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Review
“Half agony, half hope.
Half pain, half ecstasy.
Half grief, half joy.
Half my downfall, half my saviour.”
5 heartbreakingly beautiful stars
Mia Sheridan does it again! OMG, this woman takes me on an emotional ride with every single one of her books, and I seriously cannot get enough of it! I love her stories, I love her writing, and with this book she tells an amazing story of two incredible teenagers in an impossible situation who find something exceptionally special together, and I loved every minute of it.
Kyland and Tenleigh are both 17 years old. They live in a small hick town in the mountains of Kentucky where the whole community lives in devastating poverty. Constantly hungry and with few possessions other than the roof over their heads, every day is a struggle. Although they go to the same high school, they have never actually met or had a conversation. Kyland lives an intentionally solitary life, although is never short of female company when he wants it, and Tenleigh lives in a trailer with her sister and their mentally unwell mother, with no real friends. They are both dreaming of a life of so much more, and working hard towards winning a coveted scholarship awarded to one student each year by the local mining company that will get them out of their dead-end town, and into a future that has possibilities.
When they meet, they share an understanding of each other’s situations and manage to bring a ray of sunshine into their otherwise dull lives and quite unexpectedly, attraction starts to bloom. But with both of them planning to leave town and Kyland, in particular, determined to get out and never look back, he adamantly refuses to get involved.
“I’m going to leave here, Tenleigh. Nothing is going to stop me. Not you, not anything. Not anyone. Do you hear me?” His voice sounded strained, and his eyes were heated and angry.
… “I’m leaving this place behind when I go. Everything about this place. Even you.”
They are both so strong to have survived what they have, and to have fought so hard for something better, but they are both charmingly and endearingly innocent when it comes to love. They fight so hard to avoid attachment, but they can’t help it, and every little interaction between them is brimming with feels.
“Are we friends again?” he asked, grinning.
I put my hand on his cheek and said very seriously. “We were never just friends.”
He sobered. “I know.”
I love this relationship! Even though they have nothing, they give each other so much. They open up to each other, they are there for each other, they laugh and have fun, and the whole time, the feelings between them become more and more intense. Their romance progresses naturally and is sweet with some hot-yet-heartfelt sexy time, and it develops into an absolutely beautiful love story.
“You drive me crazy,” he murmured. He brushed his lips across mine lightly and I shivered. “And you make the darkness go away. You bring me some kind of peace.” He let out a harsh exhale of breath and I drank it in. “I don’t know what to do with it.”
“Take it, Ky,” I whispered. “You deserve some peace. Let me give it to you.”
But the whole story is building towards the inevitable future where one or both of them will be leaving town and OMG, the emotions are intense! I read with an increasing sense of fear, dreading what was to come. It’s an impossible situation and my heart ached for them as I tried to figure out how they were going to get their happy ending.
“Tenleigh,” Kyland said, his voice gravelly. “Please don’t cry.” He stepped toward me. “Anything but that. Please.” He sounded desperate. “This is what I’ve been trying to avoid. This. I don’t want either of us to feel this way.
… “Well, I do! And you don’t get to take that from me. I love you, and you don’t get to say anything about it. The love I feel for you is mine. And I’ll feel it if I want to.”“Tenleigh,” he repeated, his voice cracking. “Don’t love me. Please don’t love me. I can’t stay here. Don’t love me.”
“It’s too late.” I shook my head back and forth in defiance. “It’s too late. I’m not asking you to stay, but it’s too late for me not to love you.”
My heart was pounding through the entire second half of the book, and even though I had made predictions on what would happen, I was still surprised by aspects of it. It’s both beautiful and devastating, and my heart ached for all that they endured. And though it’s not always easy reading, and I was brought to tears more than once, their love story is absolutely amazing and being the romance junkie that I am, I revelled in it!
“I fell so damn hard, Tenleigh. Standing right at this bookshelf. I gave you my heart and you weren’t even in the room.”
“I’ve messed up so badly, hurt you so much, but – I never did take my heart back. And, God … someday I hope you might want it again.”
I love Mia Sheridan’s writing, and she did a beautiful job with this one. The story is written in dual POV, although is mainly told from Tenleigh’s perspective, and I love the way she gets us right to the heart of the characters. I could understand their feelings and the motivation behind their actions, and I felt so deeply for both of them. They are both such amazing characters, and I loved their story.
She also does a wonderful job delving into the devastation of poverty, but she does it in a way that shows us the bleakness and hopelessness that Tenleigh, Kyland and the others in their town experience, but includes moments that are really special as well – Tenleigh’s neighbour in particular was fantastic! I thought it was really well balanced, and their situation, and the town itself becomes such an important part of the story.
I knew better than anyone that the things you did to survive were the most personal of all – the fight to live would humble you in ways you didn’t ever want anyone else to know about. Because sometimes it was unspeakable. Sometimes it was ugly and shameful and beautiful and courageous all at once.
This is such an amazing read! I was completely enthralled in the book from start to finish and read it in a day, unable to put it down for too long. It has all the feels, and I know I’ll be rereading it over and over in the future.
I loved it – 5 stars.
Check out our Author Spotlight on Mia Sheridan.