Someone Else's Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson - Review

Someone Else's Love Story
by Joshilyn Jackson
Expected publication: November 19
William Morrow (Harper Collins)

At twenty-one, Shandi Pierce is juggling finishing college, raising her delightful three-year-old genius son Natty, and keeping the peace between her eternally warring, long-divorced Catholic mother and Jewish father. She’s got enough complications without getting caught in the middle of a stick-up in a gas station mini-mart and falling in love with a great wall of a man named William Ashe, who willingly steps between the armed robber and her son.

Shandi doesn’t know that her blond god Thor has his own complications. When he looked down the barrel of that gun he believed it was destiny: It’s been one year to the day since a tragic act of physics shattered his universe. But William doesn’t define destiny the way other people do. A brilliant geneticist who believes in science and numbers, destiny to him is about choice.

Now, he and Shandi are about to meet their so-called destinies head on, in a funny, charming, and poignant novel about science and miracles, secrets and truths, faith and forgiveness,; about a virgin birth, a sacrifice, and a resurrection; about falling in love, and learning that things aren’t always what they seem—or what we hope they will be. It’s a novel about discovering what we want and ultimately finding what we need. 

My review:
Both Shandi and William have tragic experiences they are trying to overcome. After a night at a party that she doesn't remember because she was drugged, Shandi ends up with a baby that she doesn't want to admit was a result of that night. William has lost his wife and only child. Shandi is immediately drawn to William when he steps between her child and a gunman when they are involved in a holdup at a convenience store. This story is mostly told from Shandi's viewpoint, but we also get to see William's side. From the incident in the convenience store, we see how their lives interact moving forward, but along the way, we also find out about their pasts and the tragic experiences they both have faced. Shandi is really wanting her own love story because it seems everyone has one but her, and she thinks she wants William to be her love story. In the end, it seems they both needed each other at that time in their lives to overcome the horrible things that happened to them and figure out what they really wanted and how to move forward. 

Some parts of this book, I didn't really like. However, overall, I enjoyed it, and the ending made the whole book worth it.

I won this book as part of a Goodreads First Reads Giveaway.

About the author:

New York Times Bestselling novelist Joshilyn Jackson lives in Decatur, Georgia with her husband, Scott, their two children, Sam and Maisy Jane, and two feckless, dog-shaped wastrels who answer to Bagel and Ansley, especially if you are holding bacon. They all serve an orange tom named Mango in various capacities.

She is the author of five novels: gods in Alabama, Between, Georgia, The Girl Who Stopped Swimming, Backseat Saints, and A Grown-Up Kind of Pretty. Her books have been translated into a dozen languages, won SIBA’s novel of the year, twice been a #1 Book Sense Pick, twice won Georgia Author of the Year, and twice been shortlisted for the Townsend prize.

A former actor, Jackson reads the audio versions of her novels; her work in this field has been nominated for the Audie Award, was selected by AudioFile Magazine for their best of the year list, has made the 2012 Audible All-Star list for highest listener ranks/reviews, and garnered three Listen Up Awards from Publisher’s Weekly. In 2012 Jackson began reading the audio versions of books written by other novelists, beginning with Shine Shine Shine by Lydia Netzer.

Find out more at JoshilynJackson.com.