Review: I WAS ADDICTED TO EVERY WORD, EVERY SCENE...
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 3, 2014
“From the moment you walked into my life, you have never ruined anything. You light up the things you touch.”I won’t bore you by telling you again about my obsession with Abbi Glines’ books because I am pretty certain that even the camels in Timbuktu know about it by now and can recite my favourite passages, but I will tell you this – the more of her books I read, the more I am certain that we ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Ms Glines has a signature style, an inimitable voice drawing inspiration from a part of the world she knows best, and she is constantly titillating us with meant-to-be romances that we’re never quite certain whether they are designed to make our skin tingle in all the right places or cause our hearts to skip a few beats. But her voice keeps transforming, morphing, the ‘flavour’ of her stories reflecting an impressively prolific repertoire and her ever-changing taste. A master at creating dominant and possessive heroes who treat their leading ladies like princesses, she has once again given us a male character to lose our minds over and a heroine who will make you so protective of her, you might start growling at some point. The seventh book in the Sea Breeze series, this is a story that is so different from the others that it might as well be called a standalone novel. Superbly paced, heartbreakingly emotional, with just the right amount of sizzle and spice, I have loved this book on every single re-read and each time the same scenes managed to move me to tears.“In my stories I could be beautiful. The prince would love me, and I would know how it felt to belong.”Blythe is an orphan, raised by a pastor and his wife, in a house where she was never gifted with a kind word, a sign of affection or any positive affirmations. Treated as an unwelcome presence in the disapproving household she lived in, Blythe has grown into a woman who enjoys her own company, the stories she reads and writes, a woman who craves the freedom to be herself and asks for very little of others. She blossoms when even the smaller compliment is aimed her way, but two decades of being told she is an ugly, evil nuisance have conditioned her to believe she has very little to offer to others. Alone in a new city, finding love is the last thing Blythe hopes to find. And yet, her heart desperately aches to be claimed.“Someone was bound to see the bad in me. They always had before.”Krit is the lead singer of a local band, a man with a womanising reputation firmly based on facts, and he has no intention of changing his ways. Krit never connects with the women he sleeps with, he never makes false promises, never pretends that pleasure is not the only things he seeks from them. Raised to believe he is unworthy of love, he hides his heart behind a faade of carefree abandon, allowing very few people in his life to see the real him. Until a beautiful girl’s childlike joy catches his attention and then consumes his every thought from that moment on.A beautiful friendship is born, one without pretences and where they are both unafraid to be themselves around each other, but they both secretly crave for more. Krit sees Blythe’s untouched innocence and kindness of heart and believes himself to be too jaded for a girl like her. As they spend more and more time together, he grows increasingly protective and possessive of her, but he is reluctant to claim her. Blythe’s isolated upbringing has made her utterly inexperienced in all matters of the heart, Krit’s mixed signals deeply wounding her, feeding her insecurities and warped image of herself. But she soaks up every little bit of attention he gives her, never asking for more, never demanding anything from him, cherishing his friendship and being willing to break her own heart in order to keep him as a friend.“If you were lucky enough to have Krit Corbin in your life, you didn’t push him away. You soaked up every minute and made as many memories as you could.”But when two people start living for each and every moment they spend together, it soon becomes impossible to keep denying their hearts. As Krit and Blythe’s relationship slowly changes, it becomes the very thing they have both always needed to feel complete. When life suddenly throws their young love curveballs, their worse fears have the power of either breaking them apart or making them stronger than they’ve ever been.“Blythe made me feel whole inside. I’d never felt whole. There was always this emptiness. I had tried everything to fill that dark ache inside, but nothing had ever worked. Until Blythe smiled at me.”Every aspect of this story tugs at our heartstrings, making us addicted to its every word and leaving us in a starry-eyed haze, wishing there were more pages to feed our addiction. Whether you’ve never read another Sea Breeze novel in your life or whether you’re a die-hard fan, you will love this book, there is no doubt about it. A beautiful story of friends turning lovers with two characters that we cannot help but adore, Ms Glines has truly outdone herself this time, making my heart, for one, a little terrified of what she has in store for us next.“You don’t just fit into my world, Blythe. You are my world.”