving anything away its hard to write about the characters and their actions, but its a tale of misunderstandings, deceptions wrapped up as surprises, tear jerking moments and great highs. There so much happening in the novel, just as you feel the rainbow is in sight then another storm comes along to whip our emotions, and wring us dry once more. I laughed a little, cried a lot and felt emotionally drained at the end of this book. Its got so much in it and Katherine doesn’t shy away from the harder elements of love and life. You want the happy ever after, but at times things feel so bleak that I wondered how on earth it could happen. Yet still Katherine manages to pull together happiness in a way that’s real and feels like a slither of someone’s true life story. There’s no unbelievable trite actions here written in simply to carry the plot along, everything that happens is something that could, and undoubtedly has, happened. Real life isn’t all sweetness and light, but is full of death and destruction, illness and gloom, but then the light parts, the love and passion found in life is so much more appreciated when set against that. I need angst in my romance, I don’t like the one level, sweet, shallow love story but need to be moved on a deeper level. I need to feel I understand the characters and like them, I need a couple of “bitch” people I can dislike too, ( Kate did it for me here – she just wasn’t the right one for Brock) for me to really feel I’ve fallen in love with a story, and can read it again and again. This one delivers all that and more – get the tissues at the ready as you will need them when you devour this tale.

I don’t know what else Katharine Own has written but will certainly look for more from her, she’s a writer who can deliver a novel that’s so engrossing you can get lost in the people and places for hours. Stars: well, after all that how could it be anything less than five 🙂