Puddle Jumping
What the fuck just happened??? As this novel ended, i found myself torn to pieces. The sheer exquisite beauty of this story left me dazed and confused, and as i look around my dismembered self, i saw a shadow cross over my bleeding hart. That would be Amber L. Johnson on her way out, and as she was about to leave, i swear i heard a voice in my mind saying. "You just got owned, bitch!"
And got owned i had... So very much!
You will find me somewhat a cruel reviewer, not my words, but have been slung my way on more then one occasion. I tend to see it in a different light. Average doesn't impress me. When dealing with an average story, one tends to focus on trivial things, and without the authors capability to keep the mind of the reader focused on the story, those trivial things become annoyances on a grand scale that ruin the whole novel.
This was not an above average story, this was so much more then simply that. This was a story about the heart wanting what the heart wants. It's simple, true and unavoidable. It was a story of bravery, not the kind of bravery one would think a person needs when loving somebody not quite as average as the rest of us. The kind of bravery of summing up the chances and reaching out to grab what you want, in spite of the odds being against you.
It's about humanity in all it's flawed glory. Where humiliation or peer pressure didn't override true emotion; where embarrassment didn't overcome or push aside the need to genuinely understand a person. To reach out to them and create something unique.
I loved this novel because the emotions i had reading it rang true. I still feel them after the story ended. Sometimes, you will find authors placing their characters in ridiculously hard and illogical situations on purpose to elicit an emotional response. The angst milkers. See they think if they torture you enough, you will eventually believe that it was an intense, deep story. I don't like stories like that, that make me want to pop a Xanax with a glass of wine just to congratulate myself for finishing the sadistic fuckers. (you know very well who you are, Tijan and the like..)
This was an intense, deep and truly emotional story. There wasn't angst in the true sense of the word. The pain i felt reading this was so sweet, it hurt that much more because of it. I got to know Lilly, and her inner monologue told me how simply human she was, and i could relate to that, because of it i could relate to her as a character. As she fell in love with Colton, so did i a little. I couldn't help myself. When she gave him wings to fly, my heart broke with hers.
So here we are, at the end of it all. I can surely say that the author presented this story with such seeming ease, that both her story and her writing style will be the envy of many. As well they should, because it was truly breathtaking.
Five dreaming, loving, colorfully painted stars, Ms. Johnson.
