e-ARC, 201 pages
Release Date: July 7, 2015Published by: PoppyStand-aloneSource: Netgalley (This book was given to me by the publishers and Netgalley. This in no way shaped my opinion on the book. A huge thank you to both the publisher and Netgalley.)For fans of: Contemporary, Romance, Military, Grief, Chick-lit, YAPerfect for fans of Nicholas Sparks, this breathtaking story of love and loss is guaranteed to break your heart and sweep you off your feet.
When high school senior Kelsey’s identical twin sister, Michelle, dies in a car crash, Kelsey is left without her other half. The only person who doesn’t know about the tragedy is Michelle’s boyfriend, Peter, recently deployed to Afghanistan. But when Kelsey finally connects with Peter online, she can’t bear to tell him the truth. Active duty has taken its toll, and Peter, thinking that Kelsey is Michelle, says that seeing her is the one thing keeping him alive. Caught up in the moment, Kelsey has no choice: She lets Peter believe that she is her sister.
As Kelsey keeps up the act, she crosses the line from pretend to real. Soon, Kelsey can’t deny that she’s falling, hard, for the one boy she shouldn’t want.
*MY THOUGHTS*
“She was left alone in her sister’s room with the sound of absolutely nothing, which was different than silence. It was the sound of being covered with a blanket, of falling with no end, of being very deep you can’t see a way out.”
25%
Michelle and Kelsey are twins, but they’re not as close as they used to be. They’ve grown up and went their separate ways, but still have a pretty strong connection. Suddenly, Michelle is taken away and Kelsey is desperate to still feel close to her. Desperate enough to talk to Michelle’s boyfriend Peter who is deployed to Afghanistan and doesn’t know what happened to Michelle. But then Kelsey gets swept away in the moment and she assumes Michelle’s identity to Peter.
“She was slowly finding out you don’t just get to miss the parts you liked about someone who you liked about someone who had died. You had to feel the whole weight of them, tugging at you.”
26%
The writing style in the book is the first thing that made me side eye it. I almost DNF’ed it from that alone, but there was still promise of a good story from what was mentioned in the plot. But then there was the fact that there was no emotion in the story. Although this was such a tough subject, the writing style always found a way to make it into a smaller situation. She just seemed to be playing it off as something that wasn’t really heavy.
“Everything you say to me about home, is, like, nourishing. You get it? I’s like each memory is a piece of food that I can eat. […] It makes me stronger.”
36%
Another thing I wasn’t too fond of was the characters. After a twin dies, the other twin I would think would be under lock and key. Her mom and dad went through their own grief, but they never realized that they still had another kid to care for. This is how this entire thing came to play. I get it, without them acting that way, the story probably wouldn’t have happened, but come on. This book depicted Kelsey just doing anything she wanted. It just didn’t seem realistic.
“Not all ghosts are meant to make you scared.”
89%
The only thing that kept me reading this was thinking there would be a part that wrenched my heart out. I loved those types of stories and I was hoping that it became one in the end. But as the end came closer, I was more embarrassed for her than sad for her. I was embarrassed that she gave up all this for a situation that was doomed from the start. In short, although this book is my favorite genre, it just wasn’t for me.
