If you’re reading this, well, you know the last-letter drill. You made it. I didn’t. Get off the guilt train, because I know if there was any chance you could have saved me, you would have.
I need one thing from you: get out of the army and get to Telluride.
My little sister Ella’s raising the twins alone. She’s too independent and won’t accept help easily, but she has lost our grandmother, our parents, and now me. It’s too much for anyone to endure. It’s not fair.
And here’s the kicker: there’s something else you don’t know that’s tearing her family apart. She’s going to need help.
So if I’m gone, that means I can’t be there for Ella. I can’t help them through this. But you can. So I’m begging you, as my best friend, go take care of my sister, my family.
Please don’t make her go through it alone.
Ryan (Pub Date: Feb 26, 2019)
I can see effort in the making but not enough results, unfortunately.
The book is about pen pals, Ella and Chaos used to exchange letters without knowing each other, they had Ella's brother in common and a whole war going on in between, since Chaos is special ops. When Ella's brother dies due to Chaos's fault, he can't face Ella and never answers or even opens any of her letters. Many months later, comes the last letter from the brother entrusting Ella under Chaos's care. He knows she'll never let him close if she knew all the truth, that's why he introduces himself under his real name Beckett and starts their relationship from scratch. He also knows she hates liars.
I wish I could have have done a better job at the synopsis, I actually think it's a good trope. Makes me remember of one of the few Nicholas Sparks book I liked, though I forgot the name. Let's take care of the lonely but strong willed woman after her beloved was killed in the war. I also loved the characters, both Ella and Chaos are people I would love to meet and become friends with.
Kudos for descriptions related to the army and dispatches and what-not. I read the writer has lived through all that, and you could see while reading she had a great ability to fool readers or she knew it. And she does, you can count on reading about what it really feels to have a special person to you sent away to war. Of course I can't tell what is true and what is her imagination, but that was satisfying.
And this is where it derailed.
The scenes with the kids are cute (Ella has two kids), I liked their connection as twins and their interactions with both Ella and Chaos. I didn't like how they sounded too much older than their ages. Ella says they've been too much around adults, but I don't think it explains it well. But that wasn't a big issue, just a reason to frown a bit.
The thing is that this book dragged. And dragged. And dragged some more. The writing needs serious cleaning—which is not the writer's fault, edition could have told her that. I'm sure lots of people enjoy having to read five pages for what could have taken five lines; it's visibly not my case. In addition to this, the events weren't that interesting. I kept reading because I was curious about how Chaos was involved in the brother's death, and how Ella would find out about it all. The death was actually very shocking, made me gasp when I learned how it happened. Chaos's involvement? Blah. Ella's reaction? The one you predict from page one.
So this book drags, there are no plot twists to make up for it, and the conclusion... What the hell? Why? Of course I won't spoil but was that necessary? I do have to say I cried at this or that point of the book despite all, but I didn't enjoy this reading. I know I'm minority from the ratings out there, so bear it in mind as well.
Honest review based on an ARC provided by Netgalley. Many thanks to the publisher for this opportunity.
Rating: 2 out of 5.
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