The Story of Us is really the tale of two books for me, there is the story of Eli and Shelby a love story about second chances and how to deal with war and loss - loss of both time and the person who you left behind. This is the story I loved.  Then there is the story that is supposed to have been the why the things happen to Eli and Shelby - the mystery and that is the part that I had a hard time with.

Eli has been declared dead - when the truth is he and his best friend Rylan have been held captive for over 5 years.  The only thing that has been keeping him alive is Shelby the girl he left behind - the one he vowed to never talk to again but certainly never forgot.  Now he is free and has returned home to find Shelby who has been held in her own captivity over these last 5 years.

Shelby's entire life changed the night Eli left her and in order to keep his memory safe she has had to given up her dreams.  Then Eli turns out to be alive and its getting harder to stay away from him and then to find out that everyone has been keeping secrets from her has made her question everything.

What worked for me is the love story between Eli and Shelby - it was raw, passionate and full of longing and ultimately love that was so beautifully written.  Told in dual POV's we get to see the full arc of these characters and when they find the truth about each other and what they both went through I was sucked into that part of the story.  Also, I have to commend Ms. Sivec and the way she handled the PTSD aspect of the story - it was raw and had me tearing up in more than one place in the story.   Where I had a hard time with is the mystery of what really happened to Eli and Shelby and why it happened.  That part of the story was hard for me to believe and almost seemed out of place.  I did enjoy the secondary characters - they moved the story forward.

All in all, I recommend this book for the love story for sure.

This book starts off with Eli and the hell he is in, it's something you would never wish upon any of those brave men and woman that go and fight for the freedoms we have. Immediately my heart is in my chest knowing the horrors he goes through to survive. 

This story takes you through his journey home and the challenges he faces after his time away. The one constant that kept him going is Shelby and together we watch them trying to piece back together their shattered lives. 

So many twists and turns in this book that will pull at all the emotions you have. Anger, heartbreak, disbelief are just some that come to mind. One twist that will completely gut you and make your heart cry out. 

If your looking for a book that will pull at your heart strings then I definitely recommend this on

The Story of Us was an absolutely beautiful story.  This was hands down my favorite book that I have ever read by Tara Sivec.  I knew from reading the synopsis that this one would be difficult on my heart, but I truly had no idea how much I would ache for Eli and Shelby.  It has also been a long time since I've been so angry at a character that I wanted to jump into the book.  I hope to see more of these emotionally charged stories from Sivec in the future.

Five Solid Gold Stars from me!  I don't give five very often, but this book had that something extra that can't be defined.  Some stories I read and enjoy but move on to the next without much thought, I will be thinking about this one for years to come.  It will gave me the warm fuzzies, made me laugh, it pissed me off, it got me worked up, shocked me and broke my heart and a lot more.  It's a second chance romance with a HEA told from both POV.

Shelby and Eli tell their love story in memories and flashbacks that are beautiful and hot and tragic.  How do a girl of privilege and a working class boy fall in love and make a life together?  Not easily, because outside forces and people with their own agendas can always manipulate life and cause damage beyond what should be endured.  As it so often does, true love endures the unthinkable and brings them back together to mend their heads and hearts.  

It's a unique story because there aren't many people like Eli.  How does a person stay in his right mind in captivity for five years?  He does whatever he can.  I've had sympathy for the struggles of people with PTSD but I could never imagine it, until now.  There are parts that are hard to read, but nothing that I would call a trigger.  I'm thankful to have found this book, it's an excellent read!

ara Sivec can write the hell out of every genre she attempts. Though her comedy series are some of my favorite all-time books, two of her emotional dramas are up there too. If you’ve read the amazing Fisher’s Light, you know what Tara can do with a military second chance romance. If you like Fisher’s Light, You will enjoy The Story of Us.

Shelby was brought up rich on a southern plantation complete with stables and stable boys. After the death of her father she also grew up unwanted and unloved. Her only loves were dancing, and a secret crush on the stable boy, Eli, since she was 12. When Shelby returned from college, the crush became something more until her evil witch of a mom found a way to separate them. For good.

Five years, two weeks, four days, and nine hours …

Shelby thought he died in the war, but he spent 5 years being tortured as a POW, and the only thing that got him through were thoughts of her and the memory of her scent and her touch.

“I wonder if she still thinks of me as much as I do her. I wonder if she knows she’s the only reason I’m still breathing, still fighting, and still holding on.”

Shelby has given up all of her dreams, all that she is, in those 5 years. After a tragic accident, and under constant threats from her mother, Shelby is not the girl Eli remembered.

“You came back here for the girl who could dance. The girl who fought to make her dreams come true, and I’m not that person anymore. I don’t even know who she is.”

The Story of Us is more than a second chance romance, there are some surprising twists and turns that I never saw coming. Parts of it were also told in a very unique way, through the letters he sent (and she never received), as well as in dual POV.



Likes:

So many twists and turns I didn’t expect.
I loved Eli.
The way a lot of the story is told through the letters.
Heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.
There was no denying that these two were meant to be.
I loved “The Story of Us” within the book.
Amazing epilogue.
Dislikes:

The end felt a little rushed. I wanted more revenge.
I didn’t connect quite as deeply to the characters as I have in her other books.
The Down & Dirty:

Tara Sivec has brought us another emotional powerhouse featuring a soldier with PTSD, but that’s where the similarities end. The Story of Us has a number of interesting and unexpected turns, but it’s so clear that these two are meant to be—you just have no doubt they will find a way to make it work despite the curveballs life keeps throwing at them. While I didn’t quite get the epic feels as I did in Fisher’s Light, The Story of Us came pretty close. Once again, Ms. Sivec delivers us a unique read filled with emotion, drama, love, sexy times and lots of mysterious twists and turns.
*Additional note: The preview for the next slightly related book already had me crying and I am totally in love with it.
Rating: 4.5 stars, 4 Heat

http://dawn-bookbuzz.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-story-of-us-by-tara-sivec.html

Review also on Goodreads and Amazon. Thank you for allowing me to read this early. I loved it!

It’s been a while since Tara Sivec wreaked havoc on my emotions with Fisher’s Light. Now she’s completely destroyed me with The Story of Us. And no, these stories are not connected by anything other then the fact that they both equally broke me. I mean, God. GOD! This story. This incredibly poignant and powerful story of love and second chances. This gripping, emotional, utterly heart wrenching story. My heart will never be the same. I was a complete and utter mess at the end. I love a good second chance romance, but when that also comes wrapped in a story that’s as powerful as it is emotional, I’m putty. Total putty.
How much can a man take before he breaks? When do the dreams stop giving him comfort and he has to accept that he’ll never see her again, touch her again or hear her say “I love you” again?
Eli has lived through hell for the past five years. The only thing that kept him going through the daily beating and torture as a POW are thoughts of his one true love. When he’s rescued and returns home where everyone mourned him and thought him long dead, the only thing on his agenda is to make things right with the woman that he walked away from due to circumstances out of his control.
I’m broken and scarred and half the man I used to be, but if she’ll let me explain, I hope to God she can put me back together again.
But the girl that he fell head over heels in love with before he left for his overseas tour, is not the woman he comes back to. Shelby is now completely under her mother’s thumb of political ambitions and image. She’s buried her dreams of dancing and moving away from this town to live in New York. She’s engaged to a man who has political ambitions that may be grander than her mother and someone she feels no passion towards. She’s a pawn in a game she wants nothing to do with, mourning a man that she believes dead, walking around a shell of the woman that she used to be.
Eli may be scarred as much inside as he is outside, but nothing will stop him from bringing back the sunny, beautiful girl that whose dancing stole his heart almost as much as her smile.
I hug him tighter, one last touch of his warm body against mine, one last second of feeling his heart beating with mine. I take it all in and shove it into the compartment in my brain reserved just for him, where I can take it out whenever I want and remember this moment. This one moment where I could pretend, for just a few seconds, that this could be my life. Wrapped up in this man who went through hell and found his way back to me. 
There is a lot of things that happen in the story outside of this couple. THere’s so much going on that happened to set the gears in motion for a lot that happened to them. As they try to navigate to the truth, they also find peace again in each other’s arms.
He makes me feel whole, he closes up wounds while at the same time ripping them wide open…and I never want it to stop. 
I loved the letters that Eli wrote to Shelby and the way she experiences reading them. I love the way he fought for her and my heart absolutely broke for everything he’s been through.
I would do anything for Eli, anything he asks, and that includes breaking myself wide open and letting him see all of my scars, inside and out.
Nothing is as it appears and soon the puzzle pieces begin to click together. But can Eli and Shelby survive the truth when it finally reveals itself?
This was such an emotional and gripping story. The only reason that held it back from being a full 5 stars for me was the amount of almost soap opera like intrigue and drama at the end. It was one thing after another and while it all does come a full circle, I felt like it didn’t have to get that crazy to be just as powerful. That certainly didn’t diminish my enjoyment much, because I truly did love it. Tara Sivec is such a versatile author; she can write romcoms that make you cry laughing and then turn around and write something that will punch you right in the feels. If you’re looking for a powerful second chance romance with plenty of feeling and steam, you seriously can’t go wrong with this one.

We all know that when we need a good, tears from laughing, we turn to Tara. But this was an emotional read that I am pleasantly surprised with. 

She created this wonderful story of two people who have a worthy story to tell. A second chance story of love, and life lessons.

He thought he was doing the right thing. They were a young love. And of course years later, he is back and wants to claim her again. 

Hearts are broken. Egos are bruised. With time and undeniable chemistry and recalling back to the way they were, brings The story Of Us.

5 The Ultimate Second Chance Romance Stars!!!

Imagine the heart break when you learn the man you've loved all your life has died and you realize you'll never hear is voice or feel his arms around you again and the length you'll go to in order to protect your memories of him....until he comes back from the dead and your world is turned on its axis. 

This my friends is what this poignantly, soul searing, book that will break you and then put you back together again by the amazing Tara Sivec is all about! From the very first page of the Prologue I had a feeling this story would suck me in and not let go and boy was I right.

Eli and Shelby were lovers when they were younger with Eli being from the proverbial wrong side of the tracks and Shelby being from a very prominent family. These two had so many plans and most importantly a love that surpassed anything either of them had ever felt in their lives. Unfortunately, someone in their lives didn't want them together and went to great lengths to keep them apart...until things didn't go as planned.

Imagine Shelby's shock when the love of her life shows back up but he's not the same boy that left her and the pain in his heart and head could prevent them from getting their HEA. Not only are we getting a beautifully written love story, we're getting somewhat of a mystery/suspense side story because there's lots of questions with not a lot of answers.

But through it all, Shelby and Eli try to find themselves both individually and as a couple. It's not easy and we have a few surprises along the way that had me gasping, but a love like this is worth the fight to get a never ending, all encompassing love. This is a must read book and bring your tissues with you!

Tara Sivec diverts from her usual humor and snark to write a heartbreaking and hopeful story of two people kept away from each other by their families and society expectations.

Shelby and Eli met on her property -- she was the daughter of a wealthy and politically connected mother, and he worked in the stables. She was young, he was attracted but kept his distance. One day she comes home from college, and they give into their attraction. Then, that's all taken away.

Eli enlists and is called away to duty. He's found years later as a captured soldier, who survived a horrific ordeal by thinking of one day returning to his one true love. Shelby, her humor, sass, and the scent of peaches is the one thing that kept him hopeful and alive through his torture. When he's finally released, he learns that everyone, including Shelby, through he was dead. He has to go through the motions of not only learning how to live as a free man again, but how to gain back the life, and the love he once had.

Shelby Shelby isn't the same either. She's never been able to get over the "loss" of Eli. She's tried to move on with a man that her mother approves of, and yet, she hasn't been able to give him her heart. Once a dancer with dreams of moving to New York, Eli returns to her and finds that she's still at home, no longer pursuing her dreams, and her scars may be deeper than his own.

"I love you Shelby. Only you. Always you"

They're both broken, and have to heal together. Much like Tara's prior work Fisher's Light, this story deals with a Veteran returning to find the home he left isn't the same. It's an emotional story and while at times a bit too lovey for my black heart, it was hopeful and had some surprises.

If you enjoyed Fisher's Light, you'll really enjoy this one!

“For five years, you saved me, and you didn’t even know it. Now it’s my turn to save you.”



I am a huge fan of Tara’s light comical side and honestly wasn’t prepared for her, “make you cry until your eyes hurt side.” This is a heartbreaking second chance military romance that begins with a gut wrenching reality punch of war and shows us what two Marines went thru being held hostage by terrorist. I am not kidding it started off putting my stomach in knots and anger. This is one of those love stories that show how love can keep two peoples lives going while they were apart in life and death. It shows what happens when someone from the grave shows up again! This book is filled with so many lies and secrets that for me I found myself struggling to keep up with certain things but I also feel that had I had I had the characters back story early I would have been too connected to notice.
Tara with this story does an amazing job of leaving you with your mouth wide open saying WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM and a twist so epic I still can’t believe she pulled it off! I really can’t say much more about the story other than I enjoyed the idea of this book, but I think personally for me there were things I wish came at different times. I wanted more from Shelby but I think that was more of me having a southern character issue than a book issue.

I think because of this I struggled developing a deep connection with characters and found myself at certain times skimming to get answers. I still would recommend this book to anyone wanting an emotional roller coaster and I would without a doubt say she nailed the second chance love. Unfortunately for me this time around I just didn’t fall in love but I absolutely think I will be a minority.
“I take back what I said before I told you this story. I actually did fall in love with you that day…”

Whew… this book was an emotional roller coaster ride I wasn’t prepared for. Tara took my emotions to an all time new level. I wanted to wrap both Shelby and Eli in my arms and hold them forever. Yes, this is a second chance romance, but it’s so much more. There is heartache, lies, deceit, twists and turns, and secrets. Oh my god… some of the secrets are just mind blowing. 

Shelby and Eli were young when they fell in love, but there were so many people working against them that they never really stood a chance. Now five years later, both Shelby and Eli are completely different people, but their love still burns stronger than ever. Eli and Shelby both hold physical and emotional scars from the past several years. Both of them are fighting their own demons, but can love really conquer all? Can Shelby and Eli find a way back to each other? 

Okay stop right now and grab some tissues. Yes, do it you will need them. Tara nearly ripped me into just to put me back together all over again. This has to be one of my all time top favorite books. It’s the perfect package… the emotions, the build up, the suspense, the surprises, the love, the connection. It’s just pure perfection. This will be a book that sticks with me for a very long time.

This book absolutely and utterly devastated me at times.  I love Tara Sivec's ROM COM's, I have read a few of her other books too, but this book may have jumped to my all time favorite Tara book. (And I am a HUGE Rom Com fan - just sayin')

From the moment I opened the book until the last page this book occupied my mind, my heart and my soul.  Even when my pesky family or work got in the way of my reading. Eli and Shelby were the couple that you wanted to survive this nightmare that was their lives and circumstances.

The twists and turns, the array of emotions I felt were endless.  My heart was breaking and soaring all at the same time. Tara Sivec's ability to sneak into my psyche for days after reading is spectacular and this book hangover was EPIC!

The perseverance and unshakeable spirit of this couple was breath taking at times.   A must read and one of my top reads of 2017!

Shelby Eubanks, the quintessential Southern Belle, has a perfect life: husband, house, and prestige. Eli James is the perfect guy: handsome, honorable, and driven. The perfect couple except they’re not. She’s with someone else, and he’s somewhere else, but these are just tiny details in the quest for romance. 
The Story of Us by Tara Sivec is like The Notebook meets This is Us, so not an exactly groundbreaking storyline, but the opener is compelling. My anticipation ramped up as the action-packed opener grabbed my attention. The melancholy intrigued me, but it was Eli’s backstory that captivated me. As a veteran, I have a soft spot for a military romance, and I was happy to see that Eli and I were part of the same family. Kudos to Sivec for getting the military tone correct (and capitalizing Marine). I could have stayed in Eli’s headspace for the book’s entirety, but The Story of Us is a dual storyline. 
At its heart, The Story of Us is a standard damsel in distress story waiting for the hero to save her. But the hero in question is hampered by memories and things he cannot change. While Sivec lays a decent groundwork of a hero’s return, but it doesn’t marry well with the second chance relationship. The romance is tepid, the heroine weak, the bad guys are overdrawn, and the plot cliched. The narrative and Shelby’s love of “I did it for him” mantra gets stale quickly as does the drawn out mystery. The reasons why Shelby and Eli are not together is fueled by misunderstandings and mommy issues, and when the big confessions come, it falls flat. The Story of Us’ strength is Eli’s backstory and his struggle with PTSD. However, the conclusion does little to shed light on the disorder, and the thin exploration is too small to be impactful. The Story of Us makes a play for the heartstrings, but it’s predictability and lack of connection, make this just so-so read.

I love this! This story was empathetic and real. It felt like I was living their lives. Amazing.

The blurb to The Story of Us has emotional written all over it and it’s fair to say Tara Sivec does not disappoint in delivering a charged, heart-rendering read. 

The opening scenes instantly sought me wanting to know more. Elijah James is a prisoner of war, and for the last five years he has been subjected to atrocities at the hands of his captors. With his body near breaking point, his spirit will not yield as he holds on for the promise that awaits him at home. 

Shelby Eubanks is a ghost of her former self. Under the impression Eli has been killed, she leads an empty shell of a life for reasons that are not fully known to us. Her free spirit has been crushed under the weight of grief, and as much as I found myself anticipating a joyous reunion, Tara builds the story in such a way we know their struggles are not over yet. 

It’s a story of love, loss, sacrifice and its repercussions. I enjoyed piecing the story together but felt it a tad guilty of slightly indulging. I felt every bit of their pain and championed them through to their well deserved happy ending.

The Story of Us was an incredibly gut wrenching story. I actually cried while reading it and I VERY RARELY cry while reading. Shelby and Eli's story has a current storyline that could be ripped right out of the headlines and will break even the coldest of hearts.

I can't even imagine believing that the love of your life is dead for 5 years and then having him reappear after you have moved on. I admire the fact that even though Shelby was confused about her feelings toward Eli she handled seeing him again gracefully. I also understand why she acted the way she did but I was more then happy when she finally found her backbone and stood up to everyone in her life.

Eli's character was amazing. He was honestly my favorite character in the whole book. What he went through was horrifying. He clung to his live for Shelby to get him through the brutal days and lonely nights that he lived through. I rooted for him the whole book.

The Story of Us had many twists and turns, most that I didn't even see coming. I tend to prefer Tara's funny books but I have to say, this is up in the top three of my favorites of her's now. It is absolutely worth a read!

***ARC Provided by the Publisher, Forever Yours, via NetGalley***

Eli and Shelby were together in high school and then life, the military, and things beyond their control both separated them and left Shelby thinking that Eli was dead.

Shelby moves on with her life, sort of, and gets quite a shock when it turns out that Eli is not only alive, but coming home after a number of years as a prisoner in a foreign country.

The angst is there, the stress and joy of the first time they see one another, the difficulty of finding common ground after that many years, and the stress of what they have both been through are all handled fairly well and in a way that I thought was realistic.

I liked so much of this book, the pacing was strong, the characters interesting and the writing was wonderful. Right up until the end.

The last about 15% of the book took it from a strong 4.5 to the 3 that I have given it. Not for the twist that appears, but for the timing of it. I was not able to believe that the characters were able to get to their happily ever after in the time that was left for them in the book.

Saying what happens is a huge spoiler. But I can say that if it had happened earlier, I would have loved it, and I would have been totally able to believe what was happening...but the combination of how much happened before you found out the twist, and there not being enough time for the issue to resolve, meant I was left feeling this book was close, but not quite there.

I do recommend this title, as I did enjoy it overall.

Another heart-wrenching romance from Tara Sivec. I really enjoyed this one. The HEA was well earned and oh so satisfying!

The Story of Us follows two people who went through unspeakable tragedies that left lasting scars, even though they do find their HEA. They found a love in each other that they didn’t expect but fought demons and villains to get back to and hold on to. 

I typically read anything Tara Sivec writes because I know that the story she weaves will leave me feeling like all the time I spent ignoring people being lost in her world will be worth it. And The Story of Us is no different. What I wasn’t prepared for were all of the emotions and soul searing feelings I would be left with. Just when I thought I could handle what she was giving another new revelation or twist would crack me open and leave me in a puddle of tears where I stood. Or sat. Or laid. Because I could not put this down. This book was attached to my hands at all times.

From the first page I was addicted to Eli & Shelby and their heartbreaking and heartmending story. To see how their relationship came to be. How they found their other half in each other and to see how they didn’t completely fall apart when they thought their forever was gone and never to be again in this life. That soul mate love that gets you through each day when you think you won’t be able to.

The way Tara crafts a story that has you feeling intense emotions for characters, that you have to remind yourself are not real, is a true talent. When you care for characters so much that you want to physically comfort the ones you love and punch the ones you hate in the throat so bad you have to step away for a moment and remind yourself you’re in a fictional world at the moment. 

Even though she tears you apart and has you bleeding out in the open for all to see with this story, trust that she is going to piece you back together and leave you with the best “I’m sorry I broke you” ending that you’ll have no choice but to forgive her. You’ll even find yourself begging for the next rollercoaster read you know she’ll bring to you. And you’ll happily jump at the chance to go through it all again because she’s amazing!

If you’re not adding The Story of Us to your library you are doing yourself a true disservice. This is one of the best Tara Sivec reads and one of the best reads in all of 2017. 

*Arc generously provided for honest review.