"Have you ever been in love, Emi?"
"I don't think so."
"Then this is a real shame," he tells me.
"What is?"
"You've never been in love. You don't want to be in love. How does one live their life without love?"
"So you were in love with that girl?
"No," he says. "I thought I was, but no."
"Then have you ever been in love?"
"I'm not sure," he answers and his eyes linger on mine just long enough to make my heart skip a beat."
"But I want to be."
Do you ever get stuck in a book you find it so hard to move on and get your act together? Seriously, don't feel bad because I feel it too. This book makes me think of warm mornings, pancakes and hot coffee. It's undeniably refreshing as it is tasteful. I just love how it's written! I love how the author's choice of words left me reeling, I love how everything had become insanely real all of a sudden I felt the elation give way to a small squirm of pleasure here and there as I worked my way out through the midst of proverbial drums and subtle variations of each structured sentence.
********
Without further ado, let me start with the main characters and get you trapped into their little "arty" world, and maybe lead you on, tease you a little, among other things.
"I want whatever won't hurt me. I want whatever leaves me whole, and keeps my faith in the belief that bad things don't happen to good people."
Emily Hennigan is a refreshing character to read about. She has a knack in graphic designing and dabbles a bit in painting. She has this reddish blonde hair that caught Nate's attention but her eyes are the first thing that he noticed that he feels instantly connected with her. She's feisty and yet absolutely charming. She's a pathological pessimist, and yet idealistic which I found a little obscure but I can relate to her in some ways, she has a good taste in music (e.g. Radiohead), it made me think of my teenage hipster days. Her consequential ideals about love and romance, some of it are relatable. She's a girl with so much passion, and hope, and dreams about life until she caught her father cheating, all of those romantic notions of love in her mind had become totally passé. She made a promise to herself that if she falls head-over-heels in love, it should only happen once.
"I think that love is greater than us all. Sometimes, it traps people, and holds them, frozen in time... for weeks, or months, even years."
Nathan Wilson is not your ordinary guy in a leather jacket and scuffed-up boots. While there's something admittedly sexy about him he's more than a pretty face, really. I found myself perfectly drawn to his character because he thinks and sees things differently because I think he has an artistic and creative mind. He's particularly keen on exquisite and intricate details just about anything and painting is his way of expressing himself. He smokes cigarettes constantly, he likes being alone, he prefers his own solitude ever since his father had died in a car accident months ago. At a young age, he realized that life is too fleeting you can barely hold it with your bare hands, let alone control it.
********
This is a nice prequel, a wonderful prelude to the Emi Lost & Found Series. It is like a prelude to a song, a kiss waiting to happen, there's a promise of things to come, a show of intent and longing. This book captured my heart in more ways than one. I admire the writing, the words, the flow of the story, it's too much I just can't put enough emphasis into it. I loved the feeling that came over me when I finished reading it, one that I've never experienced for a long time now. I connect with this book, with the characters, deeply and instantly, as if I have known them like they are my own to keep.
What I know about love, I know in detail, given the fact that I read a lot of books in contemporary romance genre but my view about the whole context is not that expansive. This book made me realize that none of us are good judges about love because sometimes we fall in love and then later on we don't. Love is a complex feeling, and yet a powerful one. You don't get to judge someone's feelings based on your own perspective.
I loved Emi and Nate's intense conversations, there's also a discourse between them, an intellectual connection I never think could be possible. I loved how they continuously inspire each other. I got a little carried away with their friendship that I couldn't help myself but wonder if they will end up together in the end or not. This book rocked me so powerfully I had deliberately stopped from reading for a few seconds and took a deep breath, letting the dawning truth arrive, filling me slowly and steadily. It was too much to take on board in one go. Nevertheless, I fell in love with the characters and their life's aspirations. I still do.
"I'd pray to whomever I needed to, but above all, I'd fight for her. Not today, but someday, I will fight for her. I'll play by her rules. I know that I need her. I think that I love her. I know what I have to do. When she's ready for love, I'll fight for her."
I just got my book order this month and was completely taken away, look, how gorgeous they are. They're all lovely! I received my signed copy along with the swag from Lori few weeks ago, and a simple greeting isn't enough to express my feels, you guys! This is how the first page of my signed copy looks like:
"I paint. A prodigy could do that abstract thing at six. I had to live and die first."
Soundtrack of the day: No One Like You by Best Coast
No comments:
Post a Comment