A powerful and deeply emotional story *sigh*
The writing is honest, it feels a bit like peeling the skin over your soul and leaving the wound open for everyone to see.
The book has some silly, happy moments to soften the ache, but also dark and twisted moments that can both leave you shaking your head with disapproval and make you shudder deeply with regret.
The story is powerful in a “between black and white” kind of way.
It’s the grieve of a mother for all the unborn babies she could have had, but “lost” every month – each time feeling the loss like a knife buried right in the middle of her heart.
It’s the crumbling of a relationship that barely got the chance to bloom before being crushed under the weight of lost dreams, broken hearts and empty kisses.
It’s the deepest loneliness of someone stuck in a desire, in an emotional limbo, in a moment suspended in time while the world keeps spinning and everyone else find new wishes to follow and try to make come true.
It’s the pain of interacting with people who don’t know that words cut deep; the despair of watching others have so easily the things you’d die to have.
Wanting to be a mother and not being able to must be the loneliest experience in the entire universe *sigh * I can’t possible know how it actually feels (we decided to have a kid and he seemed to shout “I volunteer as a tribute!” before we even finished having the thought), but I CAN imagine and this story seems so authentic in my eyes, it breaks my heart.
It’s funny how this looks like the author’s least popular book, but if you ask me it’s her best work so far. The writing has improved, the book is filled with so many quote worthy paragraphs, the characters are deeply flawed but well defined, their actions are frustrating, I admit, but brutally honest.. don’t get me wrong, I disagree with so many things they did, but deep down my heart tells me that this story is as realistic as it can get.
By the way, let’s take a moment and appreciate what a perfect guy this Graham is at times, show
It’s sad… They fall in love fast and hard, have one year of pure happiness followed by so many more filled with longing, ache, sadness, despair and loneliness.
And this is what I like about the book, you know, the questions it raises… Can such a small perfect withstand so many imperfections? Is love enough? Can the distance between hearts be ever filled again? Can people forgive one another for hoping and helplessly losing hope; for loving a dream more than each other? Can broken hearts be mended when the shards still cut so deep inside?…
As a side note, I don’t understand why no-one (in the book that is) seemed to consider the fact that the main character was struggling with some sort of depression. If things didn’t turn out the way they did, how long it would have been until she lost herself and her mind, overwhelmed by all those dark thoughts and feelings?
Oh, it’s been so long since I read an actual book (I fell in the rabit hole of fan fictions ):
I still wait for the email with your reviews and I really like to read this one, especially because i have a love/hate relationship with Colleen but this book sounds really good!
I wasn’t interested in her books before, but these more mature themes got my interest.
The book is a bit slow and repetitive, but it was beautiful in a sad kind of way. It shows that happy endings are sometimes things you need to work for, things you might lose sight of for a while, it shows sides of relationships that are hidden to most people and it makes you think of many things.
Even though my perspective on things might have been different at times, even though my life has had a completely different path to follow, I could connect with the characters and be sad for them and to hold hope for them.
I can’t tell for sure, but it seemed different than what I’ve heard about this author’s books – not necessarily in a good or bad way, just different. 😉