Gossip is the ultimate currency in Rosemary Beach, but Bethy and Tripp have managed to keep one big secret to themselves.
Eight years ago, Tripp Newark was dating a rich girl he didn’t like and was on his way to Yale—and a future he didn’t want. The only way he could escape his predictable life would be to give up the money and power that came with his family’s name. And that’s exactly what he planned to do. At the end of the summer, he was going to ride off on his Harley and never look back.
That was before he met Beth Lowry.
It was only supposed to be a summer fling. She was a sixteen-year-old trailer-park girl who served drinks to his friends at Kerrington Country Club. They didn’t run in the same social circles. No one even knew they were friends, let alone lovers. Yet, for one summer, Bethy became his entire world.
But he couldn’t give up on his plan. He needed to leave Rosemary Beach, but he vowed he would come back for her.
Problem was, by the time he came back—years later than promised—it was too late. His cousin, Jace, had already claimed the woman he loved. . . .
That was before he met Beth Lowry.
It was only supposed to be a summer fling. She was a sixteen-year-old trailer-park girl who served drinks to his friends at Kerrington Country Club. They didn’t run in the same social circles. No one even knew they were friends, let alone lovers. Yet, for one summer, Bethy became his entire world.
But he couldn’t give up on his plan. He needed to leave Rosemary Beach, but he vowed he would come back for her.
Problem was, by the time he came back—years later than promised—it was too late. His cousin, Jace, had already claimed the woman he loved. . . .
4.5 Second Chance Stars by Nicole Lorenzo
They say you never forget your first love and this is true for Bethy
Lowry. She never forgot the boy who stole her heart and then smashed it to smithereens.
When he left her to follow his own path and escape the life his parents had all
planned out for him, Bethy took a destructive path to wipe him from her memory.
But then Jace came along and slowly Bethy began to heal. He saved her and she
gave him what she thought was her whole heart. They were truly happy, and then
Tripp Newark came back into town and brought with him memories, and feelings
Bethy would rather forget. Feeling guilty and confused leads Bethy to drown
herself in alcohol while at the beach with her friends. A terrible accident
occurs and Jace sacrifices himself to save Bethy from drowning, leaving Bethy,
their friends, and all of Rosemary beach completely devastated. Jace died
trying to save her, and she will never forgive herself for her actions that
night and she will never forgive Tripp for showing back up after all this time
making her doubt her love for Jace.
“She was my
regret. Leaving her changed me.”
Tripp had every intention of leaving Rosemary Beach the second he was
able to and nothing was going to stop him. He didn’t care about the money,
becoming a lawyer, his social status or the arm candy his parents were
providing for him. He wanted to make his own way, follow his own dreams and
then he met Bethy. Bethy Lowry was a sweet girl from the wrong side of town.
Tripp knew he needed to stay away from her, she was too young, too sweet and he
was leaving. But like a moth to a flame he was drawn to her and before he knew
it he was so head over heels in love with her he couldn’t think straight. They
kept their relationship quiet, Tripp was still planning on leaving. He couldn’t
stay but he had a plan to come back for Bethy as soon as he could. But that
never happened. Five years it took for him to gather the courage to come home to
Rosemary Beach. And that’s where he found Bethy wrapped in the arms of his
cousin Jace. But now Jace is gone and Bethy hates him more than anything. He
doesn’t blame her, but he is still in love with her, and he is desperate for
her to forgive him.
“ Once she would have broken into the biggest, most
beautiful smile in the world and run into my arms. But that was the past. I had
broken that. I had broken her, and I hadn’t even known.”
Bethy wants nothing to do with Tripp. She wants him to pack up and get
the hell out of Rosemary Beach and leave her to her grief. She loved Jace,
truly loved him, but with Tripp back in town she is realizing that part of her
heart has always belonged to Tripp and that saddens her. But Tripp has no
intention of going away. He follows her everywhere, keeping an eye on her,
making sure she is safe and this both angers and excites her. With one of their
closest friends getting married she and Tripp are going to be thrown together a
lot and she is not sure how to handle that. Part of her can’t deny the fact
that despite everything that has happened, her feelings for Tripp have not
completely gone away. But the other part of her feels guilty and deceitful even
thinking about him that way. But Tripp is relentless. He is determined to show
Bethy that she deserves to be happy again, and that he still loves her. Bethy
can’t handle the conflicting emotions swarming through her. She finally pushes
Tripp away.
“You
will always remind me of what I lost. Twice. I only lose with you, Tripp. You
leave destruction in your wake. I can’t handle losing anything more.”
Living in misery Tripp is just going through the motions. He stops
following her, stops watching her but never stops loving her. Bethy doesn’t
want him and although he would do anything to change that, he can’t. But as the
weeks go by he sees her watching him, notices how upset she seems when he shows
up with an old flame. Maybe she’s not done with him after all, maybe he still
has a chance.
Bethy finally decides it’s time to put her grief and guilt aside and
start living her life again. A misunderstanding from her past gets cleared up
and takes a huge weight off her shoulders. Now Bethy has to decide what she
wants in life and she knows it’s Tripp that she wants. But is it too late?
“We
may have been kids, but what I felt for you was real. It never changed or
faded. Not once.”
Once the door has been opened Tripp blazes through it and he is
determined to never let Bethy out of his arms again. He wants to make up for
lost time, make her happy again. But Bethy is scared to move forward so
quickly. She is also scared Tripp will take off again like he did once before.
“I had to protect
my heart with this man. I already knew he had the power to shatter me.”
Tripp finally has the opportunity to prove and show Bethy what she
means to him. In order to do that he has to have her believe that he would
never leave her again. Bethy’s life is in Rosemary Beach. Is he prepared to
stay for good this time? Or will pressure from his parents and everything that
made him leave the first time be too much for him? Can Bethy trust Tripp again
or is her fragile heart destined to be completely obliterated by this man?
These questions can only be answered by Bethy and Tripp who have to decide if
their love is strong enough to withstand the pain of the past and the
uncertainty of the future.
I cried my eyes out a few books ago when Jace died. The pain and grief
that Bethy experienced, the blame she felt for herself and her closest friends was so raw.
The second I made the connection that there may have been something between
Bethy and Tripp I was silently begging for this book! It did not disappoint. I
loved Bethy with Jace. And I didn’t think she would be able to move on after
that, till we got the back story here and it blew my mind. I loved every
painful, grief stricken, regretful, sexy second of it. I am a sucker for second chance love stories
and these two definitely deserve a happy ending. We get to catch up with all
our favorites here and witness a special couples wedding. Sometimes when there
is such a large number of books in a series they can start to feel redundant.
That’s not the case here. You Were Mine is book nine in the Rosemary Beach
series and I am so happy that there are going to be more! Each character is so
diverse and interesting enough that you want to read more about them. I think
Mase’s book is coming up next and I am so excited for it! If you haven’t started this series yet, you
should! I know you will be rooting for Bethy and Tripp the way I was!
“You
were all I could see then, and you’re all I can see now. I’ve been waiting for
you, sweetheart, to heal and to come back to me.”
You Were Mine by Abbi Glines
Paperback: Atria Books | ISBN 9781476776071 | December 2, 2014 | $15.00
eBook: Atria Books | ISBN 9781476776088| December 2, 2014 | $7.99
Read an excerpt at Simon & Schuster’s YOU WERE MINE page
About the Author
Abbi Glines is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series. A devoted booklover, Abbi lives with her family in Alabama. She maintains a Twitter addiction at @AbbiGlines and can also be found at Facebook.com/AbbiGlinesAuthor and AbbiGlines.com.
Connect with Abbi Online
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ abbiglinesauthor
Twitter: @AbbiGlines
Instagram: @AbbiGlines
Rosemary Beach Club Buzzroom: www.bit.ly/RosemaryBeachClub (will be updated with YWM and holiday content by 12/1)
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