Category: Family Publisher: Lulu
ISBN-10: 1300204559
Type: Fiction
Pages: 282
Copyright: October 12, 2012
ISBN-13: 9781300204558
An ambulance driver hits a pedestrian and then stays by her bedside. Their lives collide in more ways than one.
It is Jay Bartlett's first day as an ambulance driver. Instead of simply delivering his patient to the hospital safely, he hits a pedestrian as they arrive. The victim, Jordan James, is just arriving at the hospital to tend to her husband, who has had a heart attack. Instead of keeping vigil by his side, she is thrown into a coma and her own medical emergency. In his guilt, Jay drops his own life and stays with Jordan. Their lives soon become intertwined both in the present as well as in the past as a story of love over time unfolds.
Excerpt
PROLOGUE
The bright yellow taxi nearly took the curve on two wheels. She had told the driver that getting there fast was a matter of life or death. She just didn’t want to lose her own life in the process. She thought longingly of her car, up on blocks at the mechanics where it had been stationed for nearly a week. Glancing out the window to see another curve coming, she cursed herself for not maintaining her vehicle properly. Bracing herself for the turn, she held back tears as the phone call re-played itself in her mind.
“Mrs. James?”
“Yes.”
“This is Memorial Hospital. Your husband had a heart attack. He just arrived a few moments ago…his condition is critical.”
“Is he going to be okay?”
“We just don’t know at this point.”
Her eyes clenched shut as she remembered how her own heart nearly stopped beating as she heard those words….heart attack…critical condition…don’t know.
The taxi had to get her there. She had to tell him before it was too late. Even if he didn’t live, he had to know before he died. Even if he couldn’t hear her, she had to try.
As she thought about the exact words she would use, the taxi jolted to a stop across from the towering emergency building. She glanced at its massive presence with a sense of dread.
She threw bills at the driver, not waiting for change. After the fancy curve work, the driver deserved every extra penny. In her rush, she didn’t bother to look both ways. In her terror, she didn’t hear the siren.
* * * *
It was his first day on the job. He had studied the maps for days at a time and he knew the city streets better than the back of his hand. He knew the fastest routes at every time of day. His first passenger would not die on his clock. Not a chance. With the siren blaring, he drove swiftly, but gently, so the emergency medical technician in the back could work without disruption.
“She’s losing a lot of blood, Jay,” the EMT shouted. “We gotta get there fast, man!”
“Not a problem,” Jay replied. “I called ahead. They have her blood type ready. Plus we’re already there.”
Jay only glanced back for a moment. He just wanted to see the look on the seasoned EMT’s face as he realized he’d just taken the quickest ambulance ride of his career right through the city during rush hour.
The woman darted out of nowhere. In his glory, Jay never saw her.
The second he looked away had been one second too long. As his eyes fastened back on the road ahead, the ambulance pulled under the emergency room over hang, and he caught the worry in her eyes an instant before the impact. The sickening sound jolted him backward into his seat.
Someone Always Loved You by Brooke Golliher is quite a surprise to me. The beginning of the novel is a bit dragging and quite frankly, didn’t interest me very much. Due to a busy schedule, I couldn’t read it in one go so I had to read it in bits and pieces.
Then came the long weekend for the Canadian Thanksgiving. As a result, I had ample time to resume reading. I remember it was Saturday at about 9:30 PM. I resumed reading, taking notes of my reactions, and then. . .I couldn’t stop.
These are some of my notes:
1. Nurse Ester hilarious!
2. Young Cory & Jordan so cute/sweet/romantic!
And then. . .
1. Sh*t! Pregnant? Seriously? Not telling? Adoption?
2. Sh*t. I’m crying.
3. Twist & turns! Excellent!
4. Sh*t! I cried!
5. Can’t stop crying. :(
Please excuse my swear words (I only swear when I’m alone, promise). I often try to transcribe my feelings as much as possible when taking notes of books I’m writing reviews on.
The writing style reminds me greatly of Danielle Steel because it has a sense of “telling” rather than “showing.” I usually dislike this kind of writing style. The only way to get me to finish a book with this style is for it either to be a great story or it to be a required reading for my classes.
I can attest that this novel is a great story especially at the latter half. I think that the first half is OKAY. This part is where the cliches and corny scenes are quite abundant. However, I quickly got over them during the second half when the story became powerful and intense.
The characters are pretty interesting. Jordan and Cory are so sweet. I admire their strength in facing the challenges life throws at them.
This story should have been depressing but the author, Brooke Golliher, weaves hope to her writing. What I love the most about this novel are its twists and turns. Some of the connections revealed between the characters were quite a shock, although some of them I guessed right.
I initially thought that this is a story with two plots connected only by the accident at the beginning, but the ending ties everything nicely together. The interweaving of the two plots are often subtle that when the big revelations are dropped, I have big “Oh my God” moments.
I love good endings but too-good endings sometimes turn me off. The ending of this book is a bit too-good but I didn’t really care because it made me cry (a few times, actually). Any book that successfully makes me cry is a great book, in my opinion.
Someone Always Loved You is officially now in my highly-recommended book list. It’s a riveting tale of the endless power of love, of forgiveness, and of staying strong despite the tempests of life.
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