ARC Review: A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

Perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks, this breathtaking story of love and loss is guaranteed to break your heart and sweep you off your feet.

When high school senior Kelsey’s identical twin sister, Michelle, dies in a car crash, Kelsey is left without her other half. The only person who doesn’t know about the tragedy is Michelle’s boyfriend, Peter, recently deployed to Afghanistan. But when Kelsey finally connects with Peter online, she can’t bear to tell him the truth. Active duty has taken its toll, and Peter, thinking that Kelsey is Michelle, says that seeing her is the one thing keeping him alive. Caught up in the moment, Kelsey has no choice: She lets Peter believe that she is her sister.

As Kelsey keeps up the act, she crosses the line from pretend to real. Soon, Kelsey can’t deny that she’s falling, hard, for the one boy she shouldn’t want.

What did I tell you? I’m masochistic. This book is for people who love to suffer. Okay, maybe not, but since I was already suffering from a book hangover, I insanely thought this would be a great happy read to lift up my spirits. So. Wrong.

I mean, it is kind of a sweet story, but it’s not really happy happy. It’s a slow, painful kind of read. Heck, A Million Miles Away is a cruel, hard read. Everything that happens is NOT okay. And yet, I still loved it and felt for the characters and swooned and wanted a happily ever after. 

A Millions Miles Away is hard to take for the sole reason that Kelsey never tells her sister’s boyfriend-who is in Afghanistan-that she died. Instead, she continues the relationship pretending she is Michelle so as not to make it more difficult for Peter. It’s a mean thing to do, and though Kelsey does wrong, it’s apparent that she is not a bad person and doesn’t mean harm. She just lost her twin sister and she just doesn’t think things through.

I liked Kelsey. I liked that, despite the wrong situation, she isn’t set on trying to win Peter’s heart. Before her sister’s death, she had a nice life with a boyfriend and everything, and now that Michelle’s gone, she is trying to … understand her sister more. She’s trying to feel closer to her. That’s why Peter, and other things that Michelle used to love, calls to her.

I loved Peter. He’s this bright person you can’t help but be pulled into his light and warmth. He’s unsure and afraid of being away from home, from Michelle and afraid of how deadly and hard Afghanistan is turning out to be. My heart broke every time he called Kelsey/Michelle telling her with wide eyes how terrified he was. But I admired how he kept his humor, writing random funny things to Michelle/Kelsey. I wish Kelsey and Peter would have met under better circumstances and that Michelle could have had a living presence in the story. Just so the two wouldn’t have her ghost shadowing their every move.

While I really enjoyed this book, I was expecting more towards the ending. Not exactly more drama, but more recognition and time for the characters to accept a few things. But other than that, A Million Miles Away was a great book. I loved how at the end of the day, the characters learn to cope with the loss of a loved one and-though never forgetting-they move on at their own pace.