Review: 5+ Stars!  Beautiful. Insighful. Smart!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 19, 2013
OH WOW! What a book! This book was extremely well-written with a complete, and cohesive story line.  It is a story of love, tragic loss, and second chances. Heart-wrenching, and so emotionally packed, I felt like someone was throwing punches to my gut. It made me smile, laugh, and cry. It is also, poetic, lyrical, beautiful, insightful, smart and courageous.  I am an emotional blob, who is "tongue-tied", speechless, and couldn't be happier about that!This book had me from the first page of the Prologue.  The touching, reverent connection between mother and child was beautifully written.  Julie Johnson captured the essence of a child brilliantly!  The Prologue knocked me so off-balance, I sat stunned before I even turned the page to the first chapter.  The tragedy within these first few pages defines who Brooklyn Grace Turner will become.  It shaped her thoughts, how she deals with feelings, with people."I had shattered to pieces like a fragile vase on concrete; some fragments could be roughly cobbled back together, but many of my vital parts had simply turned to dust, pulverized and scattered by the first gust of the wind."Brooklyn or "Bee" as she is affectionally called by those precious few whom she has allowed to love her, is, in her own words,"I really am emotionally-challenged sometimes."She has developed cinder walls encased with metal around her thoughts, feelings and heart."I wouldn't really say that I had friends - acquaintances maybe, but not friends.  Friends wanted to know personal information; they liked to ask questions."She had one friend, the exception to this rule - Lexi.  They had been friends since 2nd grade. Let me say, we should all be lucky enough to have a Lexi in our lives.  This girl is HILARIOUS!  She certainly provided comic relief in this book. I laughed out loud at about 80% of the dialogue that she was in.  And her love for Lexi is almost as strong as her love for herself.  :)"You're my wing-woman.", she tells Brooklyn.Then there's Finn...OMG...FINN!  He is the stuff dreams are made of, he is the prince who rescues the princess, he is hot, sexy and he knows it.  And he wants Brooklyn.  Only, Brooklyn doesn't believe in relationships, and she definitely isn't interested in Finn.  In one of my many favorite, descriptive moments of the book, Brooklyn describes her thoughts about her interaction with Finn,"That Adonis-like physique was a total waste when it came packaged with a personality like his."But she doesn't keep him at arms length forever, because Finn slowly and diligently uses a torch and sledge hammer to break down her protective walls.  Theirs is a once in a lifetime love.  The connection between the two is undeniable, even to Bee.  There is just something about him that she doesn't quite understand. How he is so perceptive to her needs, wants and feelings.  He understands her and it scares her.  Yet she is so good at compartmentalizing her thoughts and fears and tucking them away, that she misses the clues along the way.  Until suddenly she remembers, and the devastation of her memory nearly breaks her.  My heart broke for her and for Finn.  I cried with them and for them.Finn is so incredibly in love with her that he feels like she is bonded to him.  He tells her,"I've never felt anything like this before, and I know you feel it too."  "It's undeniable - like a magnetic force.  Like gravity."Tragically, Brooklyn is also dealing with arrival of someone from her past.  Her psychologist says she is without fear, and that can be dangerous because without fear, we take our welfare for granted.  She ignores her intuition, compartmentalizes her thoughts and in so doing falls victim once again.  But she is a fighter.  And throughout this book we read touching memories of things her mother told her when she was young.  These help her to be strong and courageous. And fight for herself and the ones she loves.The author is so smart and insightful as she writes. I felt like I was not only reading an amazing story, but learning some life-lessons along the way.  Her writing style was beautifully poetic."The vapid self-obsessed typically don't appreciate much except their own reflections in the mirror."This is a must read!!!