Synopsis
This is not a simple story of first loves, this is an emotional yet touching look at life and how the smallest decisions can shape futures.
What you think you know can change before your eyes. Fathers abuse, mothers deceive, best friends betray, sisters dismiss, love controls, and anger consumes.
After graduating from high school, Easton Grace knows exactly what he wants and how to get it. His goal for the summer includes two things: avoiding his father’s wrath and protecting his sister. His carefully laid plans are quickly changed when a girl comes to town causing him to lose his tight grasp of control on everything, including himself.
Following years of sorrow, Taylor Monaco returns to a town she never wanted to see again but will forever call home. Her life was eternally changed by the people in this town, especially one boy. Her heart desires someone she’s not sure her soul can handle.
Can Easton and Taylor find their path before it’s too late - before the storm?
3.5 star review by Lisa Kane
“We’re all a bunch of fish floundering to find the person who our soul connects with, and once they’ve hooked us we can never completely fill our lungs with air again. I think some people like that feeling, and others don’t. Some enjoy the battle of surviving love…but for others, their hearts can’t take the lack of oxygen.”
Before the Storm’s Prologue begins in the same manner as Haven From the Storm. There is a tornado hell bent on its path of destruction and when it passes, no one’s life will be the same. HFTS is Lily and Dean’s story, and the years that have passed since their town of Kolby, Oklahoma was almost decimated by the twister that ravaged. BTS is Lily’s brother, Easton Grace’s story. We heard a little of the kind of man he was; fiercely protective of her sister, strong, temperamental and loyal to a fault.
Before the Storm alternates between the past and the present. In the present Easton has just graduated from high school, is best friends with Dean and can’t wait to get away from his abusive father and apathetic mother. He will be damned if he will leave his sister behind when he goes away to school. As close as he is to Dean, he wants no part of a romance between Dean and Lily. Lily has been infatuated with Dean for years, but Easton knows Dean is surrounded by girls and he doesn’t want his sister hurt if she finds out that Dean samples the goods from time to time. As much as he thinks of Dean as his brother, he won’t let his sister be with Dean, no one will hurt her while he is there to stop it.
A girl who seems oddly familiar to him is at graduation. When he realizes it is Taylor, a girl from his and Lily’s past, he is shaken to his core. These two have history, and he needs closure. Back and forth the story weaves, giving us insight into Taylor’s tortured past. Her parents are so involved in her sister’s treatments (she has kidney disease) and require lots of time, attention and money. None of which has ever been showered on Taylor. All she has ever known is shouting and orders and hurtful remarks. She spent 3 months in Kolby at her aunt’s house while her parents were with her sister getting a kidney transplant. She thinks she will have some freedom and maybe a friend or two. Wrong, she is treated like trash and even though Easton has an interest in her, he caves into pressure from his friends and hurts her badly.
In the present, Taylor hasn’t forgotten that hurt. Can these two mend their differences as adults? Will Easton ever let the feelings between Dean and Lily come to the surface or will he squash them at every turn?
I had some apprehension about reading this book, knowing what happened to Easton. Except for the prologue and the very end, this book centers on the abuse from Easton’s father, his romance with Taylor and his relationship with Dean and Lilly. I did find myself wishing there was less back and forth from past to present. I was left with the heartache I expected, but I felt unsettled for Taylor and her questionable future. Lilly was lucky to have Easton for a brother. Time and again he protected her; thanks to him she was totally oblivious to the monster who was her father. This book gave us a glimpse as to why, in HBTS, he was so missed and revered. He was one of the good guys.
Unedited Deleted scene
Sometime between Chapter 15 and Chapter 19 - Before the Storm
Easton
Present…
I finally got away from my sister’s watchful eye. I didn’t have anywhere I needed to be today and even more importantly there wasn’t anywhere I wanted to be. I wanted a break, a timeout from life. Everything was spinning out of control because they were all losing their minds…or I was losing my mind, I wasn’t exactly sure.
I heard footsteps approaching in the dry sand of Sunflower beach.
“What in the hell are you doing here?” I yelled at Dean.
“Well I assume the same thing you’re doing here – trying to get away from you and everyone else.”
I didn’t respond I just glared at him.
“Lily’s upset.” He said like I didn’t know my own sister was unhappy and that we were the cause.
“I know! What did you say to her?” I demanded.
“I told her what you wanted me to, I told her we were done and we could never be.” He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“No, that’s not what I wanted. I wanted you to stay away from her in the first place. Stay away from her until you grow up enough to deserve her.” I stood from my place on the rock and moved toward him. “Why would you think you could be with Lily when you were just messing with that red head? Are you trying to hurt her?”
“I didn’t do anything with Mindi. Not that I expect you to believe me, but it’s the truth. You’re determined to turn me into the bad guy and I think you’re doing a good job at it.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I snapped.
“The harder you push the more you hurt her, not me.”
About the author
Twitter: @sarahdosher OR https://twitter.com/
Goodreads (author): http://www.
Goodreads (book): http://www.goodreads.
Website: http://sarahdosher.com
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