The Space Between

by Sarah Ready

Overview

Jace and Andrea. Andrea and Jace. From the moment of their fate-filled first meeting in Central Park they've known one true thing—they're meant to be.

Life doesn't have many certainties but for Andrea and Jace forever is one of them.

Andrea Leighton-Hughes—shockingly wealthy Upper East Sider, a chess-piece in her family's games since before she was born—knows what it's like to hide behind a mask. Her world is one of lies, manipulation, and reputation. Jace is the first and only person to see who she truly is.

Jace Morgan is no stranger to tragedy and every day is a struggle to get by. A musical prodigy from the Bronx, Jace and his brothers will do whatever it takes to climb to the top of the music charts. Andrea is the first and only person who has helped him play from the heart.

No one understands their connection. No one understands their love.

As Jace and Andrea struggle to stay together and prove that love defeats all obstacles, life sets out to prove them wrong.

What happens when two people promise forever, but life tears them apart?
What happens in the time they aren't together—in the space between?

A love that lasts decades and a friendship that never dies. Sarah Ready's The Space Between is a novel full of passion, betrayal, longing, and redemption—where love and lyrics hold the key to everything.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940166995919
Publisher:	Swift & Lewis Publishing LLC
Publication date:	07/25/2023
Sold by:	Draft2Digital
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	701,241
File size:	659 KB

About the Author

Author Sarah Ready writes contemporary romance and romantic comedy. Her books have been described as "euphoric", "heartwarming" and "laugh out loud". Her works include Josh and Gemma Make a Baby, Josh and Gemma the Second Time Around, French Holiday, The Space Between, and romcoms in the Soul Mates in Romeo series. Her debut novel The Fall in Love Checklist was hailed as "the unicorn read of 2020". She lives in the Caribbean with her family and water-loving pup. Find more books and interesting tidbits at www.sarahready.com.

Editorial Reviews

05/22/2023

Economic differences may derail a once-in-a-lifetime love in this sweeping and soapy contemporary from Ready (Once upon an Island). After Andrea Leighton-Hughes rescues Jace Morgan from bullies, the two 17-year-olds bond over their love of music and Coney Island. Their budding romance survives Jace’s discovery that Andrea is the daughter of an elite Manhattan businessman, while he and his orphaned brothers, all musicians, scrape by in the Bronx. Andrea renounces her family wealth to go on the road with Jace and his bros when their band is on tour. For a time, all is bliss, but Jace’s oldest brother, Dean, worries that Jace—who can’t sing unless Andrea is watching—is using her as a crutch. To break up the couple, he convinces Andrea that Jace is unfaithful. Eight years later, Andrea, now a workaholic businesswoman, reunites with Reid Shilling, the man her family always wanted her to marry. Andrea never thought she’d agree, but now Reid is dying and he wants Andrea to be the mother to his infant daughter after he’s gone. On the eve of their marriage, however, Andrea runs into Jace, and the encounter leaves Jace determined to stop the wedding. It’s a dramatic (sometimes melodramatic) emotional roller-coaster, but in the end true love prevails. For hopeless romantics, this one’s got the goods. (July)

Publishers Weekly

"...emotional roller-coaster, but in the end true love prevails. For hopeless romantics, this one's got the goods."- Publishers Weekly on The Space Between

"A touching tale of adult reckonings and reunions with some heart-tugging reversals." - Kirkus Reviews on The Space Between

"Ready (The Fall in Love Checklist) whisks readers to the South of France for a saucy enemies-to-lovers romance... This is a winner." - Publishers Weekly starred review on French Holiday

"Ready has written a tale that deliciously taps into its French trappings...A charming dramedy featuring a promising sleuthing duo." - Kirkus Reviews on French Holiday

"An unusual and winning read about a little-discussed topic." - Kirkus Reviews on Josh and Gemma Make a Baby

From the Publisher

2023-03-22
A young performer in a family band and the daughter of an ultrarich New York business mogul fall in love in Ready’s contemporary romance novel.

A young man named Jace Morgan races through New York’s Central Park to try to stop a wedding, sharing an intense look with the bride when he arrives. “I almost can’t reconcile the Andi lying in my arms last night with the Andi standing in the gazebo,” he muses. The narrative then cycles back to Jace at 17 years old, being taunted by Reid Shilling and other rich boys from the private school that he attends on scholarship. The bullies disperse when the fight is broken up by a girl named Andrea Leighton-Hughes, who introduces herself as Andi. The teens hang out and fall in love. Jace plays guitar in a band called the Morgan Brothers with his brothers, Dean and River. His musician parents were the victims of a shooting incident in a Bronx bodega, forcing eldest son Dean to take on construction work to support the family while also trying to score their band gigs. Jace chokes up singing in public, but he is able to relax when he sees Andi at their shows. When the band gets a last-minute job at a charity gala, Jace discovers that Andi is the daughter of Robert Chatham Leighton-Hughes, one of the richest men in Manhattan. She tells him that she is merely a “chess piece” in her family and that she has a particularly cold mother. Andi travels with Jace for months when the band gets a national tour but returns to New York following a shocking betrayal. Andi forms new bonds with both Reid and her mother while Jace contends with fame and family issues. Years later, the lovers reconnect and move forward.The author has written an entertaining, emotion-laden rich girl–poor boy romance. The novel effectively celebrates and leverages its New York City setting, with several key scenes taking place in Central Park, specifically in Belvedere Castle. Andi’s overbearing family amusingly parallels that of a real-life New York real estate mogul and former president: They live on the top floors of a gilded, garish tower; Andi’s brothers (including a Robert Jr.) vie for attention; and the matriarch is glamorous and enigmatic. Several of the book’s wealthy characters end up inspiring sympathy in ways that are surprising yet satisfying. Adding to the novel’s engaging web of plot twists are moments in which band members commit or confess to some rather grave misdeeds. Some of the periods of estrangement the lovers experience come off as a bit far-fetched, particularly a separation precipitated in part by a letter gone astray. Andi’s motivation for her marriage, however, is developed beautifully by the author to exploit its full potential for pathos. This subplot also allows for a lovely moment of contemplation by the ostensible antagonist, Reid, that provides context for the novel’s title: “And my therapist said that the best way to move through grief is to concentrate on the right now. Not the past, not the future, just this moment right here. That small space between the past and the future. Like the moment between the inhale and the exhale.”

A touching tale of adult reckonings and reunions with some heart-tugging reversals.

Kirkus Reviews