A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

I'm a terrible blogger. Gosh, how many times have we heard that before?

Seriously, though, last week was nutso and I wanted to have a second to just breathe, but that didn't really come, so the blog was kind of forgotten about. But I finally finished reading a book (hooray!) (well, one that I didn't absolutely hate), so I figured I would get down a quick review, just for the fun of it. So this one is A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery!

When high school senior Kelsey's identical twin sister, Michelle, dies in a car crash, Kelsey is left without her other half. The only person who doesn't know about the tragedy is Michelle's boyfriend, Peter, recently deployed to Afghanistan. But when Kelsey finally connects with Peter online, she can't bear to tell him the truth. Active duty has taken its toll, and Peter, thinking that Kelsey is Michelle, says that seeing her is the one thing keeping him alive. Caught up in the moment, Kelsey has no choice: She lets Peter believe that she is her sister.

As Kelsey keeps up the act, she crosses the line from pretend to real. Soon, Kelsey can't deny that she's falling, hard, for the one boy she shouldn't want.

Honestly, when I saw the description, I requested this from NetGalley mainly because I wanted to see how this was all going to work out. It said for "fans of Nicholas Sparks," and I haven't been a fan of his for a few years now (maybe since college), so I was a bit wary. I must have liked it, though, because I finished this book in a day and a half, and that was with work and stress bearing down on me.

Kelsey and Michelle are identical, so much so that most of their friends can barely tell them apart, and that includes Michelle's latest boyfriend, Peter. Sweet, adorable solider Peter that ships out the day that Michelle dies. At first, I thought it was a little weird that Kelsey began impersonating her twin sister. Really. Just tell the poor boy, I screamed at my Kindle. Then I really thought about it. I don't think I'd have the intestinal fortitude to tell my twin sister's boyfriend that she died, especially when he was in a place he doesn't want to be and in a precarious mental situation himself. So I understood Kelsey and her impetuous decision. I could also see why she kept it up, and why she fell in love with the boy.

What I didn't understand was how so many people knew the secret before Peter.

It seemed like everyone either found out by accident or could see through Kelsey's charade. None of them had met Michelle, mind you, but they just knew. Now, I'm the type of person that will not notice a new haircut for a few days or forget what classes some of my friends were taking (at that age), so I guess these people were just really surprising to me. How did they know, just by one little mistake, that Kelsey was impersonating another girl none of them knew? It was just so strange.

Overall, the story was sweet and suspenseful at some points, and I liked watching Kelsey fall in love with Peter, even though we all knew it was wrong. One character I could have done without was Gillian, Kelsey's best friend. She finds out early on what Kelsey's doing and instead of being there for her and trying to understand why Kelsey's doing this, she turns her back on her and starts acting like a five year old. It was frustrating and annoying, and I was kind of wondering what kind of friend she really was if she could be that mercurial. I don't know. Maybe I was so invested in Kelsey's happiness that I became irrationally angry at people who didn't understand? That sounds good.

Anyway! I'd totally recommend this book if you want a quick, sweet romance. It doesn't come out until July 7th, but, as my calendar just informed me, that's only a week and a half away, so yay! Run! Go get it!

Sorry, I just turned you all into my dog.