Book Review: Without You, Lindsay Detwiler

Title: Without You
Author: Lindsay Detwiler
Published: 01/12/2015, Limitless Publishing
Pages: 222
Source: Review request from Lindsay Detwiler
Format: Ebook
Rating: 4/5
On the surface, Jenna Landsen has it all... She's smart, beautiful, confident, and married to Camden Landsen, who happens to be drop dead sexy and just as successful. But after five long years, all the success in the world hasn't brought the romantic spark back into her marriage. Jenna fears it never will.

When life gives you lemons, open a bakery and name it Vi's... Violet Streiff made the exact mistake her mother warned against - she fell in love with Liam Coffman, a charming finance major. When he left her heartbroken to further his career, Violet drowned her sorrows by opening a bakery, and now relies on Bob, her eighteen-poind cat for warmth at night instead of a sexy man.

To find love, sometimes you first have to discover yourself… When Jenna’s job offers an extended trip to New York, she packs her bags and takes a two-month vacation from life. The chance of her marriage surviving looks grim, until the surprise of a lifetime throws a wrench in her plans to stay in the Big Apple for good.

You can bend the rules—but sooner or later they’ll break… When Violet meets a gloomy but totally drool-worthy guy named Camden in her shop, she’s sure her luck has changed. There’s no denying the chemistry, but he’s married, and that’s a major problem. Violet isn’t a homewrecker. Still, staying away from Camden proves nearly impossible. That is, until his wife comes home.
Two women.
Two men.
Double the chance to find love in the most unexpected places—or double the chance for disaster.

Without you is a really nice contemporary romance and is definitely an easy, quick read for a quiet weekend. I'd say it pretty similar to the type of story written by Nicholas Sparks. Lindsay Detwiler is a very talented writer.

Without You is mainly set with Jenna in New York and with Vi in a small town (I think it's a small town) coffee shop. Both settings relate well to their respective characters - Jenny's high flying business trip and Vi's own little coffee shop. So this also relates well to Camden's relationship to both women. He meets Vi when he is lonely and doesn't know if his marriage will survive. He needed somewhere to go really.

I quite liked the characters, although they aren't too rememberable.  Camden appears to be the nice, kind, good looking male character who doesn't know what has gone wrong with his marriage. He's happy with the quiet life. Because of this, I liked Jenna the least. Camden would give her anything and she practically threw their relationship away. But, I did start to like her more as the story progressed.

I really liked Vi. She tries not to let anything get her down. But she still struggles with heartbreak and her emotions and it is definitely something everyone can relate to. Similarly, she gets her hopes up. I do find Vi a very strong person as she powers through to make sure her business is a success. She is someone anyone would want to be like. 

Without You is told via the alternating perspectives of Jenna and Vi during a period of 6 weeks whilst Jenna I'd in New York. This shows us the differing and confusing feelings of both women who are in essence looking for the same thing. It also shows just how quickly feelings can change or build up. Lindsay Detwiler writes both women so well and their characters are completely believable.

 I felt the story told was somewhat predictable, but there were a couple of twists that I really didn't expect. It didn't end the way I thought it would either. The plot also had quite a nice pace to it. As it covered six weeks, you don't see every single day, just the important bits. I really liked this, as feelings didn't just suddenly disappear or reappear and everything builds up gradually.

I did like the end. Everything is tied up and everyone is happy. I do feel that it may have been a bit of an easy-out. I was surprised at the appearance of a certain character right at the end.

I would definitely recommend Without You to fans of Contemporary Romance. It is your "after-the-happily-ever-after" type story and portrays that even in the happiest marriage; it won't stay as happy for long. There has to be give and take on both parts.

I will definitely be looking out for more by Lindsay Detwiler in the future.

Goodreads / Amazon / Book Depository

Katie Hamstead / Goodreads / Twitter

Follow me via Goodreads, Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin and Pinterest.

Feel free to leave a comment.