Review: Heart-warming and inspirational
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 29, 2013
Clay's and Maggie's story comes to an end in this beautiful, heart-wrenching and heart-warming novella.It shows us what happened after they graduated from high school and before they were able to get their happily-ever-after.While Maggie goes off to college and is torn between enjoying this new stage of her life and yearning for being united with Clay again, Clay is wrestling his demons, knowing he needs to get better to be able to be the man he wants to be for Maggie.The distance between them makes their already difficult relationship even harder, threatening the bit of stability that they have. Struggling with the mental illness that nearly cost him everything - including his life, things are even trickier for Clay as he does not know which thoughts he can trust or not. It takes a lot of his strength to learn to not be ruled by his illness and it is so breath-taking beautiful to watch him transition into a healthier self. But it is not much easier on Maggie. Although she does not have any demons of her own to wrestle with, Clay's demons affect her too as she continuously fears what his reactions might be and what certain emotions might lead him to. She too learns throughout the course of the story to trust him and let him experience his emotions without trying to wrap him in bubble wrap.Their love is so beautiful, it truly took my breath away at times. It made me cry. For their young age their love is incredibly strong and more stable than they realize. They have mastered so many trials and challenges in the short time that they are together and it only made them stronger. And they do realize that sometimes in order to be together you have to be apart and find yourself. I love how they get to the point where they understand they cannot give up themselves for the other. They need to exist as individual beings and only then they can contribute to a healthy relationship. The little gestures with which they show their love and the gifts they give each other are so heart-felt that I was sobbing while having a stupid grin on my face.Clay and Maggie are one of my absolute favourite book couples ever. Strong, down-to-earth and inspirational.5+ charming, happy-tear-inducing, heart-warming stars.