Review: Defining Moments by Andee Michelle (Defining Moments #1)

Andee Michelle is a new author to me and I decided to go ahead and read Defining Moments, the first novel in the series by the same name, in preparation to read and review the second addition to the series whose blog tour I was participating in. Romance novels that have main characters who are in their late 30s or early 40s tend to stand out to me because majority of the ones you find in the books I'm slated to review are in their 20s or early 30s. Having a hero and heroine closer to my own age is something I get a kick out of, because hey, even older folks deserve their happily-ever-after! But knowing that Ellie Harper and Saint Cordero were thirty-nine and forty-two, respectively, was just a bonus because this was a moving yet equally inspiring story about two broken hearts that must heal before they can full love again.

Eleanor Harper had the kind of life other women would envy, but that life turned out to be a fantasy when her husband of over twenty years informed her that he was no longer in love with her. Wanting to simply move on and move forward, Ellie decides to embrace this unexpected new phase in her life. With the support of her three sons, parents, and best friend, Ellie moves out of their family home and into an apartment complex where she meets her new neighbor, Saint Cordero. Ellie and Cord become fast friends, with a closeness that makes others wonder if there's something more beneath the surface. But Cord has loved and lost already once before and Ellie isn't sure if he'll ever be ready to go back to being Saint, the man he was before. Can Ellie and Cord completely let go of their pasts in order to have a shot at a future?

This book was really about Ellie's ongoing journey as a woman, a journey that she believed she would continue to have with her husband by her side. But harsh realities can sometimes force us to switch lanes or take different paths and it's those new roads that lead us to newer, and oftentimes better, experiences. I seriously wanted to smack Justin, Ellie's ex-husband, more than once. He was a selfish cad who put his own wants before his family's needs. Both Ellie and Saint needed to work on their communication and they really needed to quit making as many assumptions as they did. But making mistakes is inevitable, especially when you're trying to find your footing once again, and I liked how Ellie and Saint's relationship evolved from friendship to much more amidst all the trials. Defining Moments gets four out of five stars. ♥

Date Read: September 11, 2016

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