Review: Forbidden Soulmates... Swoon!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 06 18, 2014
This book was mentioned several times in the blogging community, and I finally decided to check it out and see what all the fuss was about. I’d never read anything by Brittainy Cherry before, and the book sounded promising. Then I went on Goodreads and saw the slew of 5 star reviews (many were from my friends). As soon as payday rolled around I sat on my couch with my list of books to one click, and Loving Mr. Daniels was on the top of my list. I was determined to have this book. So, I bought it, and I couldn’t wait to start it. That day on my first break at work I started in on page 1 “Absorbed in a stream of murky thoughts…” ooo this sounds promising already. Fifteen minutes later I had devoured the prologue and most of chapter 1, and I was trying to keep myself from crying. Sigh. From that point on sitting at my desk and trying to focus on my work was impossible. I kept looking at my kindle and I could hear it calling to me. “Jessica…Jessica, you know you want to read me.” I fought the good fight, but lunch hit and I was out of my seat scurrying to the break room hoping to get 45 minutes alone. I wanted to be alone with these amazing characters and pages.The story of Ashlyn and Daniel was so fresh, which is exactly what I needed. Lately it seems like all the contemporary romance, new adult romance, and even the erotica books are all the same, and I was demanding something fresh. This was that story! Yes, it is a boy meets girl, woos her with Shakespeare inspired music, falls for her, and finds out she’s his student…WHAT?!?! Immediately, I thought of Pretty Little Liars, which I LOVE! Aria and Ezra’s story started like this…minus the Shakespeare band. This story has a twist to it, and I loved it. I loved that the author didn’t leave us hanging.The characters in this book were phenomenally written. I felt like I knew them. I felt like the loss of a sister and a dear friend was changing me the same way it did Ashlyn. I laughed with her, I cried with her, and I regained faith in mankind with her. I loved that she had that one person for her that completely changed her world. Loving Mr. Daniels turned her world on its axis and changed her views on everything she held true.”I was convinced that everyone in the world had a form of weirdness to them. And the cool thing, at least I hoped so, was the idea that there was someone out there just as quirky as you were. The idea of finding your other weirdo was so attractive to me.”Ashlyn and Daniel are written in such a way that you feel like they are two people cut from the same mold. Ashlyn is young and hurting, torn apart by the death of her twin sister. She’s trying to move on, but is suddenly ripped out of her world and forced to live with her absentee father and his new family. Daniel is an English teacher and he is reeling from the recent death of both of his parents. Neither one knows how to move on and move past it, but together they forge ahead in this strange new world.Hailey, Ryan, and Gabby are amazing supporting characters. Hailey and Ryan are brother and sister and they are the children of Ashlyn’s father’s new family. When they all first meet Ashlyn doesn’t like this dynamic duo. She doesn’t hate them but doesn’t really know what to think. As the book goes on there is a wonderful bond that forms between these three characters pulling them closer together, and has them sharing secrets with each other they never thought possible. Gabby is Ashlyn’s twin sister who loses her battle to leukemia at the opening of the book. She isn’t present in the physical sense, but she very much has a presence in this book. Each of the characters gets a chance to know Gabby in their own way.“You’re the reason people believe in tomorrow. You’re the voice that scares the shadows away. You’re the love that makes me breathe. So for the next few seconds, I’m going to be selfish. I’m going to say things that I don’t want you to listen to…Don’t go. Stay with me forever. Please, Ashlyn. Let me be your everything. Make me your golden. Don’t go.”If you’re a romance junkie like me, love Pretty Little Liars, or even a fan of P.S. I love you, than I implore you to go out and buy this book. If there is one book you read this summer, make it this one. Let yourself get swept up in this brilliantly beautiful love story. Spend time with these astoundingly well written characters and remember what first love feels like.I give this book not just 5 stars, but all of the stars in the sky. Brittainy Cherry deserves every one of them. It’s been a long time since a book has stayed with me the way this one has. Loving Mr. Daniels will be my absolute favorite book of 2014 and possibly ever, I guarantee it. I’ve got a book hangover that's going to take me months to recover from.