Review and Giveaway: Always Another Side by Annabelle Jacobs

Always Another Side

Title: Always Another Side

Author: Annabelle Jacobs

Publisher: Self-Published

Length: 167 Pages

Category: Contemporary Romance

At a Glance: Annabelle Jacobs gives readers a beautiful and emotionally engaging story in Always Another Side.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Starting over at forty is hard work for landscape architect Jack Bowman. His long-term partner hurt him badly. With his self-esteem dented by the break up, trusting a new lover is going to take time.

Tyler Freeman is equally unlucky when it comes to love. Now that he’s over thirty-five, he’s tired of getting played. All he wants is someone special. How hard can it be to meet a man who’s honest, with no hidden surprises?

Being set up on a blind date might be a classic cliché, but it’s a stroke of good luck for Jack and Tyler. They have a lot in common, including previous relationships steeped in deceit, but it’s worth navigating their trust issues if it means laying those ghosts to rest.

Making it work finally seems possible—until an accidental discovery threatens their newfound happiness.

Review: If you’re looking for a novel devoid of the Big Misunderstanding, where the characters actually discuss their doubts and fears and hopes and are honest and upfront about where they are in life, how they got there, and what they want now and in the future, then look no further than Annabelle Jacobs’ Always Another Side. Hallelujah for the grownups in this book. Just sayin’.

I loved this story, loved Jack and Tyler and the internal conflict of the relationship they weren’t sure they wanted but couldn’t help but to want at the same time. The pasts they were each trying to heal from that led their mutual friends to set them up on a blind date is valid reason to be gun-shy; they’d both been burned by love, so putting themselves out there again, making themselves vulnerable again, isn’t easy. Especially for Jack. The realism of this storyline and what it’s like to start over again at forty, after a long term relationship goes south, was portrayed so well. And, for Tyler, the realism of getting to a point in life, at the age of thirty-six, where he’d never had a successful relationship, was so touching because he’s such an amazing guy. It’s almost impossible to understand how someone hadn’t snatched him up and held onto him before now.

The obstacles in the way of Jack and Tyler’s happy beginning weren’t brushed aside to avoid conflict in this story, not at all. There’s plenty of conflict in this book, and it made my heart ache more than a little in its telling. What Jacobs manages to do is to allow these men to hurt and to own how they feel about relationships and, eventually, about each other, but in doing so, she also allows them to express all of those thoughts and feelings to each other. There are so many great conversations in the telling of this story, where both Jack and Tyler are honest, sometimes bluntly so, and the author allows them both to process those feelings and take away from these talks what’s important to understand in order to move forward.

Always Another Side is such a romantic book. It’s a story about starting over for Jack, whose decade and a half long relationship had lulled him into believing it was forever—only to then have it all come crashing down around him. It’s a story of second chances for Tyler, who wears his heart on his sleeve and jumps into relationships with both feet—only to be let down time after time. With one giant hurdle to get past before they can move forward, or give it up as a lost cause, Jack and Tyler win all the points for seeing things through together.

Annabelle Jacobs gives readers a beautiful and emotionally engaging story to appreciate for these two men not backing down from the challenges of finding love with each other.

TNA_Signature_Lisa

You can buy Always Another Side here:

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About the Author

Annabelle_Jacobs_logo Annabelle Jacobs lives in the South West of England with three rowdy children, and two cats. An avid reader of fantasy herself for many years, Annabelle now spends her days writing her own stories. They’re usually either fantasy or paranormal fiction, because she loves building worlds filled with magical creatures, and creating stories full of action and adventure. Her characters may have a tough time of it—fighting enemies and adversity—but they always find love in the end.