Review: Fall in Love in the Rabbit Hole!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 10, 2013
~ “Just because you find better ways to deal with it, doesn’t mean it gets better.” ~One of my all-time favorite series is Andrea Randall’s November Blue, so to say I had been anticipating getting my hands on this delicious morsel would be the understatement of the year. I kept my eyes peeled for teasers, grabbing up bits and pieces as she wrote it, savoring every last part. Because that is what you do with an AR book. You don’t simply read it, you live and breathe it! You are a key player in the story, experiencing everything right along with the characters. Randall puts you in the story, just as Lewis Carroll did in Alice in Wonderland. This is aptly spoken of for Sweet Forty-Two is riddled (pun intended) with Wonderland references. So get your tissues ready, put on some comfy pants, and come take a journey with me down the rabbit hole.~ Lissa dropped her arms from my body and stood back, knowing this was where the conversation ended. It’s where it always ended. She had nothing to say. No charts to disprove the course I was on. No scissors to cut the strings that were tied around my wrists generations ago.Just a lonely girl.And no prince. ~We first met Regan, albeit briefly, in Reckless Abandon. He came to visit his cousin CJ, who was friends with Bo and Ember. Though he wasn’t in many scenes, you couldn’t help but fall in love with this introspective Irish fiddler with an upbeat passion for life. Regan (pronounced REE-gan) has an uncanny ability of meeting you only once and seeing straight through to your soul.This happens with anyone he comes in contact with, even more so for those that he is close with. There is no hiding your thoughts and feelings around this man, he often knows them before they even formulate in your brain. He is one of the MOST caring, empathetic individuals I have ever read in a book. He feels EVERYTHING all the way down to his bones and he isn’t afraid to wear those emotions proudly. After a life changing event, Regan fled to Ireland for a few months. Having reached the solitude and reflection he desired and needing a change, he decides to see what the future holds for him in San Diego, where Bo and Ember are now living. If you have read Reckless Abandon, you know the turmoil that he is going through. For those who haven’t read it yet (get on that), I won’t spoil it for you. Just know that one event presides over every action he makes in this book. This is a man who, with one single solitary event, life has kicked in the shins. He is emotionally broken yet in the midst of all this, he still has hope. You don’t simply ever get over losing some one; you just learn how to live with it. When love is true, it never leaves. It lingers, enveloping you, giving you strength to go on. And once in a lifetime, the universe gives us an unexpected fairy tale.~ “I just mean, Georgia,” he teased, “people generally take the few basic and bare things afforded to us in this world and make them as complicated as possible. Us, though? We complicate it in beautiful ways. We have fun with it. Basically, we’re awesome.”~Enter Georgia, who honestly and truly, life has shit all over. She wears it on her sleeve like a badge of honor, never really letting anyone see the real her. Georgia is the close friend of CJ, Regan’s cousin. Having grown up together through their formative years, they know all of each other’s secrets. Through all of her rough edges and the false bravado she exudes, Georgia really is just a lost little girl who wants to be loved. She quickly became one of the best female characters I’ve ever read, and I fell HARD for her. As Georgia’s story slowly unfolds throughout the book, I can’t give away much. Just know that she is dealing with a very real situation, which unfortunately isn’t talked about much. Not in the book mind you. There we are given plenty of details. I am referring to life in general. Mental illness isn’t talked about enough. It is more mainstream than many would choose to believe, yet it is viewed as being weak and those dealing with these REAL illnesses are all too often shamed and looked down upon. It is because of these exact facts that Georgia stays closed off to most of the world. She has insecurities and doubts; so in turn she draws attention to other aspects of her life. Georgia is just a kick-ass chick, plain and simple. She has so many layers that it would simply take you a lifetime to get to her core. That’s exactly the way she would like to keep it; the world living at an arm’s length. Or so she would lead you to believe….~ I trailed off, looking around the room for a reason not to. There were hundreds. I ignored them. I jumped. I kissed him. Holy sh**, I kissed him. ~There is an attraction from the beginning between Regan and Georgia for sure, but what I absolutely LOVED with this book was the connection between them. These two, above all, had a friendship to last the ages. You know that moment they talk about in books and movies when you meet your soul mate? That is what I felt for these two, though neither of them knew it. Randall has a way of writing that allows you to see behind the scenes before the characters even realize what is happening. What I mean to say is that even though it may be perceived as insta-love, the fact that the characters didn’t know nor act on it makes it all that more delicious and believable. Randall takes you on a journey with Regan and Georgia as they navigate the waters that they BOTH try with all their might to resist. Yes, you read that right. Neither of them WANT this. One isn’t ready, and the other doesn’t see the point. Their resistance made Sweet Forty-Two so electrifying for me; I simply couldn’t put the book down. I relished in the words on each page. Every scene grew with intensity, the next one better than the last.~ I was falling slowly.And I didn’t want there to be a bottom, because what greater feeling in the world is there than to actually be falling in love? ~There are two scenes in particular that stood out as utterly soul-wrenching; two scenes that I won’t soon forget. Two little words, yet the meaning and emotion behind them will have you sitting back wondering what in the hell just happened. How did I just get emotionally sucker punched and how in the Hell am I supposed to function? Obituary and Letter. Once you get to these parts you will know exactly what I mean, and I dare you to deny the feelings that ensue. I felt them to the depths of my soul, and try as I might, I could not inhibit the tears. Nor would I want to. This is what makes Randall special, that not all authors are able to do. She evokes emotions in you through her words that you didn’t even know you had the ability to comprehend or emit. But fear not. While she will certainly take you to the pits of the rabbit hole and make you face the Jabberwocky, once you slay the monster and defeat the Queen, you will wake up and realize what an adventure it was. And while that may all sound cryptic, that’s my intention.~ “You broke down the walls and led a search party for the pieces of me you knew you could love, and you dragged those out of the ****ing rubble I’d let pile up around my soul.” ~While Bo and Ember are secondary characters in this book, and it’s mostly about Regan and Georgia, we still see plenty of them. The little nuggets that Randall throws our way keep on the forefront why we love this couple so deeply. While our hearts grow to make room for Regan and Georgia, Embo (Ember + Bo) never leave. There are some juicy tidbits that Randall napalms us with, and I cannot wait to see how they play out in the future. Regan and Ember share such an endearing and honest friendship, more as if they were related by blood. There were a few other characters briefly introduced that kept me very intrigued. It will be very interesting to see if and/or how their stories develop.~ Life is an endless ocean of tears, happy and sad, and it’s our job to smile in their wake. ~Sweet Forty-Two is an adventure of the purest kind, from start to finish. I found myself saying aloud “Holy crap on a cupcake” many a time whilst reading this! When you get to the end of the book and realize the symbolism and imagery behind the title and cover of the book, if you are anything like me, you will have an ah-ha moment. I don’t think I have ever before seen a cover and title that so encompassed every detail of a book so perfectly in one fell swoop! While I absolutely LOVE Bo and Ember’s story and cannot wait to see where Randall takes them next, Sweet Forty-Two is on another level for me. It is as if November Blue and In the Stillness had a lovechild. A lovechild that craves cupcakes, angst, realizations, closure, and redemption, I couldn’t imagine a more perfect story. This is going in the books as one of my favorite reads of the year, and will be filed in a category I save only for a few books. 10 “We’re All Mad Here stars!!  Though it doesn’t lessen the hurt, this book truly reiterates the fact that everything happens for a reason. My soul bled, but in the best possible way!