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A Forty Year Kiss by Nickolas Butler
After more than 40 years apart, Charlie and Vivian reconnect. What starts as a simple catch-up quickly turns into something more. The pull between them? Still there. Strong as ever.
Back when they were married, Charlie had a temper—not violent, but enough to drive a wedge between them. He drank too much, made too many mistakes. But time has softened him. He still enjoys a drink, but he’s no longer the man who let alcohol control him. Vivian, on the other hand, has grown into the best version of herself. After two marriages, she’s standing on her own, living with one of her daughters and helping raise her grandkids. Life is full, but not always easy.
As they spend more time together, old wounds and past regrets come up—but so does something else: the chance to do things differently. Charlie forms a bond with Vivian’s daughter and granddaughters, wanting to make life easier for her now that he actually can. But Vivian? She’s not looking for a man to save her, especially not him. She’s spent too long standing on her own two feet to start leaning now.
Then, in the final stretch, some big revelations shake things up. But instead of tearing them apart, these challenges force them to prove whether they can truly move forward together.
At its core, A Forty-Year Kiss is a story about second chances, love that lingers, and what it means to find your way back to someone—not as the person you were, but as the person you’ve become.
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Spice Level: N/A
Blurb:
From the critically acclaimed author of Shotgun Lovesongs comes an exquisitely written, small-town story about one couple’s hard-won second chance at love, forty years after their divorce.
Charlie and Vivian parted ways after just four years of marriage. Too many problems, too many struggles, even though the love didn’t quite die. When Charlie returns to Wisconsin forty years later, he’s not sure what he’ll find. He is sure of one thing — he must try to reconnect with Vivian to pick up the broken pieces of their past. But forty years is a long time. It’s forty years of other relationships, forty years of building new lives, and forty years of long-held regrets, mistakes, and painful secrets.
A brave and triumphant exploration of redemption and sunset triumph, A Forty Year Kiss is a once-in-a-lifetime love story, written with dazzling lyricism and remarkable clarity of spirit, from a celebrated author at the top of his game. It’s a literary valentine that promises to be a love story for the ages.
A Forty Year Kiss by Nickolas Butler
Published on February 4, 2025
Genres: Romance/Lit Fiction
Pages: 352
Rating: 4 Stars
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