Review: Absolutely Loved!!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 31, 2014
Ok - now that I think all my tears have dried, I think I can finally manage to write out my review.  After reading the synopsis for this book, I have to admit I was scared going in to this book, just knowing that there were going to be parts that would break me down and make me cry.  This would be the kind of book that would speak to me, make me face things that I have pushed down, bring up old memories and feelings - but I dove right in, realizing those aren't bad things at all.My heart broke so many times for Sadie.  Even two years after the death of her husband, she was still stuck deep in the grief of his loss.  This book was written so well I could really feel her loss, the unfairness, the emptiness, the anger – all the feelings she continued to experience, yet never quite moving past and on with her life.Luckily Sadie had a family that helped keep her going when she didn’t have the strength to care about things.  Support to keep her moving – giving her encouragement, that wasn’t always welcomed by her.  She had a mother with the most incredible wisdom and love for her daughter that even now, a week later after reading this book, still brings tears to my eyes.Her family believes that if she met some of the people who got her husband’s organs, it may help her heal.“My inner circle’s theory on things don’t seem to add up anyway.  They want me to move on with grieving by meeting some people who I hate simply because they exist and Jake doesn’t  Let me reiterate:  they want to send their emotionally unstable family member to meet some strangers who she feels an irrational hatred towards.  I may come by my insanity honestly.”  ----SadieBut in the end, Sadie does decide to meet three of the recipients.  The last on her list to meet is Alexander/Zander, and this is when her healing from the grief starts.“The connection I feel to this woman was so instant.  I’ve never felt anything like it.  Something about her, about me, about the situation that we find ourselves in – if I believed in fate, I’d say exactly what it is.  If fate exists, if it’s real.  I would say that somehow our journeys are the same.”  ---ZanderZander is dealing with his own past issues - as he's isolated himself the past two years, after receiving his heart transplant.  He doesn't feel worthy or deserving of the second chance he was given - and he's sure that Sadie will feel the same way in the end.  But, he can't stay away from Sadie, he's drawn to her in an unexplainable way - and Sadie is feeling things towards Zander that she never thought she would feel again towards another man besides Jake, and it terrifies her.There’s so much to more that Zander and Sadie need to face as they both get to know each other.  Sadie is still so unsure of so much more now that Zander has come in to her life.  She has to face even more feelings – and this time she can’t sit back and go through the motions – this time she has to make a decision.  With the advice from a new friend, Dawn, and the determination of her mother – Sadie will finally decide where she needs to be and where her life needs to go, whether Zander is a part of it or not.Death is never a subject we like to talk or even think about, yet we all experience.  This book shows a beautiful journey of a young woman finally moving past her grief to truly experience all that life still has to offer her.  This will definitely be a story that stays with me for a long time – absolutely loved it.