*I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review*
A new love and a new life.
Drake left Chicago with little more than the clothes on his back to be with his girlfriend Lacey. Though he has no regrets, he sometimes wonders if his time spent in Paris has put his life on hold. He’s overworked and underpaid at his dead-end job, and his employer sees him as expendable. His bright light at the end of the day is Lacey, but he finds himself slowly falling into the shadow of her newly-acquired fame. The city of love has found their new starlet in Lacey, but Drake is simply the man by her side.
With all good things there comes a price.
Lacey has been living the dream. She arrived in Paris with nothing but heartache and loss. Now, she’s the rising star of the city’s newest opera and dating the man of her dreams. When her performance contract is extended, she must decide if her new life of glitz and glam is what’s best for a future with the man she loves—or if it’s just what’s best for her.
Paris brought Drake and Lacey together. But when their hopes for the future begin taking them in different directions, they must find a common ground or risk a line dividing them that may prove to be insurmountable.
Review
The Dividing Line starts a couple of months after The Space Between ended. Lacey and Drake are living in Paris and while she is living her dream, he has managed to find a temporary job. When the opera production comes to an end Drake was expecting for them to go back home, not having the production extended and Lacey seemingly want to stay in the city of love indefinitely. Drake has left everything behind for Lacey and he loves her so much, but Paris is her dream not his. Honestly he doesn't really know what he wants to do with his life at the moment. While he is very supportive of her dream, he is kind of sacrificing his own happiness for hers.
The roles now are kind of reversed and that doesn't sit well with Drake. Lacey is making all the money and is quite the popular star, meanwhile he's working at this dead-end job. This all puts a strain on their relationship, realising that Lacey should stay in Paris for her dream and that Drake will be moving back to Chicago, figuring out his. Of course having a couple of thousand miles between them, tests the relationship even further.
I really liked Lacey in the first novel, though here I was quite surprised by her and not in a good way. The fact that she got to live her dream, is great and I loved that, but to me she seemed to be so focused on herself she didn't really pay that much attention to Drake's feelings. He did give up everything to be with her, but like I said, Paris isn't his dream. Towards the end of the novel the old Lacey came back more. That strength she has popped up and with the things she goes through, it only grew stronger.
Drake gave up so much and I felt kind of sad that he wasn't going after his dream. I love that he is so supportive of Lacey, but not for the sake of his own happiness. So when he is back in Chicago, he starts living his own life, even getting more interested in his Korean heritage. Which makes for a very interesting twist and I will start reading that novella after I finish writing this review.
Once again the multiracial aspect really comes forward. It is not something I'm very familiar with and I myself never make any assumptions about that. The reactions and looks Drake and Lacey get from strangers and sometimes even friends, really took me by surprise. Victoria H. Smith does it in a very subtle way, giving it more credibility.
The reason why the book isn't getting four stars is because of how predictable the story often is. Which doesn't mean it was any less fun to read though. Lacey and Drake are two amazing characters, who fight against all odds to be together. The struggles they go through are very real and possible and the love they have for each other will make you swoon.
Space - Reading order and purchase links
Heart & Seoul: Smashwords (FREE!!!)
The Author
Victoria H. Smith has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. She puts it to good use writing romance all day. She resides in the Midwest with her Macbook on her lap and a cornfield to her right. She often draws inspiration for her stories from her own life experiences, and the twenty-something characters she writes give her an earful about it.In her free time, she enjoys extreme couponing, blogging, reading, and sending off a few tweets on Twitter when she can. She writes new adult fiction romance in the sub-genres of science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary, but really, anywhere her pen takes her she goes.
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**GIVEAWAY**
Glad you got a positive review Victoria. Sadly sometimes parts of romance novels can be predictable but what a writer needs to ensure is ensure even then to tell a great story and clearly Vic did a really good job.
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