Derailed

by Alyssa Rose Ivy

• ISBN10: 1479209139
• ISBN13: 9781479209132
• Publish Date: 23 September 2012
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 262
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I put off reading Derailed for quite awhile, but I was pretty eager to get to it once I decided that it was time. Sadly, it just really did not work for me. I liked the idea of Molly returning to her childhood home to figure out what to do with her life after her fiance dies. That probably sounds morbid, but it's a change of pace from other books in the genre. I was also hoping that this would be a second chance romance that actually works for me, but this wasn't it either. Ben was just the absolute worst and I could not get behind him and Molly as a couple. Or behind him at all.

Derailed just frustrated me to no end. Molly is dreading seeing Ben again after she broke his heart five years ago. It's no wonder, because when she goes to see his band play, the song is about her and it's not exactly upbeat. From there they have some painful run ins where he basically tells her that he never got over her, and then that somehow leads to them having sex. I could totally get behind a purely sexual relationship that turns into something more, but Ben is such a possessive creep and Molly doesn't really call him out on it at all.

At one point, Molly goes out to dinner with a guy named Gavin (the star of the following book) and Ben goes ballistic. They are not dating. He has no claim on her. Molly also wasn't on a date with Gavin. It was a friendly dinner even though he was attracted to her. And the two of them are planning a bachelor/bachelorette party for their BFFs, but Ben doesn't want Molly doing that either because of reasons. She has to tell him that they're exclusive (but still just purely sex) for him to back off. Um, what?! First of all, she shouldn't be forced to be exclusive with him just because he's a jealous dick. Secondly, how does being "exclusive" stop her from having friendly dinners or spending time with Gavin (or other men)? It makes no sense!

Derailed was not the Romance for me. Ben really was an awful love interest. We're never given any reason for his obsession with Molly, or why he's so possessive of her other than being in love with her for forever. He had five years to get over her, but instead he wrote angry songs about her and essentially laid in wait for her to come back home and take him back. That's creepy, not romantic.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[Cocktails and Books]

Molly comes back home to Clifton Falls, North Carolina to try and figure out what she's supposed to do next. Months after her fiance's death, she's quit law school and found that booze helps numb the nightmares that plague her. But she didn't count on her return stirring up the other ghosts of her past and making her finally take a look at where's she's been and what really makes her happy.

Despite the somber tones of this book, I really enjoyed it. As a reader, my heart went out to Molly right away. Given everything she'd been through you could understand why she was leaving school and running home. The poor girl carried around a lot of guilt, which ate at her. It made you want to wrap your arms around her and keep telling her it was going to be ok until she finally believed it. But as the story went on, it became evident that Molly needed to go through all the turmoil and torment to understand that the one person who could soothe her soul was the boy/man she ran away from five years prior. She didn't make it easy for Ben, but in the end she realized that she was never really happy without him or the small town she grew up in..

I dare anyone to not love Ben from the moment he first makes his appearance on the page. He's that boy we all wanted to love us in high school who grew up to be one of those good guys we could only hope we ended up marrying. He knew what his role was in the break up with Molly five years before, but he also had enough faith in both of them to know that she was brought back into his life for a reason and he wasn't about the let her go again. He may not have known the truth behind Molly's broken engagement, but he knew she wasn't happy and would do anything to get her back to the girl he knew. Sure sometimes he was pushy, but he also knew when to let Molly have her way and understand that he was always going to be there for her.

I wasn't sure what I was getting with this book, but I quickly discovered a very touching story with a carefully crafted storyline and characters that emotionally pulled you into the story. No matter your age, you can appreciate what these characters went through and faithfully hope they find the HEA you want for them.