The Carolinas - Present Day

Sabrina Kelly has never gotten over her first love, Dan McMullen, who didn’t mind cheating on her every chance he could get. His explanation for his playing ways was his belief that there are women you just have sex with for fun and others you end up marrying. He tells Sabrina that she is one of the women you end up marrying. Sabrina dumps him after two years of being together, but after ten years, she still remembers the good times they had together and how she almost gave him her virginity.

But the past is about to meet the present as Sabrina, now a physical therapist, must aid in Dan’s therapy after an injury he sustained playing professional baseball for the Caroline Waves. Sabrina does not want to see Dan because she assumes he is still a dog. But, one word from him and Sabrina’s reputation will grow and she will have the chance to open her own practice.

Sabrina must reside under the same roof as Dan, and the moment they see each other, the sparks fly. She is also surprised to see that Dan has a young daughter, Lexi, but no Mrs. McMullen. Even though Dan welcomes Sabrina back into his life, she acts as if this is a job and nothing more. So what if he has an adorable daughter from another woman and still hangs out with bimbos and his old friends who like to party and play the field?

Dan needs Sabrina’s forgiveness and an opportunity to explain why he acted the way he did all those years ago and why he wants a second chance. Sabrina has to decide if Dan has changed his ways or if he will hurt her a second time with his cheating and false talk of love.

I am not a fan when the main male character cheats on the heroine, and Dan admits this right from the beginning. Of course, this was when they both were in college and mistakes were made, so I was more understanding. Tina Gallagher takes a touchy subject and treats it with maturity and understanding. Dan is the first to admit how wrong he was over something that happened ten years ago. He has changed for the better and shows his responsibility by the way he communicates with Sabrina and the way he treats his daughter, Lexi.

Because everything is told from Sabrina’s first person point of view, you get a good sense of her feelings and emotions. This is one woman who is not ready to move on, but through the power of love and forgiveness she realizes that she needs Dan in her life. Dan decides that he needs a very special woman for him to marry and to forget every other woman he has ever been with.

AND THERE ARE GIRLS YOU MARRY is a very true-to-life story about the memories of the past and how they can eat you alive. Tina Gallagher takes Sabrina and Dan on a hard journey of enlightenment that I found to be very telling and beautiful.

Kate Garrabrant