5 STARS ✮ J.M. DARHOWER ✮ GHOSTED

GHOSTED

J.M. Darhower

✮✮✮ ALL THE STARS ✮✮✮

He's a troubled young actor, Hollywood's newest heartthrob, struggling with fame as the star of the latest superhero franchise. Through scandal after scandal, addiction on top of addiction, a flurry of paparazzi hunt him as he fights to conquer his demons.

She's a single mother, assistant manager at a grocery store, existing in monotony with her five-year-old daughter. Every day when she goes to work, lurid tabloids surround her, the face of a notorious bad boy haunting her from their covers.

A man and a woman, living vastly different lives, but that wasn't always the case. Once, they were just a boy and a girl who bonded over comic books and fell in love unexpectedly.

When Kennedy Garfield met Jonathan Cunningham back in high school, she knew he had all the makings of a tragic hero. With stars in his eyes, and her heart on her sleeve, the pair ran away together to follow their dreams.

But dreams, sometimes, turn into nightmares.

Now, years later, the only thing they share is a daughter—one who has no idea her father plays her favorite superhero. But Jonathan is desperate to make amends, and at the top of his list is the woman who gave up everything for him and the little girl he hasn't yet met.

Have you read the 5-star reviews for this book? They are all true! You know these kind of books...the ones that you can't seem to shake off, even days after finishing the story you still think about these characters? Writing a review is always a bit like saying goodbye to them but this time I don't want to say goodbye.

Kennedy and Jonathan have never chosen the easy path. They always went the most promising one, if it meant for Jonathan to stay in his hometown despite his abusive father because he fell in love with a girl when he was seventeen. Or for Kennedy to leave her home to help Jonathan fulfill his dream although she knew her parents didn't approve and it meant working two jobs to keep them both fed and under a roof. It is one of the themes in this book that stood out for me.

The fire? It still burns. Something tells me it always will, no matter who tries to put it out.

Kennedy's refusal to let Jonathan see their daughter isn't out of spite. The more you read on, the more you realize that she really only does it out of love, not just for her daughter - she protects the little girl fiercely - but also out of love for Jonathan because she wants him to be the man she always wanted him to be and that means for him to get his act straight, get sober and prove that he is reliable and a real father for their child. And Jonathan? He worships Kennedy, there is no doubt about it, not at any time throughout the story.

Maybe this moment is all wrong, and maybe it shouldn’t be happening, but there’s very little I want in this world more than I want this woman, so I'm not turning her down.

A year ago Jonathan realized that he would never get to be a presence in his daughter's life and winning back the love of his life if he didn't stop doing drugs and sober up. When he sees Kennedy again you can feel the remorse in every word, he is very aware of his mistakes and flaws. The love he has for her, they have for each other, is beautiful. You see it grow from their early days, when it was innocent and sweet to the desperate one when both of them stand at the the chasm that Jonathan's dream and its consequences created.

During the whole story I was in awe of Kennedy's resilience. Of course there was bitterness on her side that came through now and then, when she lashed out at Jonathan, she was suspicious and skeptical, not sure if Jonathan would see it through this time. She gave him tough love and he fought for her the moment he saw her again. I loved that they never took the easy way out, Kennedy was very strong in particular and while the aforementioned bitterness and her reluctance to let Jonathan see in might seem a bit harsh I completely understood where she came from.

“Just when I was starting to doubt I’d ever see you again.”
“You didn’t think I’d keep popping up every so often?”
“Oh, sure, but that’s not you,” she says. “I knew that guy would keep coming back. I thought I’d be dealing with him for the rest of my life. Drunk, high, out of his mind… but I never thought I’d see you again, real you, yet you’re here. I thought it would always be him.”

I have so much love for these two characters and their little girl Madison, who was such a delight to read about. There are a few light-hearted moments with her that lighten the angst and the mood.

This is one of the best second-chance romances I've read. I haven't read a book by J.M. Darhower before although I do have some of them on my Kindle waiting to be read. Now I know that I missed out. The writing is impeccable and the story packs an emotional one-two punch. It hurts so good! The realistic and brilliant portrayal of the characters made it relatable. It is about deciding who you are and who you want to be and following through, finding the real you and not letting glitter and glamour blind you and getting your priorities straight.

But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from it all, it’s that we have to be our own heroes. No guy in a costume is coming to save us. We have to save ourselves. - Kennedy

Do yourself a favor and trust those 5-star reviews and pick this up. $2.99 is cheap for what you get with this story - I promise it's worth it!

Ghosted is a standalone contemporary romance.