Live Early
One of the best of 2019 and one of the best books EVER.
https://amzn.to/2sqWFlt
Sweet Holy Titfire.
Just take my money. If I could give this more than five stars I would. I love this author. Truly one of the best when it comes to Mafia books and in fact has one of my all-time favorite Book Boyfriends (Bastian) so when I heard she was creating a book that wasn't Mafia, I will admit, I was a little sad. Well, let me just say that I was wrong. Utterly and unequivocally wrong because this book just landed itself as one of the best books that I have read this year.
I am not even sure where to start with this review because it had everything that I could have wanted in a book and then some. The tension and lies were insane. The inner monologues or commentary that the characters had with themselves or where they "filtered" their thoughts to what someone was saying was a highlight of the book. I laughed out loud several times. The vocabulary took me back to college days when the thesaurus was my best friend while doing a literary analysis. I am truly gobsmacked at how effortlessly the author used these words and wove them into not only the story but also into such a major facet of the characters themselves. Even though this story is based upon lies it is so much more than that. I loved that the author showed that lies were wrong but also left it open-ended because what if without those lies the very things that someone knows or how they have lived their life changed? Is it fate? Is it destiny?
The characters were complex and dynamic. Both Nash and Emery had so many dimensions to them. From outward appearances, they both seemed unflappable. Yet, they both were carrying some serious guilt and baggage. I loved both of these characters something fierce. I loved Emery for her resilience and gypsy soul. She was not meant to be tamed. She was meant to be relished and admired. Her feistiness and ability to give everything; whether it was love, sarcasm, and the love of words and meanings because of the connection made my soul cry out with joy. After reading this book, I need to change her to my spirit animal because she is everything. Nash, sweet holy Joseph, Mary, Gabriel, and Baby Jesus. This man could make an atheist into a believer. He was ruthless and yet he wasn't. He is the whole package, dominant juxtaposed with soft, calculating, and also introspective. He is the ultimate contradiction.
Add these two together and it was everything. There was a push and pull between the characters that created this magic in every interaction. It built the anticipation not only by their bantering but in all the ways that bound them together. It was as if there were invisible cords tying them together. The universe was definitely pulling these strings because if ever there was a couple that spelled out dual-flame or kismet then it most assuredly was these two. This wasn't even as much about the steam, this was about THEM. The build-up to them being together was everything.
This depth in this story, and the way that the author managed to make me ponder so many of the messages in the book were truly sublime. She made me posit not only words but also my stance on Sisyphus (my former Philosophy professor would be so happy now) which considering I have a degree in both that says something but I digress. The bottom line, I am rambling like a shiny squirrel because this book is truly mellifluous. The author reminded me why I love reading. She created a book with a storyline filled with characters that felt real and let me live in my imagination where real-life ceased to exist and at the end left me feeling both happy to have known them but also bereft because they had to come to an end. That my friends, is pure magic and why books are powerful. One of the best of 2019 and one of the best ever.