There's a drawer I never open. It holds a picture I never look at. It reminds me of a day I hate to remember, but I'll never forget.

I'd give anything to be like the other girls on campus. Going to parties, flirting with boys, planning for a future. But that's not me. And hasn't been since the day my parents died. The only thing that got me through was Griffin. Even though I didn't have my family, I always had him. Only, now I'm not so sure I do.

It's not just the eleven hundred miles separating us now that I'm at college. Or his band finally taking off, and all the gigs and girls suddenly demanding his time. It's as if everything is different-the way we talk, the way we text . . . the way he looks at me and the way those looks make me feel.

Griffin has been the only good thing in my life since that horrific day. But I can feel our friendship slipping away-and I'm terrified of what will be left in its place . . .

Tracy’s review of Across the Distance by Marie Meyer

Jillian and Griffin have been friends since they were young children. Jillian’s parents died and her sister blamed her for their deaths. Her sister Jennifer has been nothing but antagonistic since that time and it’s been years.  Jillian and Griffin have always been there for each other and they’ve never really been apart. Jillian, however, is now off to design college 1,000 miles away and neither is handling it all that well.

Jillian has also had a crush on Griffin for a few years but when she tried to kiss him the year before he pushed her away and though it hurt to not express her true feelings about Griffin, she decided that his friendship was more important.

When Jillian gets to college she’s a bit in over her head. She feels like she’s failing and being so far away from Griffin isn’t helping. She’s always leaned on him and now she doesn’t even talk to him all that often as his band has finally made it and they’re hitting the big time with a record deal. Jillian feels alone and isn’t sure she can handle life all that well. She considers retreating to her old self by cutting but manages to hold it together. When Griffin finally admits his feelings for Jillian life definitely takes a turn for the better.

Across the Distance is a good friends to lovers story. It had some really great elements in it and the writing was done well and kept me reading.

The problem I had with AtD is that none of the different parts of the story ever felt completely fleshed out. The story is told in 1^st person POV and that stopped us from getting to know Griffin well or hearing his side of their relationship. We did see his caring for Jillian but there was too much of the unexplained. For example: Jillian hears less and less from Griffin when he gets into talks about his record deal but when asked he just said they were busy. If he cared for her as much as he stated then A) That should have never happened and B) I most assuredly needed a better explanation that “I’m busy.” The rest of the parts of the story didn’t ever feel complete to me either. It seemed that we’d start to get into things but then they would just end without complete conclusion. She was struggling in school and we got to see how that was going but then it ended without the reader feeling like she really got her feet under her. She was considering cutting but then talked to her therapist but even that was just mentioned and not delved into too deeply. IDK I think I would have liked to have seen her having fewer issues with more conclusions to those issues.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

This title is available from Forever Yours. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.