Book Review: Always by Sarah Jio

Book Review: Always by Sarah Jio

Publisher: Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine

I wanted to love this book but ended up only liking it. It’s a pretty quick and decent read. The story is captivating and it makes you want to keep turning the page to see what happens next.

The love of Kailey Crane’s life disappeared and left her heart broken but she has finally recovered. Successful social commentary journalist, engaged to a wealthy fiancé, and living in a beautiful home with a view she seems to have landed on her feet. One night, after a luxurious dinner, she comes across the now homeless Cade. While memories of their time together come flooding back to her, he seems to be unable to remember her.

What happened to Cade? A once up and coming music mogul has turned into a dirty, ragged homeless man. Why can’t he remember Kailey? Why did he disappear from her life without a word? Unfortunately, at the end of the book some loose ends stay loose and are never resolved. This is irksome.

Also irksome is the character of Kailey. I wanted to like her. I wanted to feel empathy for her broken heart and love lost. Unfortunately she was entirely selfish. She completely shut out Ryan, her new fiancé, in her quest to help Cade. She withdraws money from their joint account, lies to him about working, and even leaves a planned holiday to return to Cade. Emotional cheating can sometimes be worse than physical cheating and this book shows it in detail. As much as I appreciate a good “finding your lost love” story, her behavior really makes her unlikable.

The book bounces back and forth from the present day to the 90s when Kailey and Cade’s relationship took place. The author handles this pretty well as it’s not jarring and it doesn’t take you too far out of the story. It brought me back to the 90s with the musical references and clothing references. The nostalgia was spot on for me.

I didn’t love the ending at all. It seems a little rushed and as I said there are several loose ends that don’t get resolved. All in all it was a good book and I enjoyed it but it won’t make my favorites list.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.