Side Swiped (Off the Map #2) - Lia Riley

It was only meant to last the summer . . .

Talia Stolfi has seen more than her share of loss in her twenty-one years. But then fate brought her Bran Lockhart, and her dark world was suddenly and spectacularly illuminated. So if being with Bran means leaving her colorless NorCal life for rugged and wild Australia, then that’s what she’ll do. But as much as Talia longs to give herself over completely to a new beginning, the fears of her past are still lurking in the shadows.

Bran Lockhart knows that living without the beautiful girl who stole his heart will be torment, so he’ll take whatever time with her he can. But even though she has packed up her life in California and is back in his arms for the time being, she can’t stay forever. And the remaining time they have together is ticking by way too fast. Though fate seems determined to tear them apart, they won’t give up without a fight—because while time may have limits, their love is infinite . . .

At the end of Upside Down, the first book in the Off the Map series, I was left with a sense of… why not just write a fabulous epilogue and end it here? What is there left to tell.  What I didn’t realize was, in a sense we were going to go back to the beginning.   

In Side Swiped, we spent more time with Talia and Bran as a couple.  When she leaves California this time, on a temporary visa, they are constantly on the run from the impending end date on the visa.  What will they do? How will they be able to stay together? 

We also spend more time with each of them individually and I have to say for me, I really enjoyed Bran more in this book than I did in Upside Down.  In the first book, I really had trouble connecting with both characters, and up until the end of this book, he really started to win me over in this book.  We get to learn more about him and his family and what he wants out of life.  We also learn what he will do when faced with competing priorities.  

On the other hand, I still feel a lack of connection to Talia.  I’m starting to feel like it just might be me though.  Being in a faraway place with a time limit and no answers has triggered a lot of her issues from before Bran…not that OCD ever goes away but in the first book he was the one that soothed her and made her symptoms not as bad.  In this book, they are back and stronger than ever.  

Sometimes this happens to me in the second book though.  It’s hard to live up to the first and it is a pathway to the last… 

Then I read the excerpt to the next book at the end of this one, and that might just be what saved the day for me.  The third book looks like it might be the best one yet.