I absolutely loved this book and cannot wait to read the next book in this series which will be from Griffin's perspective. I loved Griffin and want one of him for my very own. It has been awhile since I've read a friends to lovers book and I forgot how much I enjoyed them in general and this one in particular. The 9/11 part of the story while important did not make for an overly grim story as it sometimes can. Jill as an excellent protagonist and whilst I could never warm up to her sister Jennifer she did play a key part in the plot. I think I may have found a new fav author in Marie Meyer. ( )

More like 2 1/2 stars here... It wasn't bad per se, it just didn't really excite me in any way. ( )

When I first started this book I thought it wasn't going to be very good. In the beginning it somewhat just dumps you right into the story. The relationship between Jillian and Griffin is a little odd. As you get further into the the book though the author does a great job of exposing the characters past and reasoning behind their personalities. I ended up loving the main characters and the book as a whole! I look forward to reading the book from Griffins POV. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: A cute best friend romance that covered come tender issues. While I enjoyed this story it was very forgettable and had a few things that I found frustrating at times!

Opening Sentence: The tape screeched when I pulled it over the top of another box.

The Review:

Jill has spent most of her life wishing for things to be different. Her parents died in the Twin Towers when she was only a little girl and it has been hard for Jill to move on from that. She always felt that it was her fault even though logically she knows it really wasn’t. She has gone through endless hours of therapy, but the one person that really got her through everything was her best friend Griffin. He has been there for through every bad moment, but Jill is getting ready to leave for college a thousand miles away. She will leave everything and everyone behind to start over, including her rock Griffin.

For most of their lives Jill and Griffin has a strictly platonic relationship, but towards the end of her senior year Jill started to feel differently about him. At a graduation party she actually went as far to kiss him and it didn’t end very well. Thankfully their friendship is still in tack, but there has been crazy sexual tension between them ever since. He sends her a lot of mixed signals and there is no way she is going to put herself out there again just to get rejected, her heart can’t take that neither can her pride.

Now that she has left for college their friendship has started to fall apart. Griffin’s band just hit it huge so he’s crazy busy, but he always made time for Jill before. Before they wouldn’t go a single day without talking and now they will go weeks without any type of communication. Moving away has been a lot harder for Jill then she thought and some of her old demons are starting to resurface, but this time she doesn’t seem to have Griffin to rely on. Will she be able to finally face her past and be honest with herself about how she truly feels about her best friend before it’s too late?

Jill is a sweet girl that I could sympathize with easily. Her story is a sad one, but I admired that she was willing to move on from her past. Moving away for college and living her dreams was very difficult for her, but I loved that she took the chance. She had some serious depression issues growing up and she has always leaned heavily on others to help her, especially Griffin. Leaving him behind was a huge step for Jill and it was interesting watching her try to deal with all the feels that came with starting over. I found her story heartbreaking, but also very inspirational. There were times when she became more whiney then I normally like, but it didn’t bother me a ton. Overall, I enjoyed getting to know her and I am glad I got to read her story.

Griffin is a total swoonworthy boy, but I felt a slight disconnect with him throughout the story. Sure he is gorgeous, kind, and mysterious, but he also frustrated me. He sent so many mixed signals to Jill that it confused me. In one chapter he would be the perfect supportive best friend, and then in the next chapter he was pretty much non-existent. He would go weeks without talking to her, which I just didn’t really understand. I get that he was super busy with the band getting a record deal, but with how much he claimed to care about Jill, I felt that he should have made a bigger effort to be there for her. But on the flip side of things once their relationship started to develop into something more than friendship my feeling towards Griffin became much more positive. He turned into a really sweet guy that I could totally fall in love with. So in the end, I did like Griffin, I just felt like it took too long so I didn’t love him as much as I wanted to.

Across the Distance is a cute love story that covers some tender issues. I have always been a sucker for best friend romances and this one was done really well. It developed slowly and I could really feel the chemistry between the two characters. While the plot was predictable, the story as a whole was still very entertaining. I will admit that when I was reading this I was more in the mood for a love story and so there were times I started to skim through some of the more serious parts. It’s not that they were written badly or anything like that, it was more that I just wasn’t really in the mood to read them. The only negative thing I would say about this book is that it is forgettable. I read this a few days ago and I am already forgetting what happened in the story. I wonder if I was in a better state of mind if I would have connected with this story more, but I’m not sure. Overall, this was a quick, enjoyable read but it’s probably not something I would ever read again.

Notable Scene:

Griffin smiled back at me for a second more, then looked down at the acoustic guitar in his hands. He strummed a couple of slow, steady chords and then looked back at me. His simmering gaze sent goose bumps across my skin. I felt the meticulously constructed wall around my heart burning to the ground with each scorching glance. A couple of dark waves of hair fell into his eyes as he got ready to sing. I’d give anything to sweep them away…to run my fingers through his hair.

When he opened his mouth, a deep sexy baritone voice filtered through the speakers of my iPad. I watched him intently, taking in everything from the sway of his body when he played his guitar, to the way his mouth moved, remembering the way it had felt oh-so-briefly on mine. I watched in blissful silence, soaking up the rich sounds of Griffin’s song melting into my ears.

I was so ready to go home…to him.

FTC Advisory: Forever/Hachette provided me with a copy of Across the Distance. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )