Review: A Sweet Gift for Fans of Cross My Heart! Loved it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 5, 2013
This is a book that I never even knew to look for. Had I known it was being published I know that I would have sat up all night, waiting for it to be uploaded to my kindle on release day. I would have been that excited to read it. But I didn't know ... until today, thanks to another goodreads reader (thanks Sarah!). And once I knew it existed I dropped everything else that I was reading so that I could start this one. Why? Well, Cross My Heart may be one of my favorite young adult books ever. I loved it. I'm not exactly sure why it touched my heart so much, but it did, and it is one of those books that I have no problem reading and re-reading over and over again. It was my go to book whenever I wanted a light, quick comfort read.But, here's the thing ... it ended perfectly. It was a wonderful standalone book. There didn't need to be more of a story. I was happy with what it was. I didn't need more. So there was some potential that this second book could ruin all my good feelings about Cross My Heart. I have seen that happen before. Katie Klein was taking some risk in putting this out there.But it's the same story told through Parker's point of view. Oh yeah! I had to read it. Yes, I knew that there was a possibility that knowing the behind the scenes action that was taking place in Parker's world might destroy all of my love for him. After all, a lot of his appeal was his quiet and mysterious nature. Would I feel differently about him if I knew all of his thoughts? It was a risk I was willing to take. And ...I LOVED IT!!I found out about this book this morning. I went to amazon right away and purchased it. And I finished it this evening. I couldn't put it down. Yes, many of the scenes were exactly the same as those found in Cross My Heart. But there was so much more. Many of those scenes were expanded so that we could hear more of the conversation taking place. And there were lots and lots of new scenes that made this book as enjoyable to read as the first book. It didn't feel stale and rehashed. It felt new.What I loved:PARKER!!! I adore this character. Seeing things from his viewpoint really hammered in just how much of a tight spot he was in for this story. He was dealing with his growing love for Jaden a lot sooner than it seemed in Cross My Heart, and he was fighting them all along the way. He just could not go down that path. Spoiler alert!!!! He was totally engaged for much of the time he was getting to know Jaden. Engaged!!! That is so not cool, but I think that Katie handles this really well so that I don't feel the level of anger at Parker that I probably should have felt. In fact, I felt as if Parker's situation was similar in many ways to Ethan's situation in Ethan Frome, the literary work that frames so much of this story. I never really noticed that so much in the first book. I loved seeing the real tie between real life and fiction that came out as this story unfolded.Jaden. She just reminds me of me in so many ways. I can't help but root for her in this story.Jaden's family. They don't have a central role in this story since Parker rarely interacts with them, but when they are there ... they are just amazing. I especially loved Daniel and Sarah.Ethan Frome. Have you read this book by Edith Wharton? You totally need to read it. It isn't necessary to read it before reading these two books, but if you have I think that you will see a richer story because you will understand all of the things they are talking about when they bring up this book. It's super short and totally amazing. But tragic. And frustrating. Check it out!The epilogue. Perfect. Absolutely perfect. And a wonderful gift from Katie Klein to all the die-hard Cross My Heart fans out there.Fans of Cross My Heart should fall in love with this story all over again. If you have not read Cross My Heart, you really should read it first. You don't have to, but knowing the story through Jaden's eyes first really makes Parker's story so much sweeter. I know I'll read this story again and again just like I read Cross My Heart. Loved it! Five huge stars!