Bethy Lowry was unraveling long before her boyfriend drowned in a riptide trying to save her after she'd had one too many drinks--again. A trailer park kid working as a cart girl among the wealthy patrons of Kerrington Country Club, Bethy has always been impressionable. But five years ago, before she earned her reputation as a hard-drinking, easy girl, she had spent a single summer with Tripp Newark that changed her life forever... 

Tripp

Present Day…

I sat on my Harley and waited for Bethy to walk out of the clubhouse. Woods had been texting me Bethy’s work schedule every two weeks, and I made sure she made it home from work safely every night. It wasn’t stalking her, exactly. It was just the only way I could remain sane.

Watching over her was all I had. If I got too close, she flipped. The last time I’d tried to talk to her, she'd started screaming. I hadn’t been able to calm her down. I was watching her lose herself slowly. And it was tearing me up.

So I followed her to work everyday, and I followed her home every night. Once she was safely in her apartment, I often sat parked across the road and watched her window until it went dark. She never looked at me, even though I wasn’t hiding the fact I was following her. There was no use in hiding it from her.

The last words she’d actually spoken to me -not screamed at me, because there'd been a lot of that- had been eighteen months ago on the beach when we'd lost Jace. My cousin, my best friend, and the love of Bethy’s life. He’d drowned saving her life when she'd wandered into the ocean drunk and got caught in a riptide. Losing him had taken a part of my soul. He’d been the little brother I never had. He’d been the good Newark heir. He’d been everything I should have been but wasn’t.

And we had loved the same girl. Although he never knew it.

Watching her pull away from life more and more each day was so damn hard. Jace wouldn’t have wanted this. He would have hated it. He loved her more than he loved himself. Seeing her like this would break his heart.

Bethy swung her long dark hair over her shoulder as she stepped out of the clubhouse. The shorts she wore had once been tight and cupped her perfect round bottom. But just like she'd lost the will to live, she’d also lost weight. Too much.

The need to hold her and help her heal was so fucking strong. But she didn’t want me. I hadn’t realized how badly she hated me until I’d returned to Rosemary Beach a little more than two years ago. I'd run like hell eight years ago from a life threatening to suffocate me. My father wanted something for me that I didn’t want, and I hadn’t been able to see my way out.

I had been eighteen years old and scared, because in three short months, one sixteen-year-old girl had become my sole concern in life. Bethy had stolen my heart the summer I met her at Rush's party. When I'd been ready to throw away the life I'd been planning for the past year in order to be with her, my father had reminded me of just how much control he had over me.

I wouldn’t have been able to keep Bethy if I'd stayed. That wasn’t the life he’d let me have. So I'd run, hoping that when I came back in two years, when she was old enough, I could take her with me. But first, I'd needed to escape.

I watched as Bethy opened the door to her old beat-up Ford Taurus and climbed inside. The stiff way she held herself and the way she kept her focus turned away from me told me she knew I was here. She expected me to be there.

Once she would have broken into the biggest, most beautiful smile in the world and run into my arms. But that was the past. I had broken that. I had broken her, and I hadn’t even known.

**This book is a standalone**

Holy. Fricken. Moly! 

I am bowing down to Ms. Glines right about now…

I think Tripp put Rush to shame and that takes a lot for me to say as I am so totally Rush obsessed. 

I was one of those adamant readers who were very anti Tripp. When I found out the cruel and evil twist in Woods book, I vowed there would be no way I would ever entertain the thought of reading about Tripp and Bethy. I was a Jase and Bethy fanatic; falling in love with the two of them rather quickly. I absolutely adored Jase, and it felt like a betrayal to him to read about his girl and his cousin. I did not care that she was Jase’s first; there was no justification in my book.

My resolve did not last long, between that gorgeous cover and my love for Bethy; I could not stay true to my declaration. My curiosity surrounding how Abbi was going to pull this story off without coming off callus to Jase’s memory consumed me. I needed to know where she was going to take this couple and how she was going to rectify such a cruel fate for a well-loved character. The open link on my page kept calling to me and it was not long before I found myself reading. 

Again, I must bow down to Ms. Glines. She made me eat every negative word I had to say on this book and subject.

That prologue and the pages to follow—holy f***! 

Tripp and Bethy’s reactions and emotions were so powerful and full of conviction. Their love vs their pain poured flawlessly off the pages. It was intriguing and hooked me from the very first line. After that prologue, there was no turning back or putting the book away for the night. I finished You Were Mine in one sitting. Individually these characters held their own charm. Tripp was absolutely heart melting and oh so swoon worthy and Bethy was beyond damaged and lost. Together they made one hell of an impact, Beth and Tripp came across loud and clear as enthralling, real, and believable. My connection with them came with a raw intensity that I have not felt matched in any of Abbi’s other book couples, not even Rush and Blaire. Abbi Glines made me feel Bethy and Tripp and who they were/are to each other. I felt their grit, allure, and command all the way down to my toes; everything about these two radiated through me. As I said earlier, this couple’s presence was so damn powerful; there was no telling here, the flashbacks between present and past was so visual. I adored seeing the younger versions of our H/h mixed together with their older versions. Every word, every sentence was an amazing buildup of foreplay to the fact that Beth and Tripp were meant to be the big one; I have absolutely no doubt about that. I was surprised when I found myself rooting and cheering for Tripp to gt the girl. I swooned so many times over these two it was not funny. And while I missed Jase something fierce, I knew Bethy was with the exact person her soul was meant to be with. I just wish Jase’s fate were different so we could experience him with his “big one,” but looking back, I imagine that girl was Bethy, and that is why Abbi chose to take the route she did. 

If you can get yourself past the sadness over the fate of Jase’s accident, then I think you will find that Tripp and Bethy are two characters who hold so much depth and are truly a match made in Heaven. I promise their undeniable love and chemistry will have you held in the palm of their hands. 

In my humble opinion, I think this may be Abbi’s best book. My only complaint was that it was way too short. I wanted much more of these characters.

Rosemary Beach Series on Goodreads 
Combination of smaller series Too Far series, the Perfection series, and the Chance series.

Series order as per Abbi's blog post.

1. Fallen Too Far (Rush & Blaire)
2. Never Too Far (Rush & Blaire)
3. Forever Too Far (Rush & Blaire)
4. Rush Too Far (Rush & Blaire)
5. Twisted Perfection (Woods & Della)
6. Simple Perfection (Woods & Della)
7. Take A Chance (Grant & Harlow)
8. One More Chance (Grant & Harlow)
9. You Were Mine (Tripp & Bethy)
10. Kiro's Emily (FREE novella)
11. When I’m Gone (Mase #1)
12. When You're Back (Mase #2) 
13. Title and characters TBA
14. Title TBA (Nan)

Abbi Glines is the New York Times, USA TODAY, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of the Rosemary Beach, Sea Breeze, Vincent Boys, and Existence series. A devoted booklover, Abbi lives with her family in Alabama.

She maintains a Twitter addiction at @AbbiGlines and can also be found at  Facebook.com/AbbiGlinesAuthor and AbbiGlines.com.