I have read book one of this series (you can read my review HERE) and I said at the bottom of my review of book 1 that I was pretty sure both books stood alone, and that you didn't necessarily have to read book 1 to understand book 2. I'm going to start off by saying that this is completely true. You can read either books without reading the other and you will not be confused in the slightest (although there are some small things, like the relationships between some of the characters, that you might miss a little if you haven't read book 1).
Now that's out of the way, let me introduce the book!
When Stars Collide is a standalone sequel to When Time Stands Still, a multi-award-winning second chance romance.
Mena Straszewski has always lived life on her own terms. After graduating from the prestigious Cogsworth University, she landed her dream job as an editor at a publishing company in Queens, leaving her life in Virginia behind. Years later, having established herself in New York, a turn of events reunites her with her former boyfriend and partner in off-color commentary, Peter Monroe, now a single father still living in Virginia. Everything seems to be falling into place for Mena, until one by one, the dominoes of her life begin to fall.
Heartbroken after their long-distance relationship forces Peter to break up with her, Mena’s life is thrown off course in ways no amount of planning could have prepared her for, and straight into the path of Phineas Drake. Phineas Drake is handsome, charismatic, and one of the most eligible bachelors in New York City. He also happens to be the founder of Drake Publishing and Mena’s boss.
Between red carpet events and luxury penthouses, Phineas shows Mena a life she could only imagine before. But just as she’s beginning to move on, Peter finds his way back to her, and for the first time in her life, Mena is rendered indecisive; torn between the life she always wanted and the one she never knew she needed.
My review...!
I bought this book as soon as I had finished book 1, which was a couple of months ago. Unfortunately, I never got around to reading this one until this week. This book was one that I have been waiting to get around to reading for ages, so I decided I would start reading it before I went to bed, that I would dedicate a little time to it each day so I would have time to read it. This lead to some late nights because I didn't want to put the book down.
Book 1 is focused on Elle – this book focuses on her sarcastic and loud best friend, Mena. Mena's snarky comments and witty remarks, however, act as a shield for her to hide behind. She had issues, problems, and she is largely unhappy with many aspects of her life. Her boyfriend, Peter, lives far away from her and the long distance thing doesn't seem to be working too well. On the other hand, her job is going phenomenally, and her boss, Phineas, does not hold back on compliments about her work.
With Elle's happiness on the rise, with her boyfriend proposing and therefore a wedding to plan, Mena's seems to take a downward turn. Her relationship issues go from bad to worse, and she finds herself with difficult decisions to make, with life changing outcomes.
Unlike book 1, this book is not a dual timeline novel, but it didn't need it. Mena's life is very different from Elle's, and their problems stem from different things. This book, like book 1, has themes of illness and recovery, as well as realisation about what is going wrong in Mena's life as she tries to figure out how to fix things and make her life whole again.
Naturally, I am a very sarcastic person, so Mena's personality was one that I really enjoyed reading about. In addition to this, Peter is also someone who, on the surface, doesn't take things completely seriously. Peter was one of my favourite characters, and throughout everything that happens, I kept finding myself rooting for him and Mena. They fit each other perfectly. Another character I absolutely adored was Jackson, Peter's son. Jackson is a small version of Peter, and putting a young, sarcastic child in the vicinity of Mena, who has no control over the words that leave her mouth, many of which are not child friendly, may be the recipe for disaster, but Mena clearly adores Jackson, and the feeling is mutual. Despite not being good around children, Jackson takes to Mena like a duck to water, and their relationship was absolutely lovely to read about.
I can't say much about this book without giving away a lot of the plot, as there are a lot of twists and turns, and talking about some of the relationships would completely give away different aspects of the story, which I don't want to do. What I will do, though, is say that I recommend you grab both a copy of this book and book 1, and give them both a read, especially if you're a fan of romances!
And done!
For some reason, I started writing this review and stopped half-way through (I'm pretty sure I left to watch a Marvel film) and when I came to see the post, wondering why it was a draft and not scheduled, I realised I had also stopped writing half-way through a sentance.
Why am I like this?
Anyway, it's finished now, and that's all I have to say!
Bye!
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