Review: Bound by Memphis by Jennifer Hayes

Book Summary
Loosely inspired by true events, Bound by Memphis, by Jennifer J. Hayes, is the steamy, sultry romantic story of Jasmine Henderson, a successful public relations consultant who has everything she's wanted in life... Well, just about everything. Fourteen years ago, while planning her wedding to Melvin Brown, better known as MB, she was left at the altar with no explanations. Although she assumed she'd never move on, she ended up meeting and marrying the love of her life, Chauncey M. Henderson, and having a child, years later. 

It's when Jasmine's latest work venture places her in the city that holds memories to her past, Memphis, MB resurfaces when he learns she's back in town. Although Jasmine loves her husband, her son, and her life, she can't deny the passion and chemistry that she once shared with MB. 

Briefly away from her family and home in Dallas, Jasmine is left alone to deal with these emotions and unresolved questions of MB. She goes looking for answers to why he walked away. When forced to confront painful memories she awakens something she thought died long ago. In this novel, Jasmine discovers herself as she explores the depths of her former love versus her current life, and learns "Love doesn't change, people change." Bound by Memphis takes you on an insightful journey of love, joy, and pain, and gives a deeper meaning to why sometimes "you have to lose happiness to find it again."

Review
Bound by Memphis, is one of those books that I am shouting from the rooftop telling you to read. I'm not alone, when I say this book is one of the best books that I've read this year. Loosely based on events inspired from people in her own life, she gives the readers a story that will have you emotionally invested in the characters and their journey making you unable to stop reading. It is such a testament to her ability as a storyteller because you feel with her characters and for them. Their lives, whether you have been there or not, grabs a part of you from within and speaks to the part of you that draws from your own experience.

Have you ever loved someone who left you broken, and in the mending process, your heart battles your mind with that one what if. What if I saw that person again, would anything change? Could I get the answers and the closure that I never got? Even though time will bury the pain, eventually moving on and hoping to find happiness, there is always a place where that experience is bottled with every emotion that is attached with that person. So, what if love finds you and you meet the person of your dreams and then one day, you see that person? Do you open the door, or leave it shut?

Let me introduce Jasmine...

Jasmine, is the type of woman that many would envy. After moving on from being dumped by her then fiancé, the one man she truly fell in love with, she was able to build her life again getting the man of her dreams, a family and the perfect career. As much as she loved her husband and her life, there was something that began to stir within her reminding her of the man who broke her heart. This unexplainable desire led to initiating correspondence through Facebook which should've told her that would be a bad idea. First of all, let's put things in perpective. He was the man who she was "he's the one" type of love with. He dumped her with no closure, answers but a year to the date ended up marrying someone else and having a baby. That is the type of dude she was dealing with. Just so you get a good picture that he isn't anyone's dream guy. With that said, knowing that her office would be opening a place in his town, somehow their paths cross and once those doors go open, there is no turning back...

Without giving away too much of the book, this is one that will definitely be on your mind but have to experience the story come full circle for yourself. For many who have faced similiar, whose experience may resurface along with Jasmine, it might help you come to terms with "you have to lose happiness to find happiness" and show you what you have now is where you are supposed to be.  You will find moments that make you laugh, happy, cry or may find yourself yelling at the book but it is all worth the read. I highly recommend adding this to your reading list.

Reviewed by Michelle Bowles

Book Information
Publisher: Outskirts Press, Inc.
Publication date: 8/14/2013
Pages: 154