Review: Wonderful surprise!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 04 27, 2013
I was given this book as a gift, and I have to admit that I was very unsure about it when I began reading. Sarah and Liam was the second book I have read that was told in first-person-present-tense (the other one was by a different author). My distaste for this point-of-view (POV) biased me when I started reading Sarah and Liam, thinking I was about to struggle through another book written in this unusual POV. I am happy to say I was wrong. I realize now that what I actually didn't like before was the character and my forced placement in her shoes for 300 pages. Fortunately, Seiters created two well-developed, likable main characters, and I really found myself invested in their struggles. Within the first ten pages, I felt Sarah's desire to push forward and fight her way through the rugged terrain. From the time Liam comes on the scene, I could feel the ambiguous, nerve-racking indecision of whether or not to trust him. I actually found myself getting angry with him at times for being too rough with Sarah, a strange parallel with Liam's feelings of guilt when he accidentally snuck up on her, touched her, or got frustrated with Sarah's nervousness. Before I knew it, I actually forgot about the point-of-view at all. This story may be fiction, but the actual struggle within Sarah to overcome her past and prove to herself, above all others, that she is a strong, capable woman is a struggle I think all women face at some point. By no way I am implying that all women are abused, but establishing one's self-respect is a universal struggle in human development. I also was shocked, but extremely impressed, when Seiters had multiple references to watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. According to numerous scholarly books and articles, Buffy is regarded as possibly the strongest, most empowered female heroine in 20th century television.  What an awesome reference to include, and what planning to incorporate it into the story! This story didn't stop there, though. Liam, too, is wrestling with his own power struggle. He resents that his feelings are not always in control. He also struggles with the balance of his role as a man and his feelings as a human, time and again, rolling over that age old adage that men don't cry. There were some grammatical errors, but the story was so thought-provoking and smooth that I couldn't go back right now and tell you what those errors were. If you are looking for a compelling read with a well-developed, interesting plot, you will like this book. I never thought I would be able to say that, but I am so glad I can! Great flow, great characterization, and great issues to address! Truly worth the read!