Above and Beyond by Sandra Brown

I can take or leave Sandra Brown and her writing. I typically never finish her fluffy romance books, but I love her thrillers. I could
not figure out which one this was – thriller or obnoxious romance. Even after I finished reading it, I knew it was supposed to fit into the “romance” section, but I don’t see it. I still don’t.

Above and Beyond  is about Kyla and Trevor. The novel starts with Kyla in love with her husband Richard, and pregnant with their first child. Richard is a marine and is on a deployment when he is killed in a bombing. She grieves for her husband and the life they were supposed to have. Trevor was a marine with Richard, but survives the bombing.

Trevor has all the letters that Kyla wrote her husband, and falls in love with the woman who wrote the letters. He wants to see her and be with her so after he recovers from the injuries from the bombing, moves to the Texas town kyle lives and and becomes intertwined with her life – all while hiding his past from her. She slowly falls for him as a person, but he constantly has to tiptoe – and deal the with internal battle – of not telling her who he really is and why he has immersed himself in her life.

After I read the book, I was interested in what other people had to say about it. As of today, 17 out of 34 people gave this book 5 star reviews. I agree with many of the comments. The characters were so richly developed – who are very human, the plot was fluid and creative, and each scene was written with care and appreciation – I would picture the entire novel with how she wrote it.

One thing that i really could not get over was the fact that Trevor essentially stalked Kyla. I just cannot move beyond that fact.  I feel like Brown did not intend to make Trevor come across in this way – I am sure she meant for him to be like a star-crossed lover, but the way that I read and interpreted the situation, I cannot see it any way. It bothered me from the beginning and I am sure that colored my views for the rest of the novel.  So I suppose if I did not see it in that light, I would have enjoyed the novel more. But as I said earlier, most people raved about it, and Sandra Brown did write a solid story with well developed plot and characters, so it may be something you may be interested in.

To read more about this book, or any of her others (she has many) check out her website here.