Because a book that can rip your heart apart and build it back is good too.
Song Vibe Check:
"Slow Motion" By: Charlotte Lawrence
"Without You" By: Lana Del Rey
"You" By: ILIRA
When I first encountered this book on Netgalley, there was something about the cover and the summary of a love so strong, so intense it knocked you off your feet as the protagonist grapples with heartbreak, grief, mental health, etc. Frankly, I am trying to find another book that can be as emotionally visceral as Kristin Dwyer's Some Mistakes Were Made was because that book DESTROYED my heart and built it back up again somehow. It was a wild ride, and so... this could be it.
But also broken hearts can be discussed and read about so many times and every narrative will have something different to present. It hurts. It burns us on the inside, gets us angry and yet, there are so emotions that can't always be expressed on paper. Many may try to do it and some books make the reader think "ah, yes... this is similar to what I can relate to" but there are few books out there that can REALLY get into the core of the feeling of heartbreak, of losing oneself for someone else... of re-discovering yourself when everything seems to just be gone.
It was an unexpected ride to say the least. So, here we go.
Short Summary: When the knockoff of Juliet tries to poof herself out of existence after losing her "true love", she sets out to rediscover the lost parts of herself and to accept that the ugly parts can be beautiful too.
Long summary: When Adelaide Williams ends up in a hospital for trying to kill herself, she was supposed to have succeeded. After all, a life without Rory wasn't one worth living even if her life was just starting to reach the pinnacle of her career. Her mother was celebrating her birthday. She was starting in a new apartment. There were good things ahead of her.
But, with a broken heart, those things seem to not matter anymore.
Before the attempt, before her heart shattered, she was just a young woman falling in love with a guy that stepped out of storybooks, that captured all the good, all the beautiful, all the ideals of a woman, all in the shape of Rory. The guy who may not be great at texting back, but when he was around, he'd make her feel like the sun. Rory, the one who made her wish for a future with him, her true love.
Rory, the one responsible for leaving a catastrophe in his wake after an unexpected tragedy. And her life will never be the same once they meet.
Reading this book was an absolute emotional rollercoaster, but the story was so captivating and how she met Rory along with all the coincidences of how their paths kept crossing without the other realizing it was so powerful it felt like it was a whole star-crossed pairing. Of course, it leans more towards the tragic side and how a love story that may seem magical and causes the butterflies in your stomach to rise can just...
Go downhill.
Either way, it is one of those books that will stick with me as the year continues and as I continue listing those books that I enjoyed as I narrow it to my favorites of 2023.
Overall: 4/5 stars
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