SPACE: Second Chance New Adult Romance

Space starts with insight into Abram’s actions following the end of Motion, whereby Lisa returns to resume her place which Mona has been keeping for her in order to avoid further family drama-llama. Although, the impact pretending to be her twin sister has on both Mona and Abram’s lives is unexpected and path altering. Skip forward two years and while a lot has changed for both Mona and Abram, one thing hasn’t and that is their feelings for each other, as much as they might wish them away. My heart squeezed each time Mona thought of Abram and her residual guilt for having to lie to him about her identity in order to protect Lisa. Although Mona has learnt how to become more sociable she still tends to keep everyone at a distance, convincing herself she isn’t lonely. I can only describe Mona’s emotional state as longing and wallowing at the same time. Meanwhile, Abram has had his own way of coping, including lots of partying and random hook-ups. This has also had an effect on his songwriting abilities, although it hasn’t deterred his path to fame. Surprisingly perceptive, Abram has built up resentment to Mona without understanding the particulars of her deception. Space is very emotional, it is a tsunami of feels, both of the high and low variety. Between Mona’s letter to Abram and his song about Mona, I needed quite a few tissues. While Mona and Abram have been given the opportunity to start fresh, putting the past behind them. The future is very much up in the air with Mona going to CERN for 3 months and Abram about to begin a world tour. While Abram appears all in, Mona is dubious because of the twisted picture of musicians ability to be monogamous her parents have left her with. The family dynamics Mona has to navigate only serve to endear her further as well as wanting to slap Abram for his insensitivity in some areas. Although he isn’t entirely to blame when he is clueless to Mona’s insecurities. There is a wonderful cameo appearance in Space that added a connection to the Hypothesis series as a whole. Time will tell whether Abram and Mona can work through all their barriers to secure a rosy future (pun intended) 😍

4.5 stars — Do you ever finish a book, know to the heart of you that you loved it, but can’t articulate why? Yup, I’m having one of those again. *sigh* I think it’s because this book just has so much going for it, and it eschews traditional storytelling, so it’s hard to articulate what made it grab onto me and pull out all my feelz. First of all, this book filled me with a lot of anxiety. Mostly because I wasn’t sure what was going to happen, how long the hate would last, and finally, how unresolved the ending would be. But it was a satisfying anxiety, you know? Because you care about the characters SO MUCH that you just want things to work out well for them. And I think that’s down to an amazing first book in the trilogy. So when I say that this book lived up to my anxiety, I mean that in all the best ways. Mona is still delightful. I find it so weird to see how other people see her compared to how we as the reader know her (and similarly how Abram knows her). My heart broke for her, being almost smacked in the face with the consequences of her and Lisa’s actions in the form of Abram’s new cynical self. She tore at my heart a lot actually…because my heart also broke learning even more about Mona’s upbringing, and the consequences of it and how she perceives the world, and her own part in the world. But there is such an inner strength to her too, and seeing it come out at different points, with a little sass here and there, was just all kinds of satisfying. And can I just say that I ADORED that we got Abram’s POV as well??? OMG, I’m not sure the book would have been the same without a peek into his head so that we could know how he saw that summer, what he was thinking, how he saw Mona. He was so easy to connect with, because I could understand his wariness and cynicism. Those are not traits that I admire or that my heart tolerates well, but I got it in his case. And I appreciated the way his feelings evolved as the story went on…it felt realistic. Also, his poetry was freaking swoontastic. The chemistry between Mona and Abram was still very fiery, with a bit more emphasis on the lusty/physical side of things. I think with everything they were struggling with, I missed the easy friendship chemistry from the first book, even as my tummy tingled over their epic make outs. I loved that Mona kept surprising him…in good ways. I honestly have no idea where this story is going to go now. It didn’t end how I expected, which isn’t a bad thing. But it does cause more anxiety. OH THE WAITING!! While there were a lot of secondary characters in this story, we didn’t get to dive deep with any of them really. But I enjoyed the strange interactions with Poe, Allyn, Leo, Charlie, and most especially the cameos from Kaitlyn and Martin. The one secondary character that I appreciated the most, even though we only got a glimpse, was Lisa. I was SUPER relieved that Ms. Reid didn’t make her into the villain that she could have been. I loved that she was real, and vulnerable, and showed depth and growth. <3 <3 So yeah. There’s my thoughts, scattered as they may be. This one is just hitting all my buttons, and I can’t wait to see where Ms. Reid is going to take us next.

4.5 stars--SPACE is the second instalment in Penny Reid’s contemporary, new adult LAWS OF PHYSICS romance trilogy focusing on twenty-one year old physics genius Mona Tang DaVinci, and twenty-five year old musician Abram Harris Fletcher. LAWS OF PHYSICS is the second trilogy in the author’s HYPOTHESIS series but can be read as a stand alone series without any difficulty. Abram was first introduced in the Elements of Chemistry series (a subset of the Hypothesis series). NOTE: SPACE should not be read as a stand alone as it picks up immediately after the events of book one MOTION. If you have not read MOTION, there may be some spoilers in my review. Told from dual first person perspectives (Mona and Abram) SPACE continues to focus on the relationship between on twenty-one year old physics genius Mona Tang DaVinci, and twenty-five year old musician Abram Harris Fletcher. Two and a half years earlier Mona Tang Da Vinci pretended to be her twin sister in an effort to protect Lisa from the fall-out of a recent arrest for drugs, an arrest that pushed Mona into the orbit of Lisa’s guardian Abram Harris. With Lisa’s return, Mona knew she had to exit quickly but exiting meant leaving the man with whom she had fallen in love. Fast forward to present day wherein Abram, now a rock star going by Abram Fletcher struggles between fury and love for a woman who destroyed everything good in his life. What ensues is the rebuilding relationship and attraction between Abram and Mona, and the potential fall-out as there time together comes to a close. SPACE is a story of betrayal and forgiveness; of secrets and conflict. The palpable sexual attraction and chemistry between our leading couple is tempered by regret and resentment, guilt and resolve. An addicting series, a wonderful tale, a lesson learned SPACE follows a brilliant but awkward young genius as she must come to terms with the potential loss of the only man she has ever loved; and of a heart broken and angry musician whose muse pushed him away as though nothing had happened.