Book review: Take This Regret Series by A.L.Jackson

Take This Regret Series:

#0.5 Lost To You

#1 Take This Regret

#2 If Forever Comes

Heartbreaking. Wrecking. Absolutely amazing. Unbelievably emotional. Uniquely beautiful.

This is by far the best series I've ever read. I don't think there's ever been a book (series) that broke my heart as many times as this one did. My emotions were all over the place just like those of the characters. I'm almost sure that my words won't do this series justice, but it's so worth a review so here it is:

The series starts with Elizabeth and Christian meeting through college and they became study partners. The attraction was there from the first minute, but Elizabeth tried to fight her feelings, so they remained friends until neither of them could take it anymore and they almost exploded with feelings.

“I didn't do flings. I fell in love, and falling in love with someone like Christian was a mistake I couldn't afford.” - Elizabeth (Lost To You)

Take This Regret follows their tough time while trying to decide what is wrong and what is right. There are flashbacks to the times when everything went wrong. Christian made a decision he will regret forever. He left Elizabeth when she needed him most, but he left more behind than just the woman he loved. He has to fight hard for what he wants. Harder than he might've ever imagined. He hurt the person he loved the most so deeply that there might be no second chance.

“We had the power to destroy, to devastate and ruin, to lay the other to waste.” - Christian (Take This Regret)

They thought they made it, had it all until fate brings them down again. If Forever Comes deals with more heartache and emotion than the first two books of the series. Elizabeth spends her days in a haze, drowning in pain and sorrow. She can't stand seeing Christian, barely makes it through the days while the pain is eating her up from inside. It takes a long time until the reader finds out what really happened, what shattered their life together, but I had a suspicion and it turned out to be true.

“And when we'd fallen, we had completely fallen apart.” - Christian (If Forever Comes)

I absolutely fell in love with A.L. Jackon's writing style. How she describes Christian and Elizabeth's feelings, their emotions, their heartache. A lot of authors can learn from that. She describes a feeling so detailed that you feel like it's your own pain, your own sorrow. I've never read something like this.

I described the books only shortly because otherwise I would give too much away of what happens during the series.

The stories were a roller coaster ride of emotions. Elizabeth and Christian were deeply in love, spend four years together, five years apart, until they eventually found their way back together. It took a long fight, a lot of pain, true and honest words, cruel words, and a whole lot of love. But fate shattered their just created life again, and made them fight even harder for what they wanted. They had to find out how much they could take.

It's a beautiful story about love, pain, betrayal, struggle, sorrow and strength.

Christian fought hard for his family, he had to earn their trust and their love. He had to show Elizabeth that he had changed, and that he was worth trusting. Elizabeth had to decide if she could bury the feeling of betrayal, and trust him again.

Even though they both had to go through so much, in If Forever Comes I really wanted to slap Elizabeth for being such a selfish woman. It wasn't just her who had to fight the battle. But even more I just wanted to hug her and Christian. This book made me so sad and my heart ached for both of them.

“You are the most selfish person I ever met.” - Christian to Elizabeth (If Forever Comes)

This is one of those series that will stick with you. That makes you think about choices you've made. That words cut deeper than any knife ever could. That actions and words can't just be taken back.

If Forever Comes is more emotional than The Fault In Our Stars (by John Green), in a completely different way. I love this series to pieces, and I will definitely buy the paperbacks of this series so that I can cradle the books in my hands and look at them all the time.

This series was a huge inspiration for my own writing. A person who can write like this - describe emotions in such detailed ways without really repeating herself while describing pain and sorrow over and over again must be a wonderful person. Thanks A.L. Jackson for such a great series!