Group Therapy Book Club Blog & Review: BLOG TOUR STOP: "If Forever Comes" by AL Jackson

We are very excited to be a stop on the If Forever Comes Blog Tour. I am a huge fan of the Take This Regret Series by AL Jackson and highly anticipated this book concluding Christian and Elizabeth's journey. Check out the book & author info, blurb, my review and book links below then be sure to enter the rafflecopter giveaway for your chance to win one of the following: an iPad Mini, $20 Amazon Gift Card or one of three signed copies of If forever Comes. Good Luck & Happy Reading!

Title: If Forever Comes (Take This Regret #2)
Author: A.L. Jackson
Release: September 20, 2013

Rating: 5 Star *****

Blurb:

If Forever Comes, the final chapter in the New York Times Bestselling series, Take This Regret.

Christian Davison’s life is complete. With a ring on Elizabeth’s finger and his daughter at his side, he’s ready to run headlong into their future.

Elizabeth Ayers never believed she would again find this kind of joy—the joy of a family and the wholeness found in the touch of the man she’s always loved.

Their love is intense and their passion only grows as they set out to rediscover each other.

But life is never easy.

Rocked by the unforeseen, Christian and Elizabeth will find themselves fighting for the one thing they hold most important—family.

My Review:

I don't think I have ever hoped harder for a couple to get their Happily Ever After. We have known Christian and Elizabeth since they were teenagers in college. We watched them fall in love. We were there when that love was ripped to shreds. We felt the pain that they both endured and the regret of lost time. At the end of Take This Regret we were elated when Elizabeth was finally able to let go of her fear and to forgive Christian for all his past sins and let him not only into Lizzie's life but back into her heart. It was a hard fought battle and Christian deserved every moment of agony Elizabeth put him through... but finally, finally their family was whole.

Now they face a new challenge. On the eve of their happy forever, a heart-breaking loss hurls Elizabeth into a dark place. A place that she doesn't know how to climb out of herself and she refuses to let Christian in to help guide her. Is it selfish, when you can't control it? Are you to blame when you can't see past your pain? Grief can be debilitating. It can cause your body to shutdown and it can cause you to cocoon yourself in your misery because no one can understand how you feel and it's a very slippery slope for your loved ones. How do they hold on when you are trying so hard to make them go? If their very existence in your life causes you more pain what do they do? Christian is completely at a loss. He has his own grief and Lizzie to consider and Elizabeth wont let him in. He thinks he is making things worse so he does the one thing he promised he would never do again... he walks away.

This was a gut wrenching read. My heart shattered right along with Elizabeth's. I felt her anger and her grief and her helplessness. I understood where she was and how hard it would be to find a way out... and then Christian... poor, poor Christian. My momma told me a long time ago that men are fixers. You have a problem, they want to fix it. They are not equipped to just be there, listen to you, cry with you and do nothing. It just isn't in their nature... they need to be able to fix it. I saw this in Christian. He ran because he didn't know what else to do. He couldn't fix it and it killed him.

This story was a beautiful, raw and real look at what two people sharing a life together face. Life isn't always pretty. Your fairytale isn't always easily wrought. Love is a choice you make and a commitment you have to honor every single day. Christian and Elizabeth already overcame so much to get their family back. Can he find away to reach her... can he be strong enough for them both... can he be man enough to stand and not fix it?

Favorite Quotes:

“After everything we’d been through together, I’d left Elizabeth when she needed me most. Left when life was the most difficult, because I didn’t know how to deal with the pain any more than she did. We’d been blindsided, our foundation ripped from beneath us, nothing there to catch us when we fell. And when we’d fallen, we had completely fallen apart. I’d been standing on the sidelines, waiting. Waiting when I should have been fighting"

"Don't leave me." Exhaling, I somehow managed to pull her a little closer. I would never let her go. "Never, Elizabeth. I wasn't going anywhere. I was just waiting for you to come back to me."

About the Author:

A.L. Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of Take This Regret and Lost to You, as well as other contemporary romance titles, including Pulled and When We Collide.

She first found a love for writing during her days as a young mother and college student. She filled the journals she carried with short stories and poems used as an emotional outlet for the difficulties and joys she found in day-to-day life.

Years later, she shared a short story she’d been working on with her two closest friends and, with their encouragement, this story became her first full length novel. A.L. now spends her days writing in Southern Arizona where she lives with her husband and three children. Her favorite pastime is spending time with the ones she loves.

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Author website http://www.aljacksonbooks.blogspot.com

Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5784542.A_L_Jackson