Forgiveness: Everything for Love (The Hamilton Series Book 2), by Kate Smith

Publication: March 12, 2017

forgiveness About the book:

What would you sacrifice for love?

Aiden has made promises… ones he cannot break no matter what obstacles are in his path. Even with the support of his closest friends, the future he envisions seems daunting and unattainable. However, he makes the best of it. As he’s learned—when one door closes, another opens.

Failing to lay her insecurities to rest, Emily refuses to allow Aiden to break down her barriers. She’s learned the art of self-preservation is a valuable skill. If she could simply avoid Aiden, life would be much easier…

Constant self-doubts, the interference of his ex, and his manipulative family combine to create havoc. As they embark on new journeys in separate cities, each takes steps toward healing, forgiveness and the acceptance of themselves and their pasts.

Promises are easy to make, but hard to keep…
The eternal bonds of family do not rely on biology alone…
Second chances are sometimes granted and lessons learned…
To love is to forgive and accept…

My Review:

Today I am continuing my love and obsession with Kate Smith’s Hamilton series after reading the second installment, Forgiveness: Everything for Love! This time around, the emphasis is more on Aiden and Emily. Aiden has relocated to Boston and is getting settled into his new position at Mass General while Savannah starts a new school and makes new friends. Emily continues her new position in Chicago, while silently missing Aiden, Savannah, and the life she had hoped they would have together. Despite Aiden’s need and desire for some distance between him and Emily in order to let his heart heal, wedding festivities continue bringing them together until everything changes.

Kate Smith really gets into Emily in this one, allowing us to see more of those deep fears she carries regarding relationships and why. Emily became a lot more human and feeling to me this time, although she still had some crazy, frustrating moments.

Once again, I had nothing but love for Aiden! He frustrated me at times in how he continued to allow Tiffany to get to him and Emily, but otherwise, he was his normal, wonderful self as he continued caring for and building a relationship with Savannah while trying to navigate the situation between him and Emily.

Besides Tiffany and the geographical distance between Aiden and Emily, there were plenty of other obstacles and challenges including Emily’s father and both of Aiden’s parents, beefing up this romance with the conflict that had me guessing for the first half of the novel, wondering will they, or won’t they? However, right when I felt like everything was going to be Cinderella-perfect, more conflict busted its way into their lives in the form of Joel’s ever-changing personality, his marital issues with Alex, more of Aiden’s father, and of course, more of Tiffany.

Kate Smith has an incredible ability to create and develop characters all over the spectrum from sweet and wonderful to absolutely wretched human beings – which I love! Forgiveness, just like book 1, Reunited, is a wonderful contemporary romance/family saga that is relatable, realistic, yet still compelling fiction that completely draws the reader in. This book hooked me from the first line and I did nothing else yesterday until I had read the very last word. A lot was packed into this second book, but it was not overdone. Smith is an amazing storyteller that has truly brought these characters to life, and this is a series that should not be missed. I am on pins and needles waiting to read the next one, as well as, the remainder of the series. Highly, highly recommended, but make sure you start with Reunited!

*Thanks to the author for providing a review copy in exchange for my honest review!