Book Review (Southern Literature Month): Someone Else’s Love Story by Joshilyn Jackson

Southern Literature Month

Fellow book blog, The Blog of Litwits’, is hosting its first Southern Literature Month this January. This is a great way to spotlight Southern literature and, since I’m from Richmond, VA, I thought it was appropriate that I participate! Plus, I love Southern fiction! This is my first post as part of Southern Literature Month and the next few books I post will also be Southern selections.

Someone Else's Love Story, Joshilyn Jackson, Asberger's Syndrome, Southern FictionFiction
Released November, 2013
321 Pages
Bottom Line: Read it.
Link to this book on Amazon

Plot Summary of Someone Else’s Love Story:

Shandi and her three year old son are caught in a convenience store robbery, where Shandi instantly falls in love with William Ashe, a fellow robbery victim and their protector through the experience.

My Thoughts on Someone Else’s Love Story:

Wow – I have so much to say about this book that would involve spoiling the story, but I won’t say it here. Mainly because I have always tried to make this site a place where people come to get book recommendations, not just read reviews. And, who wants to have the story spoiled while looking for a good book to read?

I loved this book – and it is not the cliche love story you might think just by reading the plot summary. The lack of cliche in this love story was one of the things I liked most about it. It’s a page turner and included grief and the response to tragedy, Autism (or Asberger’s, or some not quite defined place on that spectrum), faith, and that age-old “we’re just friends” dynamic (both Shandi and William have a childhood best friend of the opposite sex).

You are immediately pulled into the story…from the very first sentence:

“I fell in love with William Ashe at gunpoint, in a Circle K.”

I was impressed that Jackson managed to realistically make this love story a suspenseful mystery as well. And, the suspense was not just about the love story angle. There is a whole other question that I was dying to know the answer to. So much so that I kept reading for two hours after taking a sleeping pill…and that is a first!

Someone Else’s Love Story was unique for me because my view of what the book was about totally changed by the end of the story. And, I don’t want to take the fun out of it by saying anymore than that.

This is a great choice if you’re looking for something light or something Southern! It’s also going on my Book Club Recommendations and (belatedly) my Best Books of 2013 lists.

You May Like:
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes
The House on Tradd Street by Karen White




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1 Comments

  1. Brooke Lee wrote:

    Thanks so much for participating, Sarah!! I’m glad you enjoyed Someone Else’s Love Story and that it beat all the cliches we’ve come to associate with romantic narratives. Yay for Joshilyn Jackson!

    Posted 1.19.14 Reply

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