Age: 18+
Character Development: A
Plot Development: A++
Favorite Quotes:
"I'm afraid to live, by afraid of not living. I don't want to be alone, but I don't want to open my heart to love." - Claire
"Enjoy something little in life today; tomorrow might not be there" - Claire
Normally books start off with a bit of light material to ease you into the story and the characters. Not this one, the semi-truck slams straight into your heart and then slowly reverses it's back tires to dig in a little more before taking off. At first I thought this was going to be a Cancer story and that almost made me want to put it down immediately because my too many people I know have been or are being affected by Cancer and I wouldn't be able to handle reading about it right now.
So I am super glad that K. Dosal McLendon decided to go with the mysterious injury/illness route that she did with the story; its still 100% heartbreaking though. As I kind of mentioned before, the leading lady of the book Claire has health issue that are kind of a mystery to her doctors and her treatment is kind of "let's see how it goes". Claire thus has shut herself down in the romance department because she doesn't want to start off a relationship and drag anyone else through her medical issues.
More often then not we find ways to relate to characters in the books we are reading but this one related to me in a way I wasn't expecting. Over the past few years I have been slowly diagnosed with multiple autoimmune disorders and with that comes adjusting treatment and seeing how my body reacts. Claire's reluctance to start dating is absolutely how I feel because when I was first diagnosed I was not only in college but was a double major, working part-time and commuting about an hour and a half to school. So add medical issues that vary depending on your biology and there is noooo room for starting up romance. Even now, starting to date someone is hard cause when do you tell them, "oh by the way...". Claire and Jake though give me hope though, because there is a chance my sister would set me up with someone in a heartbeat (because she's already been trying).
Other than all the medical woes of Claire, the relationships between the characters are beyond amazing. Claire and her two brothers have the sibling relationship that some only dream about (I mean not me cause my sister and I have that bond - but better)! Cole and Liam are her fearless protectors and when they see Jake be Mr. Suave with Claire they have no problem jumping in between that or being pointing out when they are being way too obvious. My FAVORITE time was when Claire is staring at Jake shirtless and Cole yells "until my sister stops acting like a thirteen-year old who just saw Edward Cullen, you should wear a shirt around her". I love when authors quote or mention Twilight and not in a harsh condescending manner. Another relationship that stuck out to me was Jake and his father's relationship. For once there's no turmoil between the rich affluential father and son, they joke and care about one another; plus Jake's father isn't pressuring him to be someone he's not.
I'm so stoked for the next book in the series and can't wait to see what else K. Dosal McLendon has up her sleeve!