Review: Very emotional and full of hope
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 16, 2014
I received a complimentary copy for review purposes.I was drawn in by the cover of Vital Sign so I signed up for the tour. I went in blind and I opened the book read the dedication and closed the book fast.  I was a little scared. I had to give myself a pep talk to reopen it. I knew it was going to tear my heart to shreds and it did.  I loved it!I read book and picture them almost like movies in my head as I read.  I often get overly attached to the characters and what is happening and how they are feeling.  However, there are a few books that when I read I feel the book.  It just gets inside me and grabs a hold of my heart and my emotions.  Vital Sign is at the top pf that list.It started with the prologue oh my gosh talk about stress and suspense. It was a great was to grab attention and get me into the book.  But then came the story and the real emotion.  I just sank into the grief and heartbreak that Sadie was experiencing.  It made my heart hurt.  I cried for her so hard.  I could feel the emotion through me and almost like it was surrounding me like I was wrapped in a blanket of it.  Just when I didn’t think I could deal with it anymore Sadie was feeling the same way and the story started to take a turn.  It was perfect timing.  The switch was still filled with emotion but it was lighter and didn’t blanket me.The switch in Sadie’s attitude started and then there was a switch in the story.  It went from all being in Sadie’s voice to being split between Sadie and Zander.The story starts out in Sadie’s voice and J.L. Mac gave her a great voice.  Sadie is feisty and sweet.  I loved the corky edge to it.  An example I wrote down was she was talking about her laugh and she said it was an “obnoxious hybrid laugh”.  There were so many little descriptions like that that drew me to Sadie.Then Zander’s voice comes in and it was refreshing.  He had his own guilt and regrets that you drew me in and I just wanted to love him.  He needed it and the guilt in him was mostly placed there by someone else and it wasn’t fair to him at all.Sadie and Zander amazed me because even though they hadn’t experienced the same grief and guilt they both were going through it.  They didn’t even have to talk to each other to get what was going on in the other’s head.  The book talks about a picture of driftwood and how it was so worn down and ugly but it made Sadie wonders what it had gone through to get to that spot.  I think both Sadie and Zander are like this driftwood.  They both went through a lot to beat them up but they come out beautiful.Thos review was posted on Stephanie's Book Reports