Kate McCarthy has written a wonderfully poignant love story about the endurance and power of love all wrapped up with the beauty and heartbreak that’s bound to happen when you’re willing to open your…

[Barbara Ann RS]

Kate McCarthy has written a wonderfully poignant love story about the endurance and power of love all wrapped up with the beauty and heartbreak that’s bound to happen when you’re willing to open your heart and love someone with every fiber of your being.  This novel is about Ryan and Fin’s arduous journey to find their way to one another despite the distance, the sacrifices, and the travesty of war. It’s an amazing, unforgettable story, and I’m not sure my review will do this book justice.

The narrative sequence McCarthy uses to tell the story is effective. The Prologue is set in the present, and it prepares you for some of the distress and sorrow that will follow. The question, however, is just how much tragedy these characters will have to bear before the end. The narrative then moves to a flashback that takes readers all the way back to the childhood of Fin, her brother, Jake, and his best friend, Ryan, so we can understand the depth of their friendship, loyalty, and love growing up together and then carries us through the years into their adulthood before bringing us full circle and back to the present in the Epilogue.  After you finish reading the Prologue, take a short break to grab the tissues before you continue. I wish I’d done this since I’m not a pretty crier.

I don’t want to give too much away about the plot because I want you to have the same opportunity to fully experience the angst, the pain, the bliss, and the fierce passion that brings the story to life.  It’s so easy to love Ryan, Fin, and their close family and friends. Fin is just a bright ball of sunshine with a huge heart and so much love to give. The fact that she’s clumsy like I am is just one more aspect that endears her to me. Ryan is a good, honorable man but also one who is deeply wounded and filled with so much grief that he can’t move forward because he lets his past continue to dictate his life. Just like Fin, there are so many moments I wanted to just wrap my arms around him and tell him that he is worthy and deserving of the love and happiness that he continues to deny himself. Unfortunately, it’s a realization he will have to come to all on his own.  And Jake, well, Jake is one of those people who brightens the lives of everyone around him and he is unforgettable.

McCarthy’s beautifully written soul-bearing prose left me weepy-eyed but also emotionally satisfied. I really went to town with my highlighter because there are so many memorable passages. Here are some of my favorites:

Ryan to Fin:

“I have a thick skin, baby, he told her, his wide shoulders crowding her back against the cool tiles, “but you’re under it. You’re buried in there so deep it’s like I was born with you in my soul.”…”When I’m near you I’m consumed by you-your smile, your eyes, your heart. Even though we’ve never been together, you’ve always been mine, and even I never get to keep you, you’ll still be mine.”

“I want to say I love you too, but it doesn’t seem enough.”

With a shaky hand, she brushed away the silking strands of hair that caressed his forehead. “Say it anyway,” she whispered.

“I love you, Fin. I’ve always loved you. Right from the moment you walked up those steps at school, you tripped your way right into my heart. I won’t ever stop. I’ll love you longer than the stars that live in the sky.”

“Ryan pulled her around the table and into the circle of his arms. “Every piece of me is in here.” He placed his palm flat on her chest, feeling her heart beat hard and steady beneath his fingers. He closed his eyes briefly at the beauty of it. “My breath, my heart, my life. I won’t ever leave you if you keep that safe inside of you.”

However, even during their peaceful, happy moments together, Fin continues to doubt whether she will ever be enough for him:

“What if love wasn’t enough for them? Would it heal the deep lacerations life had placed on his heart, or would he always be so completely broken that he would never fully be hers?”

Rachael is a wonderful friend who is always there for Fin and even when Fin thinks Ryan will always belong to the army instead of her, Rachael sets her straight:

 “You’re his heart. You. That’s his sacrifice for whatever demons he’s carrying around inside him. But he needs to wake up and realize that it doesn’t matter where he is, or what he does, you’ll still make being together work, because both of you share something that is so far beyond love it won’t ever die.”

 Bravo, Ms. McCarthy for writing a powerful, moving love story that is nothing short of beautiful.

 I received a copy of this book from the author for an honest review.

Link to Review

http://sunmountainreviews.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/blog-tour-review...