Striving For Normal, B.L. Mooney

Drew has been seeing her shrink Joseph for almost 5 years after a relationship gone wrong, causing her physical and emotional damage, she hasn’t had a date in 5 years let alone sex, but Joseph, Mark and Terri think it’s time for get back out there and meet someone who will love her.

Dennis works with Mark, so when he and Terri invited him on a double date with their friend he couldn’t refuse. He knew she was damaged the moment he saw her, but that doesn’t stop him falling madly in love with her.

Carl has just lost his wife to cancer, so when Drew starts working at the daycare his daughter goes too, he needs to have her. He doesn’t take no for an answer even when Drew tells him she’s seeing Dennis, and she can’t control herself around him.

This book touches on a lot of tough subjects, abuse, manipulation, abortion, suicide, cancer and addiction, yet the storyline flowed the entire time and I didn’t notice how many issues it pressed on until the end when I really thought about the book. It wasn't a light read, there was a lot of drama, but it was ironically an addictive read, I wanted to see Drew survive, I wanted to see Dennis love Drew and I wanted to see Carl get his life back on track for the sake of his daughter.

Each character B.L. Mooney created was so different to each other and it was really interesting to read the way they all reacted around each other. Half way through the book I got scared that Drew was going to choose the wrong guy because he was able to manipulate her so easily because of her past, he was able to crawl inside her and somehow make her think she was feeling all of these things for her when really she wasn’t.

Drew’s character turned out to be a strong character, she may have gone through week stages but with the help for Joseph, Terri, Mark and Dennis she was able to grow and overcome the fears she had, love herself, love the guy who loves her and stick up for herself when it could have all come crashing down.

The journey for Dennis and Drew wasn’t an easy one, there were infidelities, arguments, break ups and family problems, but reading this book was able to show me that love can get through anything if it is strong enough and you are willing to try hard enough, love is always enough. 

I liked reading this book and was really impressed with the story line. I give this book a 3* rating.