Review: Tender & Sweet Tale
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 13, 2014
Bird After Bird is beautifully written. It is a tender and sweet tale about two bird lovers finding themselves and each other."You know all those birding trips we took, where we got out of town and bumped up our life list? You remember those times when we ended up lost, took a wrong turn, and still ended up where we were meant to be? Kid, that's where you are, I think. I think you're trying, but..."Wren Riley spent one incredible summer with her dad, searching for birds and making new memories following the death of her mom. She then spent ten years doing all she could to make her dad proud - at least on paper. Following another devastating loss, she's back home to deal with some things and one of those 'things' is the journal she and her dad made that one summer. Wren then embarks on a soul-searching journey as she tries to follow her dad's advice and find the real Wren. And along the way, she finds Laurie Byrd.Laurence 'Laurie' Byrd has more than a few demons. Having been raised by a mother who was never happy with who he was, he has a few issues. He's also an Army vet who saw and lost things in war on both sides - the home front and the battlefield. Laurie has been ghosting through life since his return. When he meets Wren, he feels something - like being alive again. So he sets out on a journey of his own.Wren is a heroine I could identify with in that she worked very hard but wasn't following her passion. She was trying so hard to be enough but she wasn't happy doing it. Laurie's character resonated with me because of his feelings of not measuring up. It was such a joy to see these two help one another realize that neither one of them should be wasting time chasing paper birds. That's a lesson that resonated with me as well.I adore this story. It's told in dual POV and having a front row seat to both Wren's and Laurie's journeys was fascinating. Ms. Tash clearly loves these characters and shares their story with such emotion and tenderness, it made me love them all the more. The fact that Wren and Laurie both have 'bird' names that correlate to the title was clever. There are many references to this throughout the story and Ms. Tash tied it all together with the birds brilliantly.