Completely: A New York Novel

Wow was this story emotional! I just could not put it down. In book 2 of the New York series, Madly, we met Rosemary Chamberlain, mom to Beatrice and ex-wife to Winston. Now Rosemary is back for her own story. After Rosemary divorced Winston so she could "find" herself again, she joined a group of other British women to climb the Seven Summits - the highest mountains on each of the seven continents. The first one she was tackling was Everest. While on Everest, an avalanche hits and Rosemary is rescued by one of the guides, Kalden Beckett....who happens to be very handsome and the son of the most famous female climber, Yangchen Beckett. After the emotional rescue, Rosemary ends up spending the night with Kal and is thrown for a loop. Rosemary has never felt such a strong connection to someone before. The two of them travel together to New York from Nepal and start to quickly have feelings for each other. Rosemary is conflicted between wanting to be with Kal and wanting to find herself. Just when Rosemary thinks she has her life figured out, everything changes. Rosemary was a determined character. She knew what she wanted, but didn't truly understand what that really was. Kal didn't really know what he wanted, but because of things from his past, he tended to just ignore everything. Together they both were able to finally figure out what they each really wanted. I loved how Kal was younger than Rosemary...it added a little something to the story. I also really enjoyed the path these two went on to get to their happy ending, but boy was it really emotional! If you cry easy, have tissues close at hand toward the end of the book! Overall, this was a great, emotional read!

Completely is well-written and I loved the premise. The details about the location did a wonderful job of setting the scene, and on their own, both Kal and Rosemary were likable characters, if a bit whiny with their internal musings. Each of them is on their own journey of self-discovery, so their personal struggles made sense and I did enjoy the story, but I never felt the romance between them. Without feeling that connection, I was left a bit ambivalent about whether or not they got their happy ending. That being said, the author is talented and I will read future books from her.

Hard one for me to review so I'm going to do a good/not so good list. Good - writing is clear, concise, and informational. Character development is strong. I felt like I knew Kal and Rosemary very well. A unique storyline made it very interesting.. Not so good for me- Pace of the story was very slow leaving way too much time for my mind to wonder rather than grabbing and holding my attention. Information overload! While it was nice to have some background on Kal I learned more about extreme mountain climbing than I ever wanted to know. For a romance I found that part of the story lacking. So overall this is a very well done book and if you are interested in summit climbing, you'll probably really enjoy it. If you're looking for a strong romance this may not be for you.