A review by risseandshine
Into the Storm by Melanie Moreland

emotional hopeful inspiring medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

One stormy night, reclusive writer Joshua Bennett finds an unknown, unconscious woman inside a crashed car within his property. He ends up taking her in to allow her to recuperate and hopefully gain back her memories. He lives with her throughout a power outage, forming a unique connection with their shared traumatic backgrounds. When the weather starts to slowly calm itself, the same can’t be said for their forming affection as the time for separation grows near. This book explores fears, pains, and feelings of helplessness but balances all that out with a beautiful love story between two people healing each other’s scars and, ultimately, calming each other’s storms. 

This is my fourth Melanie Moreland book and I have to say, she continues to leave me in awe with her exceptional storytelling ability. I’m actually noticing a pattern with her books now: she tends to initially place her characters in some sort of bubble, meaning they’re the only two people in the story in the beginning. She gives the couple enough scenes to build and maintain chemistry, giving the reader the illusion that they have been together for longer, when in reality they haven’t. It’s only then that she expands her world, introducing side characters that support and test the couple’s relationship. Because of this, her take on insta-love works–at least for me. 

This particular book doesn’t stray from the above tactic.

Joshua and Rabbit’s (Elizabeth’s) romance isn’t exactly love at first sight but it did progress in a relatively short amount of time. It should be unbelievable but it wasn’t. So much emphasis was given to their close proximity and the situations that happened during such time that they ended up being an explosive couple. When sparks started flying, they flew so high and ignited so bright that I couldn’t help but root for their happily ever after right off the bat.

Another thing I appreciated with this book is the fact that both the hero and heroine had an equal amount of spotlight shed on their backstories and individual storylines. Their respective personalities were clearly shown and their character arcs weren’t difficult to follow and support. Joshua proved to be a lovable hero with occasional alpha tendencies yet full of vulnerabilities. He had a hard time opening up past wounds, but when he finally did to the one person who makes him feel safe, it was so beautiful to read. Elizabeth, on the other hand, had her own burdens which were made even more difficult by her memory loss. Her determination to carry on despite all her pains in the hands of her abuser made her a character worth admiring. She gained more of my respect when she started to demonstrate a different level of strength when she finally experienced true love. Joshua and Elizabeth’s journeys, both individually and as a couple, cemented the fact that they are both solid characters on their own and even more so as a unit. 

With all of those good points said, I now move on to the one thing that made me drop my rating from five stars to four: the plot twist.
The plot twist here is that the villain, aka Elizabeth’s (ex-)husband is actually gay, and he decides to mask his true identity, one that isn’t accepted by his father, with domestic abuse. I can’t speak firsthand regarding this aspect of the story but to me, that twist doesn’t paint a good picture of the LGBTQ+ community. I love reading gender diversity in the books I read, but this isn’t the representation I’m looking for. Frankly, this left a sour taste in my mouth and it continues to not sit well with me even a few days after finishing it. I’m trying my very best to give the author the benefit of the doubt given that this book was published in 2013, an era of romance novels that was way different compared to today. I haven’t read a lot of her more recent books so I’m still holding out hope that she has grown into her writing. So yes, as much as I love this book and author, I can’t in good conscience give this a five-star rating.

All in all, I think this book can be classified as “insta-love for non insta-love lovers”. It’s highly recommended with a caveat for a certain element that proves its datedness.

  tw: domestic abuse, car accident, amnesia 
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