Review: Stunning!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 8, 2014
Have you ever read  a book where you just are in complete and utter awe at the journey you have just been on? Have you ever felt so many emotions; anger, fury, sadness, devastation, happiness, humour, all at once only to do a complete 180 in a matter of pages. Few authors can pull off this amount of emotional whiplash in one book as well as Avie Bennett. I mean, wow! I had to leave this review for a week after I finished reading the book because I was in such a state of emotional turmoil, every little incident magnifying in my mind, making me squeal, sob, laugh and scream when I thought back to it.Well done Avie Bennett. You have succeeded in making me an emotional wreck! My hat is off to you!‘The Couple on the Green’ is an emotional rollercoaster of a story, that just swept me away. So often I had to remind myself that this was a story as I kept putting the book down, close to breaking down. My poor Cat had so many sob-filled cuddles from me throughout the course of me reading this fantastic story, he himself will probably need therapy.There is so much about this novel that I love, as well as so much that still makes me sob when I think about it. We are introduced to Isobel and James when they are in their early teens, and from then on we are witness to the development of the most beautiful, loving, heartbreaking and dangerous relationship. Avie Bennett did an incredible job with the pace of this novel. By introducing the reader to our main characters at such a young age, and right at the start of their relationship, watching the way that their love unfolds, the highs and lows of it through their younger years really made you root for them. It is different when we are just told of a romantic love story by a character in their present day, and then begins the battle for their lost love, and whilst I enjoy this sort of story too, by having experiences every moment of James and Isobel’s beautiful, heartfelt and true first love as they experienced it, it made their futures, their separation and their future relationships so much more poignant. When we see James and Isobel finding other loves, I felt my heart break, and tears streamed down my face as though it was my own first love that had moved on. The author did such an incredible job at twisting my heart, giving it only the smallest space to beat with hope, which it began to do in earnest as we began to see James and Isobel come back into each others lives.I really want to avoid spoiling anything about this novel because it is something that you have to experience as you read it. Nothing I say will solidify the beauty of Isobel and James’ journey as, without a doubt, you will witness it when you read this book, but I will mention a few of my favourite parts of this book in a rather vague wayYour heart will break when you see how Isobel spirals after she loses James. I was torn between empathy and fury at how she could throw her body away so easily, and the way that we are later told how this relates to her psychological state after her loss, I just felt so broken for her. Isobel was such a strong character, and I was heartbroken that she had to go through so much loss.Which brings me to James.I love James, I really do. But with that fierce love comes hate, just like Isobel felt. You see how conflicted my feelings are here? I wanted to scream at him when his behaviour changed, how he forced Isobel away and moved on immediately, with the girl he’d ruined his and Isobel’s relationship for, completely oblivious to the hurt he’d caused. And then my heart broke for him as the story came out. I loved how genuine he was, how brave he was, how he let himself feel the guilt for his part in the breakdown of his and Isobel’s relationship. But I hated him for being so strong, for being the martyr, for giving up on the best thing he’d ever experienced because he wanted the best for her.  I wanted him to be selfish, to grovel, to explain the reasons why he’d acted as he did, that it wasn’t entirely his fault, because it broke my heart to know that Isobel and James could have had so much more time together if he had fought for their love.This is the most beautiful, heartwrenching and just….PERFECT masterpiece. It is literary genius with the simple, yet powerful prose with which Avie Bennett writes, with the gorgeous story of having a second chance with your first love.Thank you Avie Bennett for this gem of a story…. Any chance I could send you the bill for my therapy sessions?Note: It should be noted that since writing this review, my cat has recovered the trauma of too many hugs without the need of therapy, however does eye me warily when I start up my Kindle.