Naughty and Nice Book Blog: BLOG TOUR - If Forever Comes by A.L. Jackson

SYNOPSIS:

If Forever Comes, the final chapter in the New York Times Bestselling Regret Series (Lost to You and Take This Regret).

Christian Davison’s life is complete. With a ring on Elizabeth’s finger and his daughter at his side, he’s ready to run headlong into their future.

Elizabeth Ayers never believed she would again find this kind of joy—the joy of a family and the wholeness found in the touch of the man she’s always loved.

Their love is intense and their passion only grows as they set out to rediscover each other.
But life is never easy.

Rocked by the unforeseen, Christian and Elizabeth will find themselves fighting for the one thing they hold most important—family.

CHARACTER INTERVIEW

W/ CHRISTIAN & ELIZABETH

We’d like to thank all of you for stopping by Naughty and Nice Book Blog for this interview. Let’s start off by offering you our condolences for the loss of Lillie, and give you a huge congratulations of the birth of their son, Myles.

The two of you have come a long way in the past 10 years. The birth of Lizzie, the loss of your daughter Lillie, getting married, and now the birth of your son, Myles. How are the two of you doing…

“We’re doing great. A little tired. Myles is awake a lot at night, but we can’t complain. Not for a second.”

Do you enjoy being a stay at home mom?

“I love it. Spending my days with Myles, the two of us there to welcome Lizzie when she gets home from school, is absolutely the best. I can’t imagine any better way to dedicate my days.”

Would you like to have more children?

Christian grins over at Elizabeth. “One more?” he asks. A tiny smile flutters around Elizabeth’s face. “One more.”

Do you think in time, when the kids are a little older, you may want to get your law degree?

Elizabeth shakes her head, her expression earnest. “No, I honestly don’t think so. That desire really left me with I had Lizzie. My family is my focus. I always wanted to be there to help children, to support them. I want my own kids to get that focus and attention.”

How is Lizzie with Myles? Is she loving being a big sister?

“She’s amazing. She wants to be involved in everything, and she can’t wait until he’s big enough to play. I’m pretty sure she’s going to be the protective big sister. Any little cry he makes, she’s right there, trying to cheer him up with that sweet smile of hers.”

Christian, you missed out on the infant stage with Lizzie, how are you handling being a father to Myles at this stage?

“I love it. When he was born, I couldn’t believe how tiny he was. God was I nervous the first time I held him. I had no clue what I was doing. But the second he was in my arms, it was just…natural.”

If you could turn back the hands of time, how would you have handled the situation with Elizabeth when she told you she was pregnant with Lizzie?

“Leaving Elizabeth when she was pregnant with Lizzie is the greatest regret of my life. It will always be. Like I told Elizabeth, if I could, I’d take every single second of it back. My selfishness robbed my family of a lot of years. Even though I was scared, I should have told her we’d figure it out. I should have stood beside her instead of pushing her aside. ”

Had you ever given it any thought to try and find Elizabeth and your child prior to heading to San Diego for business?

“Yeah…a lot of thought. But I took the fool’s way out, kept thinking one day Elizabeth would finally contact me and I wouldn’t have to be the one who made the first move. I figured any contact was in Elizabeth’s hands, and whatever she wanted from me, I’d give it to her. I guess I took her silence as a request…that she didn’t want anything to do with me. Stupid. If I could, I’d take that back too.” Christian leans forward to rest his elbows on his knees, the shake of his head filled with shame. “I have a lot of regrets, Heather. A ton. I just have to move forward and learn from them. Make sure I never repeat them again.”

Christian, we all have regrets. No one is perfect. The only thing we can do in life, is hope we learn from those mistakes and not repeat them.. You keep doing what you're doing. I can see the smile on your wife's face, so you must be doing something right. (I lean over and pat him on his arm)

Christian, you were at the right place at the right time. Can you explain what you felt when you first laid eyes on that beautiful little girl in the supermarket?

Christian chuckles lightly. “I never thought of it as being in the right place at the right time. I think I was supposed to be there. I spent so much time being a fool, my daughter had to be set right in front of my face in order for me to see. Seeing her like that the first time? I felt as if I’d been struck…shattered. It was a moment I’ll never forget because it changed something fundamental inside of me.”

Elizabeth, none of us can pass judgment upon you on how you handled the loss of your daughter. Everyone handles things differently. Was there ever a time that you regretted pushing Christian away during the time period that the two of you were grieving?

“Of course. How could I not? This is the man I love, and I hate that I caused him more pain than he already had. But I know now that I needed that space in order to heal.”

Christian, I have to tell ya. I completely understand that you were giving Elizabeth the space that she needed, do you wish you would have stayed and not left those 3 months?

Christian weaves his fingers with Elizabeth’s, rests their entwined hands on his lap as he casts her a knowing glance. “We’ve talked about this a lot. Even though Elizabeth and I both know she needed that space, I wish I would have handled it differently. I wish I wouldn’t have been so angry with her about the way she was dealing with her grief.” He squeezes her hand a little tighter. “But I realize now I wasn’t angry. I was scared because I didn’t know how to deal with the situation. Yeah, we dealt with it badly. But we’re here now. Bottom line, Elizabeth and I love each other. We were going to end up back together, one way or another. We both know that now. There’s nothing that will keep us apart.”

I hate to bring Logan up, but we have to… Elizabeth, looking back now, did you really think Logan just wanted to be friends with you? At any time, did you think he wanted something more?

Elizabeth shifts in discomfort. “I had an idea he wanted more…especially the night he asked me to come over to have dinner with him. It was a pivotal moment for me. I’d just really begun to allow myself to feel again, and having that attention from Logan made me face those feelings, question what I wanted and what I was doing. Thankfully those feelings only shined on Christian.”

Christian. I was jumping up and down when you busted down Logan’s door. I was routing for you the entire time. But I have to say, I had a knot in my stomach, because I wasn’t sure how Elizabeth was going to react.

“I had a pretty big knot in my stomach, too. I really didn’t know what I’d find when I went in…didn’t know if Elizabeth had been seeing him or what was really going on. But Elizabeth is worth fighting for, and I was willing to face whatever was behind that door in order to get her back.”

Elizabeth, what was going through your mind when Christian busted through the front door and saw you with Logan?

“I was shocked, of course. Scared. Ashamed. Most of all, I was relieved. While I’d been there, it was like all the questions were running through my head. I was asking myself what it was I thought I was doing, was it right, should I stop or continue? Christian standing in that doorway was my answer. Even though I still harbored so much anger toward him, I knew I belonged to him and I always would.”

Do you think you needed that experience with Logan for you to realize that you were pushing the person that meant the most to you away?

“Part of me regrets going to Logan’s, but I think I needed it to help me realize what it was that I was really missing.”

Let’s lighten up the mood a little, where do you all see yourselves in five years?

“Together,” flies from Christian’s mouth. Elizabeth giggles, smiling over at him. “Yeah, together,” she adds, “Forever.”

Thank you very much for stopping by Naughty and Nice Book Blog. We look forward to hearing when there is a new addition to your family. (I lean forward an whisper a baby of course.) Maybe we can get AL Jackson to tell us all about it.

REVIEW:

As it I expected anything less. IF FOREVER COMES is suburb. I LOVED it. AL Jackson did an AMAZING job with it. I had loved Christian and Elizabeth from the moment I met them in Take This Regret. Yes, Christian made a mistake that he would forever regret for the rest of his life. But in life, we ALL make mistakes. We can only hope and pray that we are wise enough to know when we make a mistake and hope that we are forgiven for the mistakes that we made.

Ten years ago, Christian Davison walked into the café and stole Elizabeth’s heart the moment she laid eyes on him. He stole her breath the moment she saw his eyes. Elizabeth’s life had changed forever. Christian and Elizabeth were best friends, soul mates, lovers. Elizabeth’s heart, chose Christian a long time ago.

“I love you, Christian. Always. There is nothing that could make me stop loving you. Nothing that could make me stop needing you. You are my start and you are my finish, the one who’s going to be there for everything in between.” ~ Elizabeth

Christian and Elizabeth had overcome many obstacles in their relationship over the past ten years. For five years, they weren’t together, because of a decision that Christian made. There wasn’t a moment that went by that Christian didn’t regret the decisions he made in his past. Elizabeth chose to forgive him. Her heart has always belonged to Christian, there was no mistake in that.

“Christian had once again changed the direction of my life, this force of a man that I could never have resisted. I never should have tried. Because a life with him was the only think I wanted. ~ Elizabeth

Christian and Elizabeth have never had it easy. It always seemed like shit was always being thrown at them. They had worked their relationship out after being apart for 5 years and things were going perfectly for them. Christian was given a second chance with Elizabeth and their daughter, Lizzie. Christian and Elizabeth had gotten engaged, and were planning a wedding, and their lives had changed yet again in one day. That day was burned into their memories. Christian was there for Elizabeth, but Elizabeth didn’t want Christian. She HATED Christian. Every time she looked at Christian, that day replayed itself over and over in her mind. Elizabeth didn’t want to be around anyone. Could Elizabeth forgive Christian for those few words that he said? Could time heal all wounds? Was their love strong enough to get past this? Would they find there way back to each other?

My heart broke for both Elizabeth and Christian. I could not ever imagine what Elizabeth was going through. I could not judge her for how she treated those around her. She needed to work through this on her own, and at her own speed. My heart broke for her daughter, Lizzy. Her life was turned upside down as well. She may have been 5 years old, but she was very observant of what was going on around her. She just wanted her mommy and daddy to be happy again. She wanted her daddy to move back in.

It has been three months since Elizabeth and Christian had split up. He vowed that he would never give up on Elizabeth. She owned his heart and soul. He was going to give her the time she needed to heal, even if it meant that he was broken himself by not being with her. Christian knew Elizabeth needed time, he only wished he could be there to help support her. When Elizabeth finally begins to come around, things are a little different for Elizabeth. Can she live a life without Christian? Can she look at Christian the same as she had for all those years? When things change around you, do you change as well?

When push comes to shove, Christian is determined to get Elizabeth back. He is not going to sit back and watch the love of his life walk away from him again. He had let her walk away 10 years ago, and he was NOT going to allow history to repeat itself. Christian needed Elizabeth like he needed air to breathe.

“I wasn’t going anywhere. I was just waiting for you to come back to me.” ~ Elizabeth

The love that Christian and Elizabeth have is breathtaking. You feel the connection between the two. I felt the pain that they were both experiencing and my heart broke for the two of them. IF FOREVER COMES will touch you. You have to read Lost To You and Take This Regret, as If Forever Comes is the final book of the series. I can only pray that AL Jackson gives us a little more of these characters in the future. I would love to see a novella in the future. I am not ready to move on from Christian and Elizabeth.

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review

AUTHOR BIO:

A.L. Jackson is the New York Times bestselling author of Take This Regret and Lost to You, as well as other contemporary romance titles, including Pulled and When We Collide.

She first found a love for writing during her days as a young mother and college student. She filled the journals she carried with short stories and poems used as an emotional outlet for the difficulties and joys she found in day-to-day life.

Years later, she shared a short story she’d been working on with her two closest friends and, with their encouragement, this story became her first full length novel. A.L. now spends her days writing in Southern Arizona where she lives with her husband and three children. Her favorite pastime is spending time with the ones she loves.

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