Melissa and Stefan fall in love but are separated by distance and family obligations. Can they find their way back to each other?
Having grown up in her sister’s shadow, Melissa Newman graduates high school and travels alone to Germany to visit family. While there, she meets Stefan Koehler and, after a whirlwind romance, they plan on marrying in two years.
Melissa returns home to Chicago weeks later and is coerced by her family into breaking all ties with Stefan. She marries another man on the rebound and quickly realizes she is stuck in an abusive marriage until one fateful night.
Melissa begins therapy where she comes to terms with her guilt, anger, and bitterness. She embarks on a journey of healing and self-awareness and overcomes many obstacles only to return to Germany where she encounters Stefan. Will the same magic ignite their passion once more? Will Stefan find out Melissa's secret? Will Melissa give up her new life in Chicago to be with the one man she will always love?
Excerpt
"Tell me how you felt when you broke off your relationship with Stefan," Dr. Foster urged.
"I felt sad and lonely. But most of all, I felt the way that I still feel today. Empty."
"The emptiness you feel inside is the greater capacity that you have to love someone else."
"But I don't want to love someone again," Melissa stated.
Dr. Foster raised her elegantly arched eyebrows. "Why not?"
Melissa sighed and shook her head. She declared, "Love hurts too much."
"Melissa, the power to take control is within you."
With a genuine smile on her face, Melissa said, "Now you really sound like a shrink, Dr. Foster."
"I think that is the first time I have seen you really smile. You should do it more often. It really lights up your face," the doctor remarked.
The smile faded from Melissa's face as her eyes grew dark. "Stefan used to tell me the same thing."
"You know, Melissa, people are going to do things and say things that will remind you of Stefan. You need to learn how to deal with that."
"I know," she said with a heavy sigh. She stood and walked over to the window. "It's just that I miss him so much." She turned back to Dr. Foster and crossed her arms over her chest. "And I miss being in Germany." She smiled at the memories. "That was the best time of my life. I was somebody there. I was Melissa. I wasn't Tracey's sister or Peter and Greta's daughter. I was Melissa."
"And you are still Melissa."
"I sometimes feel like I've forgotten who Melissa really is."
"Then you need to do some work to find her again," Dr. Foster said.
Melissa slowly nodded her head. "Okay." She walked back over to the chair and sat down.
Dr. Foster watched her patient. She was pleased with the progress that Melissa was already making in her therapy. "Melissa," she began, "I'm going to tell you something that you probably will not like. But I feel that you need to hear it anyway."
Melissa bit her lower lip. "Okay, doctor."
"First loves are blind, passionate, and unrealistic. Stefan was your first love and now he is married to someone else. You're young. Trust me, you will love again. You have your whole life ahead of you."
Professional Reviews
A Brilliant Read - Keep the tissues close...
I Will Always Love You took me back to the days of my first love and all the sweet, passionate and real feelings that came along with it. Annette writes in such a way that you feel everything Melissa feels, all the love, all the pain, even all the guilt. You feel like you are in the book, inside Melissa, experiencing it for yourself. Many tears were shed in the reading of this beautiful story, so keep those tissues close. Sad, beautiful and powerful, it shook me to the core.
The plot is well thought out and well executed, and it is very well written. Two thumbs up to the author, for making us all believe in true love, destiny and all those sweet, fluffy and happy things!
Well done Annette, this is my first book of yours, but definitely not the last!
Five stars well deserved! <3 <3
A Must Read
'I Will Always Love You,' by Annette Evans, is a great read. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It starts out with the main character, Melissa, nervously waiting in a phychitrist's office. We learn quickly that this is the idea of her mother and sister and not her own. We learn about the loss of her one true love and the effect it took on her life. We meet Melissa at the lowest point in her life and we learn about the women she becomes and how she grows. It is a very well thought out and written book. I would suggest this book to anyone who loves to curl up to a good romance. Once you start reading you can't stop till the end. Ms. Evans leaves you wanting more and waiting to read her next book.
I Will Always Love You- Simply A Beautiful Story
Annette Evans takes you on a journey of the heart in her book "I Will Always Love You". Melissa has been shaped by her perception of the place she occupies within her family structure, which has left her feeling undeserving. As Melissa starts to experience life as her own person during a trip to Germany she meets a man named Stefan that will ultimately challenge her character, her self-esteem, and her personal strength, as well as change her life forever. Annette uses a brilliant form of dialogue to tell the story of Melissa's heart, engaging the reader from the very first page. I found myself unable to put the book down because I needed to know what happened next. I marveled at how much one decision could impact a life and how fear and uncertainty could interfere with love. As Melissa works through her emotions fate steps in and leads her down some difficult roads. Only to find out that her life experiences were able to teach her things she otherwise might not have recognized about herself, her family, and life in general. Melissa gains strength as a person and is able to admit her mistakes and rebuild herself, stronger, better, and much more confident then she imagined she could be. Stefan lives life only to find out that some things are not always as they seem to be. Annette builds two characters that have no other option then to learn to really love and to follow the heart. Absolutely one of the best books I have ever read.
I loved him. At age twelve he touched my heart with his music. At age twenty he captured my heart when our eyes met as he sat on a stage and sang Four months later, he fractured my heart with his refusal to allow us to stay together. At age seventy
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