The Reality of Everything by Rebecca Yarros

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Title: The Reality of Everything
Author: Rebecca Yarros
Series: Flight & Glory #5
Published by: Entangled: Embrace
Release Date: August 24, 2020
Format: eARC
Pages: 388
Genres: Romance, Contemporary
Source: Candi Kane PR
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2020 Diversity Reading Challenge, Lenoreo's 2020 New Release Challenge, Lenoreo's COYER Quarantine Edition
Find it: Goodreads ✩ Amazon ✩ B&N ✩ Google ✩ Kobo ✩ iBooks ✩ Book Depository
My rating:

Blurb:

Two years after the man she loved was killed in Afghanistan, Morgan Bartley is trying to put the pieces of her life back together. The reno on her dilapidated beach house in the Outer Banks might be just the distraction she needs to keep her debilitating anxiety attacks at bay and begin to heal her heart...if she can ignore the ridiculously handsome guy next door.

At twenty-eight, single-dad Jackson Montgomery’s life revolves around his five-year-old daughter and his job as a search-and-rescue pilot for the coast guard. He’s no stranger to saving a damsel in distress, and though his gorgeous new neighbor is clearly in distress, she’s no damsel. She’s stubborn as hell with walls a mile thick, and the dog tags hanging from her rearview mirror give him a pretty good clue as to why.

It doesn’t matter that their attraction is undeniable―she swore she’d never fall for another pilot, let alone a military man. There are some wounds time can’t heal, and some fears too consuming to conquer.

She’s a barely breathing heartbreak on the edge of recovery.
He’s a crash waiting to happen.
Together they could have it all...if they can endure the coming storm.

My Review:

I received a free copy through Candi Kane PR in exchange for an honest and unbiased review/opinion.

4.5 stars — I was so afraid of starting this book, b/c I remember how Hallowed Ground had slayed me.  I couldn’t even bring myself to reread the series before reading this one, b/c the emotions just hit home so hard.  But as a result of not rereading, I feel like I can confirm that you can read this book as a stand-alone.  You’re going to want to fill in the details, but you won’t be lost (though I still recommend starting from the beginning).

And I guess I was right to be afraid of the emotions, b/c they certainly tore my heart apart on multiple occasions…but the great thing is that the book put my heart back together in the end.

The seriously in depth look we get at a different form of grief in Morgan was honest and raw.  I’d never heard of complicated grief before, but I totally understand it in Morgan’s context.  And her anxiety attacks were so unbelievably realistic, I felt them to my core.  If you want to understand even a glimpse of anxiety, Morgan will show you.

The funny thing is that I totally saw where this book was going to go in a few plot points…some from the beginning, some just fairly early on when things were talked about.  But it didn’t bother me, b/c while I could guess the events, I could not experience the emotions that went along with them without Ms. Yarros’s words.  She has a way of just getting down to the heart of things and making the reader experience everything the characters are experiencing.  So while I knew what was coming in a broad sense, I did not know how it was going to feel…what it was going to do to Morgan and Jackson.

Jackson felt almost too good to be true at times, but all the same I just didn’t care.  He wasn’t without faults, but he was fucking swoony as shit in his strengths.  For the most part he was kind, gentle, understanding.  He was a wonderful father to Finley, you could feel him doing his best.  He faltered, he made missteps, but he was willing to learn from them and become the man Morgan would need.

Morgan had such an unbelievable journey in this story.  Even when my heart ached at her choices, I always understood them based on where she was at.  And I knew that good things would come, b/c I could see the potential for growth in Morgan, even if she couldn’t.

I was fascinated by how Ms. Yarros took a group of characters that I’ve grown to love (even with their flaws), and showcased how these lovable caring people can make missteps and blunders.  She really laid everyone out bare.  But I think it made their friendships stronger in the end.  I adored the role Sam had in this story.  She was a rock for Morgan, and I loved it.

Don’t get me wrong, this book was not all heartache…it just had a lot of it.  But as a romance, it was fucking stellar.  The chemistry between Morgan and Jackson was off the charts, and I was with them every step of the way as they got to know one another and fell for one another.

So yeah.  It was everything I was wanting and more.  It was the perfect cap on this series, the ending that I *needed*…especially after Hallowed Ground.