Review: This book left me awe! It is amazing!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 7, 2014
Wow! Melanie Dawn has completely left me in awe. I did not see this one coming, but I am so glad it did! This book is smart, witty and sexy. Throw in a dash of angst and a tremendous scoop of love and you have Then There Was You. This book had me sobbing and then slowly pieced my heart back together. I fell in deep with Chris King and I was so moved. This book quickly made its way onto my top five list! Yes, it is that good. I loved and adored each and every moment of it. I will never get that feeling of reading it for the first time again, but I will never give back the emotional ties I have to this book. It is so much more than just another book to be read. It was beautiful and heartwarming and it shows us all the value in a special bond. It shows us the power of love.If you haven’t read So Much It Hurts, this has spoilers in it and I highly recommend you hopping over to one-click it right now! That way when you sit down to read this one, each piece of the Chris King puzzle will fall into place. My review will be here when you finish with So Much It Hurts. But to get the full picture of the amazing Chris King, you should start there.After I finished So Much It Hurts, I spent a lot of time thinking about that amazing musician, Chris. I remember thinking he was such a stand up guy and a top notch character that would definatley be drool worthy in the right setting. Chris has found his setting here in the pages of Then There Was You. Kaitlyn destroyed his heart all those years ago and after finally seeing her again, she went back to her husband but she took another piece of him with her. It wasn’t until later that Chris found out what it was when he ran into Kaitlyn and her family in a grocery store. Staring back at him was this beautiful child with his eyes… wait, that little man was a reflection of Chris. He knew what he was seeing. But what he did was walk away. He knew that Kaitlyn was happy and she had a perfect little family, but she would always be the one that haunted him. She will always be the one that could never be.When Chris left Kaitlyn the first time it wasn’t by choice. But by doing the right thing and protecting Kaitlyn, everything in his life was going to change. Being sent back to Juvie was not what Chris wanted, but protecting Kaitlyn left him little choice. He knew where he was going and when he said goodbye to her his life was going to change forever. He just didn’t realize how much.Inside the halls of the juvenile dention center, Chris was broken. He didn’t want to be saved. He wanted Kaitlyn and that was it. He wasn’t in there to heal, he was in there to wait it out and get back to Kaitlyn. But something happened when he was there…Salem had just returned from maternity leave and although she knew that she loved her baby, she needed a place to escape her own demons. Her place was work. She was a counselor at the center and Chris was one of the kids she tried to help. When she was at work, she wasn’t thinking about how much she hated being a mom and how much a baby had ruined her. She wasn’t thinking that this wasn’t the life for her. When she was at work she wanted to make a difference. Of course, working with Chris also seemed to heal a bit of the broken Salem.Several years later, Salem is divorced and has taken her daughter to a concert and scored back stage passes certainly guaranteeing her mother of the year rights for her teenage daughter. Walking backstage and coming face to face with that 18 year old boy again after all this time… They still had their connection, their bond. She was 24 when they said their final goodbyes outside the facility that day, but standing here in front of her was that same boy, yet somehow different. Their connection stronger than ever.Phew… so I am not telling any more of the story. It’s not my story to tell but this one just grabbed me and pulled me in. The first part of it was so emotionally touching and the second part was so emotionally freeing. I may have thought that Chris was a stand up guy after reading So Much It Hurts, but after finishing Then There Was You, I know that he is not only a stand up guy, he is amazing and talented and just plain beautiful inside and out. I just absolutely fell in love with Chris and the way he just reached into Salem’s soul was moving beyond belief.I am not sure there were ever two so broken souls in a book that could heal one another like these two did, all those years ago and again now. Salem is such a kind soul and she truly believed in Chris like no other. But what Chris restored in her was quite remarkable too. I am not saying that this is the perfect situation and they are not without drama and angst but when these two were together, everything just fell into perfect harmony.I want more of Chris King and his amazing ways. My original thoughts on Chris were 100% right on. He is a top notch stand-up kind of guy and definately made my heart skip a beat or two.This book was well balanced and beautifully written. This book just left me with a very content heart. It wasn’t perfect, it wasn’t all hearts and roses, but it was touching and beautiful all the same. This book just moved me and I can’t wait to go back and re-read it!*I received a complimentary copy of Then There Was You in exchange for an honest review