My Own Bookshelves

To be honest, this book was gifted to me by a book friend. She absolutely loved it and thought I would enjoy it. In the vein of review honest, based on the blurb I would have never one clicked for myself. But, never to turn a trusted book friends recommendation to the pile of every growing "I'll get around to reading it" pile and based on the positive reviews I saw, I gave it a read. This is going to be one of those: in defense of rather than fangirling love reviews I do. In the plethora of 5 star reviews from my book friends, I feel like I'm swimming in the sea of "not for me" and need to defend my (lack of) stars. I'll try this without spoilers...

The main subject matter deals with depression, suicide and grief. This is my real life. When I read, I choose to escape - not rehash my day to day. In addition working in mental health treatment, I struggled with some of the storyline. Let's end that here and just chalk this up to separating reality from fiction is what I prefer.

It's got some romance and the introduction of a triangle with the addition of Casey. Or not? I felt that Casey was treated as a secondary but acted like primary and maybe he's there to muddy the feelings waters or not. I dunno. I felt like Casey grew important but rather overshadowed and confused his place for me in Luke and Callie's character arcs.

Lastly, I lost interest at the last third of the novel. The author is a talented musician who shares this gift with both the music and book world. Her love of music spilled over into this novel. Although interesting at first, it got too technical for me to enjoy. I started to skim...which is a sign for me that the book has lost my interest.

Now, let's end on a positive: What did I enjoy? I like watching Luke and Callie's unlikely friendship unfold at the diner of all places. Watching Callie not take no for an answer and peel back Luke's layers was interesting to watch.

What do I think of her writing and storytelling skills? As this is a debut in contemporary fiction genre, she shows promise. Not all debut authors 'hit a home run' first time up to bat with everyone. Would I be willing to read Ms. Santos again if the novel's blurb is something I know I'll enjoy? Yes of course. She has talent for storytelling. Just this one wasn't necessarily for me. So chalk up the star rating based on my personal preference and not where the author was lacking.

So recommendation? That's the hard part. If the world had 'do overs', I wouldn't pick it nor will I re-read it. But go out and read some of the 5 and 4 star reviews. Weigh them carefully and decide if this story is for you.