When I first met him I resisted.
Like any forbidden love, I told myself he was a crush, and it would pass.
That was a lie. It never faded.
And I never expected he would fall for me just as hard.
There were so many reasons that should have kept us apart, least of all, the decade that separated us. Growing up in New York City, I learned early on that love is a double-edged sword. Love broke up my parents, love took away my friends, and love — the big, intense, never-been-like-this-before love — landed me in therapy. Now I’m heading to college, and it’s time to give love a clean slate again. But, can I really start over when he’s still in my life Because the one man I’ve always wanted, is also the only guy I absolutely can’t have…And he wants me just as fiercely.
Can I settle for anything less than the love of my life?
Lauren Blakely is an unabashed fan of clever jokes, toast, and good guys in novels. Like the heroine in TROPHY HUSBAND, she thinks life should be filled with hot men, cool clothes, and the kind of love that love songs promise. Lauren lives in California with her husband and children, and spends her days writing both true stories and make-believe ones.
"As I read the words again, I can't help myself. My mind returns to him, the effects of the bike ride are washed away with words, I am thinking once more of the man I can't forget, the one who gave me flowers because he found the heart in one of them. I might keep company with cold, hard facts in my notebooks about my mother, but inside of me, in the places she can't touch, I know who I am. A purist. A lover of love. I adore love letters, and professions of love, and true, heartfelt moments when two people know they're meant for each other."Kennedy is a seventeen year old girl who has issues that tainted her early life. Love is what she need to cure. Love is the cause that sent her to see a shrink and be on therapy. Pretty much love ruined everything, even the divorce of her parents. But if love seems to be the problem, the one thing that ruined her, how can she find love in the arms of the man she wanted to be with forever? I know. It sounds really forbidden, right? But it doesn't stop there.
"I suppose it was his office where we came together. Ironic, because we never did business together, but in the safety of those four walls, we removed the biggest barrier—not age, not jobs, not station in life. But the physical presence of my mother."This book is just painfully the sad reality of the current issues among people, among couples, teenagers, and pretty much everyone since this one tackles a very sensitive element of relationship. Some might say that age is just a number but when you consider the laws, it will be a long process to take all in.
"'How long has it been now?' He scrubbed a hand over his jaw and swallowed. 'Three years.' Each word was a scrape. Dry and harsh. I wanted to take away the hurt, so I did the one thing I could do. Keep talking. About musicals. About art. About Patti Lupone. Until the raw edge left his voice."The style of writing was a bit unnerving, though. The sudden filling in and shifts of the present to the past kind of sets the mood off of reading. Its a little disturbing but bearable in some way. I winged it away, anyway, I managed though and you can, too. And goodness, I'm not a big fan of such big words. Good thing the built-in dictionary on my kindle has been put to a good use. It's just putting up some time though. But thank you, the new words I have experience were put to good use. I've been practicing on using them each day.
"They say time heals all wounds. But does it close the gaps too? Maybe it can. Maybe in a year it turns an eight-year time gap into dust. Maybe it turns a girl who didn't know what she wanted into someone who became certain. Maybe it turns twenty-one stolen kisses into endless given ones."It never ceases to amaze me how beautiful this novel is since it has been through so many ups and downs before publication. I can't wait to actually get my hands on the physical copy because it is really. Just. Beautiful. And. Poignant. Having the opportunity to read and review this was more than a blessing. I love it! It encapsulates love in a different way, see through things, feelings and the bunch. People, you might want to try reading this book and look around, look at life differently. Look at love differently, big time. Love is not about age, or height, or physical appearances. It's about feeling and experiencing and time. You never know when you have it. I dare you to.
Labels: 21 Stolen Kisses, Bloomsbury Spark, Book Review, Lauren Blakely