Book Description:
One introverted girl.
One extroverted guy.
One assignment.
One afternoon.
Then everything changed…
“You destroyed me.”
Novah wanted nothing more than to walk away, never see him again. She was determined to pick up the pieces of her tarnished reputation and move on. Her torture became her muse, earning her well-deserved notoriety for capturing beauty with her lens. She had come full circle. She had it all…until he returned.
Nolan found himself surrounded by the grim facets of life, no longer the prominent boy from an affluent family who’d caught Novah’s eye. The years had been unkind and left him in the dark, painful trenches of life. He needed her help.
Fifteen years can equate to a lifetime of change, neither one the same person they once were. Despite the humiliation, the latent wounds, the missing years…they’re destined to heal one another in unexpected ways.
“You saved me.”
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Buy Links:
Amazon UK: http://amzn.to/1qWWnfO
Amazon US: http://amzn.to/1T6wi4p
Amazon CA: http://bit.ly/21HRfaICA
Our Review:
Reviewed by Donna ~ 3.5 stars
***ARC received for an honest review***
“Maybe you need to find yourself
before you can be found by anyone else.”
Once again Leddy Harper has penned a beautiful, emotional novel
that managed to tug on so many emotions as I read Nolan and Novah’s story. I
have to say that this book was not what I was expecting, from the blurb I was
expecting an angst filled ride with love/hate and no second chances, however
that was not what was presented. Yes, this is a love story, but most of all it
was about Nolan learning to love himself.
“The eyes are the windows to the
soul, and I see yours.”
Nolan and Novah fell victim to young naivety fifteen years
ago just when a potential love match was in the making. One day, one moment
that would be felt for a lifetime ruined that potential. Now fifteen years on
their paths cross once again, fifteen years is a long time and a lot of built
up hatred, anger and guilt can fester in fifteen long years. Would this be a
case of forgive and forget, was what happened fifteen years ago the beginning
or the end?
“I don’t know how to do this. I
don’t know how to be happy with someone when I’m unhappy with myself. Or how to
love someone when I hate who I am.”
Nolan was hard to love in the beginning, but once you begin
to understand just what has happened to him over the past fifteen years you
begin to empathise and sympathise. Nolan has the worst case of self-loathing
and self-deprecation that I have read about in a long time, he only sees the
bad, he only sees the victim, he doesn’t see the kind hearted man underneath
who was desperately in need of love.
“You’re beautiful… so fucking
beautiful.”
Novah had never forgotten Nolan, after what had happened he
was hard to forget for all the wrong reasons, but Nolan got more than he
bargained for that day, he got Novah’s heart whether she wanted to give it or
not. Novah’s heart has never forgotten that first connection, unsure whether
she imagined it, but her heart always told her it was there. Now years after
and after several failed relationships the man that she blames for it all
waltzes back into her life. She hates him, she loves him, she hates him, she
loves him.
“You say you unknowingly gave me
your heart. But I unknowingly took it.”
For me, the forgiveness element of this book came way too
quick after very little grovelling. I know that the blame was misplaced in the
first instance but for her to get to that point and for love to be declared
just didn’t scream plausible. I will say that this book is very slow in places
but this is where Leddy Harper really drums into you the building of bridges,
the downing of walls and barriers and the minds willingness to heal. Nolan had
a lot of battles to win, most of which were internal and Leddy Harper really
captured Nolan’s fight to win the war. It was an uphill struggle for both of
them, Nolan’s willingness to see what Novah saw and Novah’s battle as to how
much help was too much after all dependency can be just as bad. Nolan had to
fight this one himself but the rewards were bountiful.
“…this isn’t to question you or
your abilities…it’s to see if I have what it takes.”
“What it takes for what?”
“What it takes to be the man you
see when you look at me. The person you see in my eyes. The man worthy of you
instead of the boy that broke you.”
I really think that this book would have benefitted from
more of them at school, albeit their dalliance was quick it is intimated that
Nolan had admired from afar, I just felt that building that relationship in the
beginning would have lessened the insta-love effect and given more credence to
their story fifteen years later. This is a book about forgiveness and healing
first and foremost, not a lot happens between the pages but is a great insight into
one man’s battle to find the love within.
“…at least I didn’t have to worry
about my life turning into ashes anymore. I’d been burned enough. And I had the
scars to prove it.”
Trailer:
Leddy Harper had to use her imagination often as a child. She grew up the only girl in a house full of boys. At the age of fourteen, she decided to use that imagination and wrote her first book, and never stopped.
She often calls writing her therapy, using it as a way to deal with issues through the eyes of her characters.
She is now a mother of three girls, leaving her husband as the only man in a house full of females.
The decision to publish her first book was made as a way of showing her children to go after whatever it is they want to. Love what you do and do it well. Most importantly Leddy wanted to teach them what it means to overcome their fears.
Connect with Leddy Harper
Website: http://www.leddyharper.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LeddyHarper
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