Heartbreak River by Tricia Mills - A Mini Review

Synopsis via goodreads:

Hailey Abbott’s Summer Boys takes a weepy turn in this story of one girl’s attempt to tell her childhood friend how she really feels about him.

Alex thought she’d be spending the summer focused on her family’s rafting business, burying the memories of her father’s death last year, and leaving behind all the messes she made in its wake.

But when Sean returns to town, she is forced to reckon with her mixed-up crushy feelings for him—more powerful than ever before. It takes another tragedy to make Alex realize Sean has loved her, and forgiven her, all along.

After I read Winter Longing which I DEVOURED and LOVED - I was excited to pick up Tricia's other novel as well, Heartbreak River. Sadly, I did not love Heartbreak River as much, though it's got a nice story, some of the elements distracted from the over all enjoyment, for me -

Namely the main character Alex, whom is a bit of a goody-goody, this girl always seemed to do the "right" thing though sadly it seemed like she found disaster no matter what she did. Not only that but with this story coming from Alex's POV, she sure did wrack her brain with her thoughts - and question EVERY SINGLE THING everyone did...which drove me NUTS, NUTS I tell you! Though, I have to say, maybe part of the reason I did not like that is because I DO that...I tend to over think everything in the same ways Alex did, so it was kinda like reading about myself!

In the end, I liked Alex she grew on me, she also grew as a character, which, I have to say was the best part. Alex, instead of staying stagnant changed, grew and in the end – I knew right where her life might take her! Which made me smile! Alex, is the type of girl you root for... and I defiantly did!

I also rooted for one of the other characters Mala (what a unique name, I love it). Mala, does not have a HUGE roll, in Heartbreak River. I wish she would have been more developed, but I liked her character and I also rooted for her to find peace, it seemed she had her own struggles she was dealing with, I wish we would have seen more into what they were.

In the end, this is a really sweet tale of love, when your faced with horrible odds and really bad luck - it's a tale of coming of age, learning to accept those things you cant change, and risk hurting to change the things you can.

Bottom Line – Sweet book, with characters, though at times annoying, I could relate to, with a plot that kept me turning pages to find out what happened next. I will be watching for Tricia's next book, I love her ability to tell a good story! I give Heartbreak River 3 mushrooms.