A Million Miles Away by Lara Avery

Perfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks, this breathtaking story of love and loss is guaranteed to break your heart and sweep you off your feet.

When high school senior Kelsey's identical twin sister, Michelle, dies in a car crash, Kelsey is left without her other half. The only person who doesn't know about the tragedy is Michelle's boyfriend, Peter, recently deployed to Afghanistan. But when Kelsey finally connects with Peter online, she can't bear to tell him the truth. Active duty has taken its toll, and Peter, thinking that Kelsey is Michelle, says that seeing her is the one thing keeping him alive. Caught up in the moment, Kelsey has no choice: She lets Peter believe that she is her sister.

As Kelsey keeps up the act, she crosses the line from pretend to real. Soon, Kelsey can't deny that she's falling, hard, for the one boy she shouldn't want.

Picture and  description from Goodreads.com

My Review

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.

  I wasn't sure what to think when I began reading this book.  I thought the description sounded very intriguing but I really have a hard time with lying.  I don't like liars and so I really wasn't sure how I would respond to this book.  That being said I tried to go in to the book without any biases. 

  Right from the beginning I fell in love with the characters in this book.  It starts by showing the dynamics between twin sisters, Kelsey and Michelle.  While they may be eerily identical they could not be more different in every other way.  Kelsey is popular, a phenomenal dancer and in to all things social.  Michelle is an artist, in to the environment and not in to the social scene at all.  The two sisters definitely have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship.  Then suddenly Michelle is gone and Kelsey's whole world is turned upside down.

   The author nails Kelsey's grief spot on.  You can feel her horror, guilt and sorrow at loosing half of herself and her identity.  Most of us have lost someone in our own lives but I cannot imagine how it would feel to lose a twin.  The ties between twins are so much most entwined than those of us that are not twins can only imagine.  The author does such a good job at portraying Kelsey's grief that I actually felt my heart breaking in some points in the book.  Be forewarned though...you will need tissues while reading this book!

    After losing her sister Kelsey makes a huge mistake.  When she connects with Michelle's boyfriend, who is a soldier serving in Afghanistan, she decides to pretend to be Michelle.  Why would she do this?  Her reason is noble.  Peter is struggling as a new soldier in a war zone.  We have all heard of the horrors and stress that our soldiers face while in Afghanistan.  While Kelsey is talking to Peter on Skype she sees he is haunted, and when he tells her that she (Michelle) is the only thing that keeps him going Kelsey can't bring herself to tell him that Michelle is dead.  I would probably have done the same thing.  Our soldiers need something to hope for to keep them going and Peter needed Michelle.  That being said, Kelsey takes it a bit too far when for months she keeps up the lie.  She even travels over seas to join him on leave and never tells him the truth.  Kelsey comes to realize that she needs Peter as much as he needs her.

   So what happens when Peter finally finds out the truth?  You will have to read the book to find out! I hope you will love it as much as I did!

 My Rating