Blog Tour: After the Fire – Charlotte Rixon

This is the story of girl meets boy.

And then everything goes wrong . . .

Ever since they first met at university, Beth and Nick have circled in and out of one another’s lives: supporting each other through grief, marriage, divorce, career crises and family dramas.

Fourteen years ago, when they were on the cusp of adulthood, they both survived a devastating fire that sent their lives in different directions. And they’ve been running ever since: from the pain, from the memories, and most devastatingly of all, from the guilt.

But no matter how hard they try, there’s something else they can’t run from. The inescapable, terrifying truth: they’re in love with each other.

But how can they move forward, when neither of them can stop looking back?

Charlotte Rixon is the pen name of Charlotte Duckworth, USA Today-bestselling author of suspense fiction published by Quercus. Charlotte studied Classics at Leeds University and went on to gain a PGDip in Screenwriting. She worked for many years as a magazine journalist, and is a graduate of the Faber Academy ‘Writing A Novel’ course.

My thoughts: University wasn’t everything Beth and Nick had wanted it to be, after a terrible tragedy that Beth feels she could have prevented, they both go on to their adult lives, never acting on their feelings.

As they drift in and out of each others’ lives, never talking about what happened all those years ago, never dealing with their feelings about what happened or each other, it gets more complicated to ignore. Love is never straightforward but only by confronting the past, can these two lovers move on and be happy.

Moving and intelligent, this is a fascinating read about unrequited love, learning to let go of the past and find happiness.

*I was kindly gifted a copy of this book in exchange for taking part in this blog tour, but all opinions remain my own.