What do you think?
Rate this book
Black #1
186 Miles
My husband died. Just… gone. How is it possible that he was just here and then, in a flash, not? I had to move on eventually, right? I just wasn’t thinking it would happen this soon.
Why did I have to meet him? This stranger who made things less… strange. This man who made life a little more bearable.
How was I supposed to deal with my mother? My sister? My husband’s parents?
The pressure from the outside world would be great. The pressure I put on myself? Far greater.
I wanted to push him away. I wanted to.
I just… couldn’t.
Why did I have to meet him? This stranger who made things less… strange. This man who made life a little more bearable.
How was I supposed to deal with my mother? My sister? My husband’s parents?
The pressure from the outside world would be great. The pressure I put on myself? Far greater.
I wanted to push him away. I wanted to.
I just… couldn’t.
333 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2013
18 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
Nicole Hildreth
6 books8 followersOriginally from Northwest Indiana, I migrated a few hours south in my mid-20s, looking for a fresh start.
I ended up in Indianapolis, convinced I would spend a few months, meet a few people, and be on my merry way.
I met my now-husband, an artist, in 1998 and have been here ever since.
In school, I always loved creative writing but looked at it more like a hobby. It was a "dream career," not something that actual people did for a living, right? So, I did what you were supposed to do. Picked a major and plodded through.
But... something in the back of my head always told me that I should be doing this. At least trying it, you know?
I made a bucket list. By 40, I wanted to write something significant. No more short stories or blog posts... but an actual story. Something more than 60,000 words. A novel.
I went with what I loved. Romance. I've always read it and gotten swept away in every fantasy imaginable. So, that's what I did.
Enjoy.
I ended up in Indianapolis, convinced I would spend a few months, meet a few people, and be on my merry way.
I met my now-husband, an artist, in 1998 and have been here ever since.
In school, I always loved creative writing but looked at it more like a hobby. It was a "dream career," not something that actual people did for a living, right? So, I did what you were supposed to do. Picked a major and plodded through.
But... something in the back of my head always told me that I should be doing this. At least trying it, you know?
I made a bucket list. By 40, I wanted to write something significant. No more short stories or blog posts... but an actual story. Something more than 60,000 words. A novel.
I went with what I loved. Romance. I've always read it and gotten swept away in every fantasy imaginable. So, that's what I did.
Enjoy.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
November 29, 2014
Negative feminine sexuality is prevalent in this book. no woman should ever feel all this negativity about who they are and about how others perceive them. I finished the book so I could give it a fair review but the negativity prevailed throughout and I began scanning through to understand the story that was hidden underneath. the story could have been good if the main character had been portrayed without all the negative self condemnation.
March 24, 2014
I've never read a book where the main character continuously slut shamed herself for falling in love and sleeping with someone else so soon after her husband's death. Save yourself the aggravation and skip this one. No real plot, slut shaming galore and who cares what she wore all the damn time?
November 16, 2013
This was ok. I felt the story was a decent concept, I just didn't really like the execution of it in the writing style. The flow of the writing was off, IMO, all the unnecessary paragraph breaks, and the complete and utterly ridiculous over use of italics was so distracting.
I really did not even understand where this relationship between Rachel and Vince came from! There was very little evidence on the pages that illustrated love blooming. There was apparently a physical attraction, that seemed ill-timed, but we were never shown them getting to know each other. We were told, it felt forced, and awkward most of the time, for at least through 3/4 of the book. Toward the end we had finally witnessed the couple actually talking and getting to know each other. I enjoyed the ending better than the rest of the book.
The Rachel character seemed odd, to me. On one hand, we learn quickly she has a large tattoo on her back, and another on her hip, if I recall correctly. So, she would seem to be someone who doesn't care too much what others think of her, and a bit of a free spirit. Yet, she acted so prudish, and not at all 33-years old. Not saying people who are prudish can't have tattoos, but an entire effin back piece screams someone a bit more relaxed in their demeanor than Rachel. I don't know, her character just didn't fully work for me. Then there is Vince, I liked him, but he was quite pushy in trying to make Rachel have a relationship with him. Her husband just died! And he was your friend, sheesh. give her some time to grieve.
Another thing that bothered me was that she never met Vince and Jack before her husband's funeral, yet we find out late in the book that Rachel had met her now-deceased-husband while living in Chicago...where Vince and Jack had also lived at the time. I mean, these guys were supposedly good friends with Ryan, why had they never met Rachel before moving to Indy? What an awkward time to meet her to just come to the funeral, and then staying at her house?! Does not make a lick of sense. Even adding a couple sentences to the conversation when Vince finally asked how long they (Rachel and Ryan) were a couple would have been sufficient to explain why they had never met.
Decent effort, but fell flat for me. I wanted to love it since I love Indy and am familiar with the city, I wish the execution would have been better.
I feel compelled to say that I have lived in Indiana my entire 40-years of life, spending 7 of those, in my late 20s to early 30s, in Indy. Not one person I have ever encountered called the area I believe the Rachel character lived in "The Village." Yes, it is really Broad Ripple Village, but everyone I have known just calls it Broad Ripple. I have many friends and family who currently live there and even asked a couple of them via text if this was a new thing since I moved away, they said it is not common at all but you hear it from time to time. I know the end of the book says the Author lives in Indy, and she does know stores and restaurants, and the likes, but calling Broad Ripple "The Village" is just not something that is commonly used, as far as I know. Just wondering if she moved there from somewhere else? Chicago, perhaps? Or was not allowed to use Broad Ripple in a book?
I really did not even understand where this relationship between Rachel and Vince came from! There was very little evidence on the pages that illustrated love blooming. There was apparently a physical attraction, that seemed ill-timed, but we were never shown them getting to know each other. We were told, it felt forced, and awkward most of the time, for at least through 3/4 of the book. Toward the end we had finally witnessed the couple actually talking and getting to know each other. I enjoyed the ending better than the rest of the book.
The Rachel character seemed odd, to me. On one hand, we learn quickly she has a large tattoo on her back, and another on her hip, if I recall correctly. So, she would seem to be someone who doesn't care too much what others think of her, and a bit of a free spirit. Yet, she acted so prudish, and not at all 33-years old. Not saying people who are prudish can't have tattoos, but an entire effin back piece screams someone a bit more relaxed in their demeanor than Rachel. I don't know, her character just didn't fully work for me. Then there is Vince, I liked him, but he was quite pushy in trying to make Rachel have a relationship with him. Her husband just died! And he was your friend, sheesh. give her some time to grieve.
Another thing that bothered me was that she never met Vince and Jack before her husband's funeral, yet we find out late in the book that Rachel had met her now-deceased-husband while living in Chicago...where Vince and Jack had also lived at the time. I mean, these guys were supposedly good friends with Ryan, why had they never met Rachel before moving to Indy? What an awkward time to meet her to just come to the funeral, and then staying at her house?! Does not make a lick of sense. Even adding a couple sentences to the conversation when Vince finally asked how long they (Rachel and Ryan) were a couple would have been sufficient to explain why they had never met.
Decent effort, but fell flat for me. I wanted to love it since I love Indy and am familiar with the city, I wish the execution would have been better.
I feel compelled to say that I have lived in Indiana my entire 40-years of life, spending 7 of those, in my late 20s to early 30s, in Indy. Not one person I have ever encountered called the area I believe the Rachel character lived in "The Village." Yes, it is really Broad Ripple Village, but everyone I have known just calls it Broad Ripple. I have many friends and family who currently live there and even asked a couple of them via text if this was a new thing since I moved away, they said it is not common at all but you hear it from time to time. I know the end of the book says the Author lives in Indy, and she does know stores and restaurants, and the likes, but calling Broad Ripple "The Village" is just not something that is commonly used, as far as I know. Just wondering if she moved there from somewhere else? Chicago, perhaps? Or was not allowed to use Broad Ripple in a book?
May 24, 2016
This was so not my cup of tea, on the authors goodreads bio they say they write about romance as she always got swept away. There was no sweeping in this book.
Rachel the main character is now a widow, and finds herself in a relationship shortly after his death. However she is so self-deprecating that I felt nothing for her as a character. She enjoys making love with her new man, Vince, who is very good in bed but every time she enjoys it she calls herself a slut - and that happens A LOT. Does she sleep around, no. Did she cheat, no. Did she jump his bones at the first opportunity, no. Yet she is a slut - and I got so tired of reading that word.
That is not the only issue with this book, they are mid thirties and talk as if they are late teens. If you wanted your characters to talk like teenagers then write a young adult novel. Then there's the whole of my god I am actually cheating on the memory of my husband, yet she is the only person who actually thinks this. Her friends are supportive, her sister still loves her. Her parents in-law are a little bit upset (understandably) and she doesn't actually have a relationship with her mother so how would she know what she thinks?
I think this was supposed to be, on a deeper level, a story about finding yourself and love after such a tragic loss, but the writing style and flow and execution didn't convey this at all. There were loads of paragraph breaks and the use of italics was annoying. On the subject of flow, you get to a more serious part in the book where she bares her soul to Vince, and then afterwards there's a fashion update of what she will wear : a white cap sleeve A-line dress with a colour block short skirt in turquoise and dark grey horizontal stripes.........I mean there was a lot of talk about what she was wearing and it all felt a bit superficial.
Others seemed to love this story from the review, but I just wanted feeling any romance or sweeping after reading this book.
Rachel the main character is now a widow, and finds herself in a relationship shortly after his death. However she is so self-deprecating that I felt nothing for her as a character. She enjoys making love with her new man, Vince, who is very good in bed but every time she enjoys it she calls herself a slut - and that happens A LOT. Does she sleep around, no. Did she cheat, no. Did she jump his bones at the first opportunity, no. Yet she is a slut - and I got so tired of reading that word.
That is not the only issue with this book, they are mid thirties and talk as if they are late teens. If you wanted your characters to talk like teenagers then write a young adult novel. Then there's the whole of my god I am actually cheating on the memory of my husband, yet she is the only person who actually thinks this. Her friends are supportive, her sister still loves her. Her parents in-law are a little bit upset (understandably) and she doesn't actually have a relationship with her mother so how would she know what she thinks?
I think this was supposed to be, on a deeper level, a story about finding yourself and love after such a tragic loss, but the writing style and flow and execution didn't convey this at all. There were loads of paragraph breaks and the use of italics was annoying. On the subject of flow, you get to a more serious part in the book where she bares her soul to Vince, and then afterwards there's a fashion update of what she will wear : a white cap sleeve A-line dress with a colour block short skirt in turquoise and dark grey horizontal stripes.........I mean there was a lot of talk about what she was wearing and it all felt a bit superficial.
Others seemed to love this story from the review, but I just wanted feeling any romance or sweeping after reading this book.
November 25, 2013
This story took me by surprise. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. I felt the emotions that Rachel was expressing were true emotions a widow would feel. I felt her heartache, shame, and happiness throughout the story. I was so cheering for Vince to win her over. I could only assume a widow would fight with the emotions of moving on too fast, concerned about what others would think, and hoping for a second chance at love!
January 1, 2014
I picked this ebook up for free on Amazon when a friend posted about it (the author is her friend) and it did not disappoint. I especially liked the story and character development. I was totally satisfied with this read. Highly recommend to fans of a true to life story of loss, love, guilt, passion, and finding happiness.
September 21, 2016
186 Miles
A cute romance that came from a tragedy. God gives us blessings but also he gives tragedies to learn from and have the strength to go forward. I admire the concept to move forward as emotions are hard and the need to convey hardship is hard and to live life to the fullest is rewarding. Loved the book and looking forward to reading more. Thanks....
A cute romance that came from a tragedy. God gives us blessings but also he gives tragedies to learn from and have the strength to go forward. I admire the concept to move forward as emotions are hard and the need to convey hardship is hard and to live life to the fullest is rewarding. Loved the book and looking forward to reading more. Thanks....
Want to read
November 8, 2013
November 9, 2013
This is a story about a woman's second chance at love. It isn't an easy road as she falls for her late husband's friend, but it all works out.
November 14, 2013
Quick read. The main character's husband dies unexpectedly. She then ends up falling for a friend of her husband. It was good to read a story where basically just good things happen to the character.
December 8, 2013
At first I was really sad reading this but then it took me by surprise! I ended up loving it!!! I love how she was able to experience a different kind of love.
November 16, 2015
I liked the book and enjoyed the thoughts of each character. The secondary characters are hysterical and loved each one
January 4, 2016
Usual
Love,sex family thing. Not anything special about it.
Would not read it again and don't think I will try any more of her work.
Love,sex family thing. Not anything special about it.
Would not read it again and don't think I will try any more of her work.
August 15, 2016
A great story about loss and love. However love is much stonger in this book and wins out in the long run. Leading to a second happily ever marriage and a family.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews