Review: heartbreakingly beautiufl!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 21, 2013
"Every time I heard it on the radio, it was a constant reminder of what I'd actually done to him... I didn't want to face him again. I was a coward, I was selfish, but I couldn't help it. I literally ripped that boy's heart to shreds."Eliza is meeting up with her father Ben, at a Fire Nine concert, so she can ride back home with him for a visit. She is nervous to see Gage again and hides out backstage trying to avoid him. Then she hears his voice through the speakers as he dedicates a performance to her."This girl... I know she's here right now. She really broke my F'ng heart. I f'd up; she let me go. I opened up to her; she closed off on me... I want her to know tonight how bad she f'd me over- how hurt I was when I watched her leave. Not only did she break my heart, but she took the pieces with her.""...it'd only been eight months since the last time we saw each other. Love couldn't fade that fast... could it? I sure as hell still loved him..."Eliza and Gage have a very spark filled, emotionally charged reunion. They lay their feelings bare and are working things out. But, Gage and Ellie can never seem to get it right. After a very brief time together, they are ripped apart again. This time Gage is the one to walk away."Every single morning, I smell him. Even when I've changed my sheets, I smell him. When I roll onto the side of the bed he was on, I smell him. I can almost feel him..."Who We Are sucked me in from the first few pages. I FELT the pain and anger that consumed Gage after Eliza left him... the guilt and regret that plagued Ellie over breaking both Gage's and her own hearts. Most of all I felt their love for each other and their desperation to be together.Eliza and Gage's story is beautiful and tragic. It is both heartbreaking and inspiring. I can't say enough about what an amazing job Shanora William's did on this sequel. Her writing shows so much growth. More than I even realized it could. One of the things I look for in a book is how emotionally connected I am. I want to feel. I want my heart to break and I want to believe it so much that I hurt with them.The one and only complaint that I have, and this stems back to Who He Is, is Gage's reason for not committing to Eliza. Although his reasons get a little better in Who We Are, I still don't feel it should have been a deal breaker. A love as strong and passionate as theirs needed something more believable to keep them apart. For this reason I gave Who We Are 4.5 stars.Well done Shanora! I am so attached to your characters and can't wait to read Roy and Montana's books!