Book Review: Pulled by A.L. Jackson

Last month, I began searching for a read that some intensity and angst in the story. I decided to try out Pulled by A.L. Jackson. I had been hearing about the book and well sometimes even though people say not to, I sometimes tend to judge a book by its cover. The cover of this book is so striking. The beauty of the picture just grabbed me.  Well that and the plot of the story.

Pulled is the story of two people; Melanie and Daniel who met when they were teenagers and felt an intense and immediate connection towards each other. Through just plain bad luck, timing, and other things I won’t mention so I won’t ruin the story for you…things did not turn out too well for the young couple. Fast-forward into the past, 9 years later and we see were Daniel and Melanie are at in their lives. Without each other. Daniel focusing extremely hard on his career and Melanie stuck in a love-less marriage.

 But what I found inspiring in this love story was that even though 9 years have gone by, they still pine after each other. That is a feature I like in love stories; when couples aren’t together, but they cannot ignore their feelings or the pull they fell when they meet again. It’s like that with Melanie and Daniel. They both think about the other person and what went wrong. They feel terribly unhappy in their lives and cannot seem to move past the hope that one day maybe they will find their way to each other again. And one day thanks to chance they do, and once again they feel that same strong connection just like had 9 years ago.

“My hands started to tingle with the palpable energy that connected Melanie to me, what made us one, and an intense longing filling my chest. I had to pull myself together. I stood to take a few minutes to clear my head when a strangled sob grounded me to the floor. My head jerked up, my eyes desperate to find what I so longed to see. My knees went weak, and I grasped the table for support when my eyes met with the emerald that owned my soul.”

-A.L. Jackson, Pulled

Can’t you just imagine that scene playing out after reading that? I totally could.

More than halfway through the book, it seemed like the author was really emphasizing Daniel and Melanie’s love for each a little much. I kept thinking okay I get it, they are destined for each and their connection is stronger than ever, but does it really need to be stated so frequently? I don’t know, maybe it was just me, but that was how I felt.  

If you like angst, Pulled has it in spades. I could feel their pain and struggles as they navigated through their lives and fought to reclaim each other once again.

A.L. Jackson knows how to create a story with characters you immediately care and cheer for. Her words sucked me in from the first chapter.

If you liked the angst and intensity of Beautiful Disaster, then I recommend giving Pulled a read.

These are just some of the places were you can find Pulled:

Barnes & Noble

Kobo