{"id":3287,"date":"2015-03-24T08:42:45","date_gmt":"2015-03-24T15:42:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=3287"},"modified":"2018-02-06T19:13:29","modified_gmt":"2018-02-07T00:13:29","slug":"review-the-five-stages-of-falling-in-love-by-rachel-higginson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapistbookblog.com\/?p=3287","title":{"rendered":"Review: The Five Stages of Falling in Love by Rachel Higginson"},"content":{"rendered":"

Buy: Kindle Ebook<\/a>\u00a0 |\u00a0\u00a0Paperback<\/a>\u00a0 | Audio<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Review<\/strong><\/h4>\n

4.5 stars<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a heartachingly beautiful story of a woman who has lost the love of her life and been left alone to raise their four young children. And in heartbreaking, sweet, and sometimes funny, detail, we get to journey with her through her grief, and her slow recovery as she learns to live again.<\/p>\n

The prologue of this book introduces us to Liz and Grady together, and just from those few short pages, the incredible love between them is evident, and I was in tears as they said their final goodbyes. The story then picks up six months later with Liz lost in world without Grady. She is absolutely broken by her grief and struggling to hold her life together.<\/p>\n

I could hear the kids cry out for me from the back, but my grief had consumed me by now. I was useless. I was an empty shell. I was pathetic and helpless and so utterly lost I didn\u2019t even know where to go.
\n\u2026
\nIt felt unfair of them to expect so much of me. Didn\u2019t they know how much I hurt? Didn\u2019t they know that it took everything I had to get up in the morning and face the day?
\nThis pain inside me drowned me; it tore at me every second of every day until I thought I would shatter into a million worthless pieces just from the sheer pressure of it.
\nI couldn\u2019t do this.
\nI couldn\u2019t.
\nAnd I didn\u2019t know what to do about that because there was no one else to shoulder this impossible burden with me.
\nI was alone. And I had never been this alone before.
\nI just didn\u2019t know what to do.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A friend of mine said that this book is full of raw emotion, and I absolutely agree with her. Liz\u2019s pain is described almost brutally, and I was in tears so many times as she tried so hard to just keep going. And it\u2019s not even that she\u2019s battling to get over Grady, she has to deal with the fact that she doesn\u2019t\u00a0want<\/em>\u00a0to get over him.<\/p>\n

I couldn\u2019t let him go.
\nI didn\u2019t want to let him go.
\nLetting him go meant acknowledging that he would never come back. And I just couldn\u2019t. I needed him too much.
\nI loved him too much.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is during this time that Ben comes into her life. Ben moves into the house next door, and befriends Liz, helping her out and just generally \u2018being there\u2019, even though she never asks anything of him.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy are you so nice to me? You barely know me.\u201d
\nA soft smile played on his lips, \u201cBut I like what I know so far. And I am excited for what else there is to find out.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is clear that Ben has feelings for her, and the more time they spend together as he makes himself a part of her family\u2019s life, she slowly starts to feel something for him as well. But it\u2019s a hard road that they are on. Liz clings to the memory of her husband, and struggles hugely to accept Ben in her life, and there is a lot of back and forth. But even though Liz has no intention of ever moving on from Grady, and resists her feelings as much as she can, she can\u2019t help but start to fall for him. And he is absolutely beautiful with her!<\/p>\n

His hands cupped my shoulders and held me still so that he could look into my frightened eyes. \u201cLiz, you didn\u2019t make things awkward between us. This isn\u2019t the right time, I get that. Don\u2019t feel bad. I\u2019m not in a hurry. It\u2019s alright. I can wait.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ben is all kinds of amazing! He is wonderful with her kids, and he makes no secret of the fact that he loves them deeply. He also makes no secret of his feelings for Liz, and while he puts up with a lot from her, and is infinitely patient with her, he\u2019s not a doormat. He is gentle, but he pushes her as well – pushes her to start living again, and to accept all that life had to offer, including everything that he wants with her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be gentle with you, Liz. We\u2019re going to treat this delicately. I\u2019m going to let this happen slowly, let us fall slowly. But I am not asking too much of you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t take anymore heartbreak,\u201d I confessed on a broken whisper.<\/em>
\n \u201cThen it\u2019s a good thing I\u2019m not going to break your heart.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

And even as tentative as things seem between them, they still joke around, and I loved how Ben was able to bring that back into Liz\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s my mom and she\u2019s never seen me this happy before. Of course, she thinks I love you.\u201d
\nI braved a look at him. \u201cAnd do you?\u201d
\n\u201cIf I deny it, will you be able to get through dinner?\u201d
\nI nodded, ignoring the thin veil of his words over the truth I didn\u2019t want to accept. \u201cThen I don\u2019t love you. You\u2019re the most aggravating woman I\u2019ve ever met. I can barely tolerate you.\u201d
\n\u201cAnd my kids?\u201d
\n\u201cOh, no,\u201d he chuckled. \u201cI definitely love them.\u201d
\n\u201cYou do?\u201d An aching affection flooded my body, filling in all of the cracks that fear and uncertainty had left me with. An emotional heat bubbled in my chest and wrapped my stiff limbs with something like hope.
\n\u201cYes, I do. But they agree with me about you. You aggravate us all.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Liz\u2019s kids are amazing. Aged 8, 6, 4 and 2, they are challenging and at different stages of being able to understand what is happening. They are resilient, but they suffer, and watching them, one by one, come to the realisation that their Daddy was gone was tragic. Literally every time one of the kids cried, I cried right along with them. It was heartbreaking, but also beautiful getting to see them be there for each other as a family, and start to accept everything and move on.<\/p>\n

I loved this book. Yes, it\u2019s heartbreaking, and I\u2019m glad I waited until I was in the right frame of mind to start it, but I loved it. Liz\u2019s story is both tragic and uplifting, but it\u2019s beautifully written and I could feel everything that she was going through. And the romance \u2013 while necessarily a slow build \u2013 was gorgeous.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Spoiler <\/div>

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\u201cYou\u2019re still alive. And there is so much left of your life to live. I want to live it with you. I want to be a part of everything that remains for you, good and bad. I want to be there for your kids, for your stressful days, for your amazing days, for all of your nights and for every moment in between. We tried the time apart, but we are better together. Both of us. Yes, Grady was your great love, but you are mine. And if you would let me, I would be yours too. There isn\u2019t a time limit on how much we can love, Liz. You had Grady. Now have me.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nHoly. Freaking. SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!! <\/div><\/div><\/span><\/p>\n

Beautiful – 4.5 stars.<\/p>\n

An Advanced Reader Copy of this book was generously provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.<\/em><\/p>\n

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