The road of Haley Cavanaugh’s life has been filled with cracks, potholes and detour signs. Her mom’s cancer forced her to grow up too fast and her brother has moved across the country instead of sticking around when she needs him most. Now, her parents are forcing her to move out. They say she needs to follow through with the plans she’s set for herself, but Haley is torn between her dreams and her family’s reality. The only thing she has to look forward to is living with her best friend, Kyler.
What she doesn't need right now? Eli Park. Haley remembers him as Kyler’s boyfriend’s geeky roommate, but he’s anything but geeky now. Now, he's downright hot. And Haley cannot get him out of her head.
It would be easier if they didn’t have class together five days a week. Or have weekly study dates. And if she didn’t spend way too much time with Kyler at Eli’s house. But, the closer he gets and the harder she falls, the more Haley pulls away. Her heart is too fragile to end up broken on the side of the road. She thinks she’s got it under control until Eli brings home another girl and Haley realizes what she has to lose.
As Haley’s life is turned further upside down, will she be left to pick up the pieces of her heart alone?
Parting Chances is available for purchase:
Excerpt
Born and raised in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, Caylie fell in love with reading at a young age. With her lively imagination, she created numerous stories in her head throughout her childhood and teenage years.
Excerpt
I swung back and forth for a while, letting the breeze settle my nerves. I don’t know how long I was out there for, but eventually, I heard a car pull up. The door shut and footsteps thumped up the stairs.
“Hello,” a masculine voice drifted towards me.
I opened my eyes and was greeted with crystal blue eyes, messy brown hair, a lopsided smirk and six feet of tall, lean man.
“Er…um…hi,” I croaked out. Okay…the man was gorgeous. Pretty sure I was blushing.
“Haley?” gorgeous mystery man asked.
I nodded. I didn’t know who this guy was, but he seemed to know me. And if I opened my mouth to ask him, I’m sure I would sound like an idiot again.
He gave me that adorable lopsided grin again. “Eli.” He pointed at himself, like I should know who he was. Eli was leaning against the porch railing, staring at me with amusement in his eyes. Maybe if he wasn’t so damn attractive I could get my brain to start working again. But for now, I could only stare.
“You don’t remember me, do you?” he asked. “The four of us hung out together when I roomed with Noah in the dorms.”
Holy shit. This man in front of me couldn’t be Noah’s roommate. There was no possible way he was the same guy. I hung out with the kid all the time, and this guy…no, not him. Not him at all.
“You look nothing like you did freshman year.” I blurted out. Then quickly turned red and clamped my hand over my mouth.
Oh God, he’s going to think you are the biggest idiot.
Eli laughed. “I was a lot scrawnier back then. Had longer hair. Wore thick framed glasses all the time.” His voice still sounded the same. That was something at least. “When I moved back home to help my mom, I worked with my uncle at his construction company. I guess that helped me gain a little muscle.” He shrugged like he was not confident with how he looked.
The more I stared at him, the more he was becoming familiar. Freshman year, he was this quiet, slightly nerdy kid. He always wore comic book t-shirts. He had spent most of his time on his computer or playing video games with Noah. Kyler had kept telling me that he had a crush on me, and she even begged me to go out with him a few times, but I always came up with reasons I couldn’t. Mostly those excuses dealt with my crush at that time—Drew. Blah. I was so not going to think about that douche when Eli was standing in front of me.
I mean, I enjoyed hanging out with him as a friend, but dating? He was definitely not what I thought my type was. Though, what I thought my type was turned out to be a bunch of jerks, so maybe I should have given the nice guy a chance.
“You okay?” he asked gently, pushing off the railing and taking a seat next to me on the swing. “You seem lost in thought.”
I shrugged, not knowing what to say.
“You don’t remember me, do you?”
“Oh no, I do.”
What an emotional read. If you got through this book without shedding a tear, you're a robot. If you haven't read this book yet? Make sure you have a box of Kleenex handy. This book reminded me of the books I used to read by Lurlene McDaniel...full of terminal illnesses, death, dying, sad stuff. The only catch is that this intertwines a much deeper love story than Lurlene's books normally did. For that reason, I loved Parting Chances. It did more of what I liked with a bit less of the sad stuff!
That being said, I found that this book was all about Haley which is the only reason I didn't give it a full five stars. I felt that Eli was a bit underdeveloped. We get the sense that he's an awesome guy who's set on waiting for Haley until she's good and ready for a relationship. He puts up with a lot of crap from her and has the patience of a saint...but beyond that, we really know nothing about him. And I wish we did! There's not a big story around his character, he's just there and awesome, so it seems. On the otherhand, Haley is fully developed and there's so much about her character and how she's growing as a person and dealing with her mother's situation.
Great book, though, I definitely enjoyed it. It is totally and heart-wrenchingly a page turner even know you sort of know how it's going to end. I definitely recommending this to anyone who loves a tear-jerker!
About the Author
Born and raised in the frozen tundra of Wisconsin, Caylie fell in love with reading at a young age. With her lively imagination, she created numerous stories in her head throughout her childhood and teenage years.
Her first novel, Choose Us, released in April 2014 and became an Amazon Bestseller. Parting Chances is her second novel. She also released a short story sequel to Choose Us, titled Forever Us. She is part of the writing group, The Rebel Writers, who are a group of like-minded word-nerds, determined to take over the literary world, one book at a time.
When she isn't slaving away at the keyboard, Caylie is an avid reader, and lover of coffee... copious amounts of coffee. She also has an unhealthy addiction to coffee mugs, chapstick, water bottles, football, and tv shows--binge watching is her favorite.
She chases her two kids around the house all day, and has a husband whom she adores.
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