Many readers will most certainly relate to the idea that the path of creating a shared life with one’s True Love can be fraught with false starts and misdirection, as it is for the star-crossed characters in LOST ON THE WAY by Isabel Jolie. While Maggie and Jason initially meet early on in their college years and are immediately, powerfully drawn to each other, for years they identify as platonic friends sharing a close relationship that’s so beyond compare they each would do anything to not mess it up, even if that means having to watch the best friend they secretly love date other people, when really all they want is each other. But life is complicated, what with Maggie having previously been the girlfriend of Jason’s best bud Adam, and Jason having the same Big C disease that Adam died of. Maggie wants–as well as deserves–a family with kids someday, and Jason isn’t sure he’ll be around long enough to give her that. So he does his infuriating best to keep them safely in the ‘friend zone’, even though they can’t help falling into bed on several occasions.
The sex in this romance novel is steamy, while the romantic touches–such as Jason bringing Maggie coffee in the midst of a storm, are touchingly sweet. In the best tradition of page-turners, their thwarted love is palpable enough to keep readers on the edge of suspense, devouring this story late into the night, if necessary, to find out whether these two will or won’t wind up together. Also of interest are supportive sidekicks such as Yara, who thinks Maggie deserves better than a guy who hasn’t been able to commit for a decade, and for awhile does her level best to get Maggie to be sensible and do the healthy, right thing (i.e. to move on). With an assortment of rambunctious male pals making hundred dollar bets on whether or not Maggie and Jason will finally get together romantically, LOST ON THE WAY is a romance novel that’s challenging hard to put down.
LOST ON THE WAY by Isabel Jolie is such a heart-palpitatingly good romantic tale, it’s likely to make readers want to check out what else this author has written.
~C.S. Holmes for IndieReader