Book Talk: A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

Want an “at a glance” look at what I thought? Check out my Review On A Post-It or my “Final Thought”

When a girl loses her twin sister in an accident she is naturally devastated. She realizes that her sister’s boyfriend has no idea about her death because he is in Afghanistan on a tour. She has intentions of telling him but when she does get to connect with him she doesn’t have the heart to tell him, for a couple reasons, but mostly in that moment she sees how hard things have been over them for him. She lets him believe she’s her sister but lines start to blur when she starts to have real feelings for him.

The marketing copy says “for fans of Nicholas Sparks” and I have to say I felt like that was pretty accurate. It was definitely the emotional drama type read I needed for the pool and I breezed through it though I felt SICK to my stomach the whole time as I was reading and she strung this lie out. This is one of those books from the onset that you are like OH GIRL THIS IS A BAD IDEA. I mean, impersonating your dead twin to her boyfriend who is overseas in the military? EEP. ALERT ALERT. HORRENDOUSLY BAD IDEA.

The bad decision she makes doesn’t even bother me that much. I believed it. That sometimes in the moment, especially when grieving, you could make a really bad choice. I understood that it made her FEEL something to feel like she was doing something good for him and also kind of denying that her twin was gone in some ways. I understood how sometimes you get yourself tangled so badly in a lie that you don’t know how to get out of it with the least amount of damage. I was like OH GIRL STOP THIS but I couldn’t stop reading because I truly was invested in her grief and how the story would play out. I enjoyed watching the dynamics of her family as they were trying to grieve as well.

I was digging the book but then slowly my feelings started to wane as we get closer towards the end and things happen with the ~romance~ between Peter and Kelsey. I can’t explain it without spoilers so just know that how it all ended up made the difference from it being okay to my next notch up on the rating scale.

So here’s my super spoilery explanation for what irked me:

[spoiler]I really did NOT get the romance or feel any remotely swoony feelings. On one hand I was like maybe she’s falling for him because she needs someone…okay I could get that. That strong connection with someone who loved her twin. I could get that. But nowhere in the story did I FEEEEEL a real genuine connection that made me believe in them/understand this love they had to be happy about the outcome of them ending up together. It was just so GAH. I get it. He falls in love with ~her~ but it’s still weird to me that he didn’t ever realize the difference between them in any of the conversations. Maybe it was that her twin and him hadn’t REALLY been dating for that long? I don’t know. It just seems so unlikely to me that he could fall for both of them. That wasn’t my only issue. My other issue was like how EASILY he forgave her and YAY HAPPILY EVER AFTER. Honestly what would have made me love this more? Them NOT getting together. Him forgiving her and them becoming friends or something. Realizing that their connection wasn’t REAL. And I know that’s not what happened. But what did happen? I just felt like it was weak and I was so annoyed by it. I wasn’t into their romance at all but I do understand that it kind of was the type of book it was that should have clued me in to the outcome. It was just so predictable and the romance didn’t even make me fall for it.[/spoiler]

(I was going back and forth between it was okay and mixed feelings to be honest. But typically my “it was okay” doesn’t have me feeling such strong negative feelings about a big aspect).

+ how compulsively it made me read, writing, the grief explored & the family dynamics
–  THE ROMANCE, THE ENDING

Re-readability: no
Would I buy a copy for my collection? no

people looking for a Nicholas Sparks-esque book, people looking for a romantic beach read you’ll race through, people who aren’t bothered by predictability

It was no doubt a compulsive read that was perfect for the beach but I just really didn’t enjoy the romance and the ending even though I should have realized that it was going to be predictable. I did enjoy the story up until then and the grieving process she goes through really had me emotional.

* Have you read this one? What did you think? Similar or different from me? I would LOVE to hear regardless!
*If you haven’t read it, does it feel like something you’d be into?
What did you think about the ending if you’ve read it?? Mark spoilers in the comments please! 🙂