Shhh, Mommy's in the Bathroom.,.Reading
Olivia has spent her adult life running, never staying in one place to long, and never letting anyone close to her. She stumbled into being a bridal consultant 3 years ago and this the closest she has come to having a resemblance of a life. I don't know if you could call what she's doing is having a life, but more like existing.
The most consistent thing in her life is her best friend and boss Kyle.
In the beginning of the story, Kyle catches Olivia before she does something she can't undo. From that moment on Kyle won't leave her side. Lucky for Olivia Kyle is by her side when her world is rocked upside down.
Abigail is on the verge of her wedding day to the man she loves and taught her how to enjoy life again, or so she thought. Two weeks before their wedding, her fiancé Adam has a deep dark secret that he needs to tell Abby before they start their lives together.
Adam did a terrible thing in his collage years and wants to make amends, clear the slate, and start clean with his new life with Abby.
Abby is horrified to learn what Adam has done and decides to make sure Olivia is doing OK.
First let me say I was lucky enough that author BL Mooney found me through my blog. This was a great day for me. Mrs Mooney is and author that just keeps getting better and better and keeps throwing curve balls at me.
The story is very well written and flows well. We have periods of present day events and flashbacks.
It's an emotional roller coaster of events. I felt Olivia's fear and panic of her old life coming back to haunt her. I felt for Abby being caught in this horrible predicament. I mean, everyone has a past and does things they regret. How do you know if they have changed and can you ever trust that person again, or will it always be in the back of your mind what they have done. I felt for Kyle, wanting to help this broken woman, but not knowing how. There is so much emotion and questioning events that you think you know what's going to happen, but you have no idea. BL Mooney threw some major curve balls that I don't think I ever could have guessed would happen. I was frequently trying figure out what these characters motives were, and how genuine their intentions are.
OK now for the bad news.......
This story ends on a cliffhanger!
A big one! Huge!
The good news.......
The second book in the series will be out this spring, so at least we don't have to wait a year!
If you haven't found this author, I recommend you start. She knows how to weave an intriguing story that you just can't put down.
Impatiently waiting for book 2, Abby's Survival.
Shhh, Mommy's in the Bathroom.,.Reading
Once again, B. L. Mooney has delivered an emotional rollercoaster of a novel. Much like the first book of Ms. Mooney’s I read, Striving For Normal, I had to sit and digest it for a couple of days before I felt I could comment on it. Liv’s Existence was even more so, as it ended on a stunning cliffhanger, which came out of left field.
Olivia, or Liv, even Livvie, is broken. It’s hard to call her a survivor, because it seems as though she’s doing very little to survive, but merely managing to exist. She’s considered suicide, but was stopped before she reached that point. She has developed nearly OCD-like rituals in order to get through everyday life. The washing herself, the door locking, the lack of contact with other people, all due to her past relationship and abuse from ex-boyfriend Adam.
Kyle, her boss and best friend, will do anything for Liv, absolutely anything. He loves her, much more than as a friend, but Liv is too broken to realize that and thinks that Kyle deserves better than her. Kyle is patient and kind and is helping Liv do just that…live.
Abby is the current fiancée of Adam, Liv’s abusive ex-boyfriend. Adam has come clean about his past to Abby, but before they walk down the aisle, Abby wants Adam to make amends for his past treatment of Liv. When the two walk into the bridal shop where Liv works, it is readily apparent by Liv’s reaction that there is far more to the story than Adam is letting on. Abby, starting to see similarities between her relationship with Adam and Liv’s relationship with Adam, decides to befriend Liv in order to get to the truth, but also to help Liv. What results is a tale of friendship and love, tempered with both physical and emotional abuse. Can Liv ever get past the blame she puts on herself for what happened between her and Adam? And can she ever truly be a friend to Abby, knowing that she is in love with Adam, the one person who hurt her the most in the world?
Ms. Mooney is a master at crafting intense, deep relationships between her characters. Her characters are so broken, it’s hard to imagine that they could ever be fixed, much less be able to engage in a healthy relationship with anyone else, but through lessons learned and exploring their inner selves, they evolve and gain strength to persevere. This is one of the reasons I really like Ms. Mooney’s characters, they show such a range of growth that it seems to draw you further into the drama, you really begin to care about them.
I especially loved the relationship between Liv and Abby. It makes you ask the question of “what can’t be forgiven?”. Abby, at first glance, would be public enemy number one, being the current fiancée of Liv’s ex, however the level of empathy and honesty shown towards Liv proves without a doubt that Abby has Liv’s best interest at heart. There are several times where you begin to question Abby’s motives, they do seem suspect, but I think it gets to the heart of the fact that Abby too is broken in some way. I’m sure we’ll learn more about that in the next book.
Liv’s Existence is a gut-wrenching, life-affirming, edge of seat sitting, five star read. This book is not for the faint of heart and I suffered from a couple of days of book hangover when I was done, but I would do it again in a heartbeat and am really looking forward to it when the next installment of this series, Abby’s Survival, comes out this spring. Ms. Mooney has quickly made herself a spot on my auto-buy list.
Christina Mock
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