Spring Fever by Mary Kay Andrews

Title: Spring Fever
Author: Mary Kay Andrews
Release Date: June 5th, 2012
Publisher: St. Martins Press
Buy: Amazon

Goodreads Summary

Annajane Hudgens truly believes she is over her ex-husband, Mason Bayless.  They’ve been divorced for four years, she’s engaged to a new, terrific guy, and she’s ready to leave the small town where she and Mason had so much history.  She is so over Mason that she has absolutely no problem attending his wedding to the beautiful, intelligent, delightful Celia.  But when fate intervenes and the wedding is called to a halt as the bride is literally walking down the aisle, Annajane begins to realize that maybe she’s been given a second chance.  Maybe everything happens for a reason.  And maybe, just maybe, she wants Mason back.  But there are secrets afoot in this small southern town.  On the peaceful surface of Hideaway Lake, Annajane discovers that the past is never really gone.  Even if there are people determined to keep Annajane from getting what she wants, happiness might be hers for the taking, and the life she once had with Mason in this sleepy lake town might be in her future.

This is definitely one of the best adult contemporaries I've read.

Lately I haven't read any good books and usually when that happens I resort to contemporary/chic lit so that I can cheer up before exploring other genres.. that didn't work this time around. I read a couple books of 'bad' books back to back and it only made me feel worse.

And then I found this. 

The main reason I decided to pick this up was because it seemed to go along the lines of people who break up and then get together. I tend to like those kind of relationships because in so many books I've read, the 'ex' is the bad guy and break ups are portrayed in 2D. A break up never goes one way...the balance between whose fault it was more may be different but essentially both the people will have contributed to it. It annoys me that the 'exs' will be labeled as the bad guys.

So this book opens with our female lead going to her ex-husband's wedding. Why the hell would she do that you ask? Because her ex-husband's daughter asked her to (she is a cute little 5 year old... that came along a couple of months after their divorce... fishy?). 

The summary on goodreads is misleading, Annajane is not out to get her ex back. She is trying to move forward. 

I think one of the best things about this book is that Mason and Annajane don't dance around their feelings.. you don't have to wait till the end of the book for them to get over themselves and admit that they are still in love. Even when they admit their feelings they cannot have a happy ending because.. they there were reasons they broke up. You cannot just forget that and get back together because you have feelings... they were still in love when they got divorce so yeah. What they need is to sort themselves out. But I love how honest they are with each other, they talk through their issues and try to trust each other. Of course that isn't the only reason they cannot get together. You have the evil Celia and Davis, the middle brother, standing in their way. 

I feel like comparing this to My One and Only because they are somewhat similar, two people who get divorced because the other is oblivious to the fact that their spouse is miserable. 

Although I gave both books the same rating, this one is definitely better. While this is on the contemporary side, My One and Only was more chic lit. 

Even after they get divorced, Mason and Annajane aren't rude to each other. Annajane doesn't try to hide, she continues working in his company even after the divorce and they are never rude to each other. While Harper does run away.

Annajane blames Mason for the divorce but subconsciously she realizes that she contributed to it as well. What I love about Mason is that he realizes what he did wrong, he isn't trying to shove all the blame on Annajane because he realizes that if he had told her the truth in the first place things would have been different but then he also realizes that it isn't only his fault. Nick and Harper on the other hand blame each other until Harper decides it was her fault and then Nick decides it was his fault as well. C

This book doesn't only focus on the romance though, there is so much more going on. It is such a beautiful book and powerful too. I don't think I can capture the beauty of the book with words alone.