Review: A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

Summary:

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.

Publication Date: July 7, 2015

A Million Miles Away is a really hard book to rate. I think my rating is going to fall somewhere in the middle because I really enjoyed certain aspects of the story while I felt disconnected from other parts. I think the premise was solid, but the execution was just okay.

For the most part, I liked the main character Kelsey. I couldn’t imagine how horrible it must be to lose your twin in such a sudden way. She not only has to deal with her own grief, but also must try to handle the difficult grieving process her parents are going through.

I got why Kelsey pretended to be her sister in order to learn more about Michelle after her death. I think that was the strongest part of the book: the way the author showed the complexities of the grieving process. I empathized that Kelsey wanted to find that connection once again with Michelle.

But she definitely took things too far with Michelle’s boyfriend Peter. And although the romance was sweet and I really liked Peter, I couldn’t get behind their relationship. I understood at first why Kelsey lied, but she had too many chances to make things right and she didn’t. I was glad she finally tried to fix her mistakes at the end, but I honestly thought she got off easy for the things she did.

Overall, I liked A Million Miles Away and despite my mixed feelings about the characters, I would recommend the story to fans of YA novels with a lot of heart.  

Rating: 3/5 Stars

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of the novel for review!