SOMEONE ELSE’S OCEAN by KATE STEWART

‘Love stories aren’t always perfect. They can wreak havoc on the heart and distort the soul.’

Kate Stewart has again delivered a story that sent our hearts on a rollercoaster ride with second chances, healing, compassion, and love whilst at the same time tackling issues a lot of readers will relate to on some level.  Prepare for an onslaught of drama, sizzling steamy sex scenes and Kate Stewarts ability to draw you immediately in her story.  Ian and Koti’s tumultuous love story will give your hearts a beating yet the setting will provide a soothing balm to the tidal wave of emotions.

“I don’t believe in miracles, but I’m falling for mine.”

Ian and Koti’s was a story of friendship that began 23 years earlier with Koti a sweet six year old besotted by a 14 year old boy. Their paths would cross again years later when Koti was 17, and Ian married and in the Marines.

‘He was the perfect man to steal my heart, and I had zero doubts once he was done with it, it would never be the same.’

Now, 29, Koti Vaughan, left a high flying job in New York after having a meltdown of anxiety attacks due to the stress of her job. Seeking refuge in her parents’ holiday home in the Virgin Islands, Koti has made a peaceful life for herself in St Thomas, working in holiday rentals for her friend Jasmine.

Ian Kemp is a now a 38 year old divorcee whose life and marriage fell apart after an act of betrayal that has left him broken hearted. To deal with the anger and hurt, Ian takes off to St Thomas to decompress and sort his head and his heart out on the majestic island.

 “Don’t invite me into your life, Koti, or your heart, or your bed because I’m a selfish man right now and I’ll take you up on it without a second thought. If you move a single inch closer to me, I’m going to fuck you. And as much as we both want that, we both don’t need it. I will use you and it’s not because I don’t think you’re beautiful, or intelligent or worth more. It’s because right now, I’m incapable of being anything other than the man that uses you. And because I do think you are worthy of better, I’m not going to let it happen.”

Ian appears oblivious to his once childhood friend Koti, and whilst pleasing to the eye, Ian may be his gruff demeanour and antagonist approach to Koti puts her off guard. Ian isn’t interested in resuming a friendship, preferring to stay inside his head, but Koti is having none of it. Having dealt with anxiety and stress, Koti wants to find a way to bring Ian out of himself, to be the man beneath the anger.

“Kissing you feels like a free fall, touching you makes me ache, and being inside you is so damn addicting.” 

Ian and Koti are set in their lives, Ian’s life is in Texas where his daughter lives, and Koti, for her sanity wants to remain on St Thomas, and the push and pull of hearts left our hearts a wreck.

We enjoyed Someone Else’s Ocean, and love Kate Stewart’s storytelling, and we did experience the full impact of the story in many ways whilst reveling in the vividly beautiful surroundings the author painted for us. However, we found Koti’s anxiety was glossed over and dealt with a little too easily. Being that we personally related to Koti’s story in many ways, we expected to be emotional wrecks, relating to Koti’s struggles in a very deep and personal way. This is one steamy read, and at times it felt as though a nice hug and a good ‘session’ was the cure for Koti’s mental health issues. There were moments where we felt irritation at Koti, when we should’ve been feeling empathy, and gripping emotion. Sometimes less is more and emphasis on one issue makes the connection and understanding that much stronger.

Maybe it was our fault? Perhaps we went into this story thinking it was one thing when it was another or were there simply too many issues dealt with at once, which took away from the main issue at hand.

‘I found the one person in the world who understood me and loved me wholly as I was. Love stories aren’t always perfect. They can wreak havoc on the heart and distort the soul. I’d gotten lost in love and found the reality at the end of it where I now lived in the truth. Not all love stories come with happy endings.’

In saying all that, we did enjoy the story, we simply expected something….more. We adore this author’s work and there’s a reason she’s a TBB fave, and you can bet we’ll be lining up to read Jasmine’s book! That is going to be quite the ride! We can’t even begin to imagine her story and we are dying to discover who the lucky man is who eventually tame her, and be worthy of her heart.