The Pieces of You and Me
by Rachel Burton
They say time can heal all wounds…
When Jess and Rupert parted ways, it was the end of a great love story that might have been. Now ten years later, the very different paths they have taken in life will bring them back together for a chance meeting.
But with so much left unsaid about the breakup neither ever recovered from and with each keeping their own devastating secrets, will they finally be able to make the fractured pieces of their love for one another whole again?
My Rating:
Favorite Quotes:
Gem, I know you’re over the moon about getting married and I’m
delighted for you, but it doesn’t mean that you get to matchmake. Even if I am
the last one left on the shelf.
We were born twelve hours apart – you at six p.m. and me the
following morning – in the same hospital, our mothers recovering in beds next
to each other… You were early and I was late, which was the pattern that
continued for the rest of our lives. You were always waiting for me to catch up
with you.
Too young to be here, too old not to be. We’d always done
terrifying things together. It felt like the first time we jumped into the deep
end of the swimming pool, hand in hand, as children.
Looking back on it now with the advantage of age and hindsight I
realised how foolish I’d been, how foolish we are when we’re young. Maybe that
alone was reason enough for us to have gone our separate ways. I had been too
young to understand nuanced grey areas of thought back then, too young to
understand discretion and diplomacy and how sometimes we have to say things we
don’t really mean just to keep the peace.
My Review:
One of my favorite tropes
just so happens to be second-chances, and this couple was more than deserving
of a rekindled relationship as they had each been living a rather miserable
half-life while a decade apart. Serious
health and family issues and tendencies to live too deeply inside their own
heads further compounded their pressures and littered their path with
landmines. This could easily have been
a maudlin tale but Ms. Burton craftily shaped and paced her endearing flawed
yet stubborn characters’ insights, memories, and encounters to circumvent the
reader falling into the pit of despair.
While the narrative was
often melancholy and angsty - which typically has me twitching and sighing in
agony – I am absolutely astounded to report that I didn’t seem to mind. Ms. Burton may well have deployed some sort
of magical word voodoo on her book file as, despite the angst, the tender
quality and ingenious tempo of her superb storytelling kept me fully engaged,
deeply invested, and intensely curious about their slowly unraveling and
intriguing story. Contemplating this
surprising and momentous phenomenon leaves me rather astonished and blinking in
amazement. Such a sly wordsmith
deserves a five-star rating for that alone.
Empress DJ
About The Author
Rachel spent most of her life between Cambridge and London but now lives in Yorkshire with her fiance and their three cats. The main loves of her life are The Beatles and very tall romantic heroes.
Find her on Twitter & Instagram or follow her blog at rachelburtonwrites.com. She is always happy to talk books, writing, music, cats and how the weather in Yorkshire is rubbish. She is mostly dreaming of her next holiday.
No comments:
Post a Comment