"Just the Way You Are" by Barbara Freethy

A baby brought them together -- and even though Alli has always loved her strong, sexy husband Sam and the life they've made together, she's now decided to set him free to follow his youthful dreams. For although she worships Sam, it's no longer enough for her to be wife and lover when she knows she holds so little of his heart.

Sam has always dreamed of a life away from the close-knit world of Tucker's Landing, but marriage and fatherhood ended all that. Now Sam is torn between what was and what was meant to be. He must decide if it's time to rekindle the dreams of the past...or accept Alli, and her love, just the way she is.

My review: 

I finished "Just the Way You Are" with tears in my eyes. Tears of sadness. Tears of happiness. "Just the Way You Are" is a great love story - actually 4 love stories all wrapped up in each other. You walk into Allie and Sam's relationship on the verge of divorce, with Allie believing Sam still loved her sister, Tessa. I loved the parallels between Allie's belief of Sam and Tessa's relationship, and William's belief in Phoebe and John's relationship. As we see Phoebe reflecting on her 49 year marriage to John, after a brief relationship with William, we see Allie and Sam thinking on their 9 year marriage, after Sam's "epic" love with Tessa when they were children. I loved reading the stories as they progressed and each came to an understanding of what real love is - perhaps the relationship didn't start as an epic love, but epic love is always possible, and often the result. William's recognition of Phoebe's epic love helped give her peace at the end, and Sam's understanding of how his love grew for Allie over their marriage helped give him peace and understanding and recognition of the love he has for his wife. The intertwined love stories of "Just the Way You Are" make it a deep, emotional read with a "Happily Ever After"

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