Review: A heart-breaking finale..
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 11, 2014
A spin-off of “Take My Hand” & “Hold On Tight“, “Lean On Me” is surprisingly light and sweet. Although it has its more serious moments and heavy topics, it remains less dramatic than its predecessors. That doesn’t make it any less good though. It totally lives up to the high expectations that Nicola Haken set with the first two books in the series.This book focuses on the story of Rachel and Jared and it starts with a bang – not the sexual kind. It will grip you from the start and not let you go until the last page.Rachel and Jared met through Emily and Dexter and now that those two are in the US, Rachel and Jared start spending more time together – enjoying their similar sense of humour, love of booze and each other’s company. But as the lines of best friends and lovers get blurry, we are taken on an emotional journey while they try to figure out what it is they want. And the journey is not without a few bumps, detours and stop signs. But the good thing is – and that is what I really love – that Nicola Haken does not drag out the angsty moments unnecessarily throughout the whole book. There is a natural balance between the angsty and dramatic moments and the sweet and fun ones. Or the sexy ones for that matter. We can’t forget the sexy ones…holy hotness.The characters are absolutely amazing. We’ve seen glimpses of their personalities throughout the first two books but here they truly get to shine.Rachel has to be one of my favourite female book characters of all time. She is amazing and strong, original and confident, emotional and sweet, snarky and crude and always true to herself. She’s like a firecracker. She speaks her mind freely and more often than not in a not so diplomatic way. No, scratch that. She’d give a drunken sailor a run for his money. She doesn’t think with her vagina or heart, but first and foremost with her brain – doing the right thing, no matter how much it might break her heart in the process. This right there is a female character who I can respect. I love how strong her character is – despite and because of her being paraplegic. Not having had it easy in her life, she is used to fight for what she wants and doesn’t let anything stand in her way. This makes her fiercely independent but also lonely. Will she learn to accept the care and love of others with the help of Jared and will she allow herself to be vulnerable?Jared on the other hand is one of the sweetest book boyfriends ever. Although a rich spoilt kid, he doesn’t show it in his behaviour. He is sweet, charming and funny. At the same time he can be quite dominant and sexy as hell. With the things he does for and the things he says to Rachel, he made me swoon like crazy and melted my heart. And we all know that is a sure way into a woman’s pants. Not scared of talking about feelings and showing his emotions, without being whiney or sappy, he totally knocked me of my feet. But behind all this sweetness he carries a secret that he isn’t willing to face fearing that once he does so, it will be real.The relationship between Jared and Rachel is charming and downright magical. It is based on a strong friendship and mutual respect. It melted my heart and made my insides all fuzzy and gooey. The way they support each other and care for one another made me a weepy mess at times. But what made it absolutely perfect was that neither of them was giving up who they are for the relationship. Yes, they learn and compromise, they adjust and make sacrifices. They love. But they stay the person that they were – not trying to change one another or change for the other person.It was truly incredibly, how in a subtle way, Nicola Haken manages to educate and teach me as a reader about various topics. How she manages to make me think, analyze my behaviour and the behaviour of others. How she makes me question my way of thinking and makes me see things from a different perspective. Managing to write Rachel’s character as a strong woman, she still manages to show the everyday struggles that someone in a wheelchair has to face. She makes me aware of the daily challenges and difficulties that the most trivial things can pose. She makes me aware of the things that I, as a person without disabilities, take for granted. She teaches me, the reader, about the vulnerability, the insecurities and the pain that is caused by judgemental and ignorant people. And she delivers all of that without coming across as preachy or condescending. She shows how sometimes people that seem strong and self-confident have insecurities and fear hidden deep inside of them. And that isn’t just the case with Rachel but with Jared as well.I can’t put into words how much I love the story…the love, emotions, the hot sex, the drama and the educational aspects that come with Rachel’s and Jared’s lives.5+ educational, emotional, engrossing, ecstatic stars.