“The most important thing is that you’re here now. You’re on the island that will always hold a piece of both of them. As long as you’re here, you’ll feel them. You’ll feel them in the sand between your toes, in the sun on your face, and in every little corner of this magical place.” 🩵🐚🧜🏼♀️👙🧋🌟
DIVING IN (e-arc) REVIEW
5/5 ★’s
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This review was written approximately 30
seconds after reading the book. One of my favorite things ever is to capture all of my feelings the minute i feel them for a book and this one had so many feelings to capture in all its glory. By the time you read this, it’ll already be release day but i’d like to say some things this book has made so special for me.
First and foremost, having control over every aspect of your life is pointless, please live and breathe and laugh as loud as you want. Hug the people the you love, cherish the pain you can feel as human being. stare at the worlds natural beauties like the ocean, the ocean will always remember, i’ve learned that recently but it will. There’s no meaning as to what this means, so find your own definition, to me, the ocean remembers me and all the love i feel for it. The ocean heals, it protects, it nutures. It’s kind but at the same time unforgiving. It loves but breaks too and that’s what makes it such a beautiful aspect of our world, the balance of the two largest feelings in the universe rest upon even something inanimate like a body of water. I grew up on the water, being a native to florida, i remember there was a time as a child that i thought everyone else in the world had access to a beach down the street or max 15 minutes from them. As a kid I couldn’t fathom that someone didn’t, i remember crying when i found out some people didn’t just because of where they lived. I thought everyone needed an ocean, even a child could understand the concept of the way the ocean made me feel, safe and beautiful under clouds of blue. I’ve suffered from anxiety my whole life and the ocean is the one place i always say feels “healing.” when the sun is dimming and the clouds are low and the sky is cotton candy pink and the waves are aqua blue - that’s the moment when life aligns and you realize this is what matters. Bianca has created characters that have made me feel every crevice of my heart in the rawest form of realization and love. The experience and ambiance or this book is like diving into a perfect day described so many times in this book. I frequently gave Bianca updates of the emotions she made my heart feel throughout this book and although she thought that me loving this book was making her life better, truly it was making mine better. As humans we live our day to day lives not noticing the small things we take for granted, like family who we just have with us everyday, the place we live and maybe we’ve known our whole lives. But if you were to leave it all behind and have so many parts of your home taken from you out of pure necessity to survive within your own grief, would you be ok?
Our fmc, Georgia James has turned so many keys in my heart. Fled from her hometown of Sullivan’s Island, NC after her brothers unexpected death and the downfall of her family have led her to succumb to a safe and steady life in bustling New york. A nice job, a good boyfriend with a respectable job, a planned future and all her plots in a line. So when she receives the news that her father - Wren has passed away, the chance of needing to return to where it all started racks up a mess crazier than a riptide- and yet it all falls where it needs to.
Georgia not only had one of the greatest character developments i’ve ever seen but was just genuinely a girl trying to figure out where to lay all the pieces. Figure out who she really was and not the person she was pretending to be, the way she slowly sheds her fears, her past, her bad habits and learns that life is meant to be lived free, full of laughter and mistakes- was something that as a young girl in her 20’s we all need to read and see the experience come to life. This is the time to fall and continue falling, understand where we’re wrong and realize life’s too short to hold on to people that don’t make us feel like we’re ablaze. Georgia James, you’ll be an inspiration forever 👙
Our mmc, Callahan Thomas aka Cal is actually a glorious man on paper. First off, i’d like to let you know my second last name is Cal, so i felt very special at this moment because he is a DREAM come true. Literally immediate fan cast being Rudy Pankow ( JJ , Obx) Because i feel like both characters hold the same emotional depth yet the rugged look of being your dream, island, marina, all ocean loving man. Cal is the epitome of a man recovering, fighting his own demons, navigating the loss of his own best friends death and the feelings he’s kept under wraps for years for Georgia. But she’s back now, and the secrets, the fears, and the wants he’s had for over 10 years now can’t be contained. His character also brought me an immense amount of comfort. I don’t think i’ve ever found actual comfort in a male main characters but the vibe he radiates throughout the book are full comfy, cozy, protective and loving as Georgia navigates her own pains and struggles. He really is the epitome of a nice cozy beach house in peak sunset time, with a nice view of the waves crashing. A man of perfect substance, Callahan Thomas 🩵
One of my absolute favorite debut novels ever, Bianca has done a phenomenal job at creating a place with perfect world building, and emotional development. I hadn’t cried over a book in a long time, and yet this one made me cry an approximation of 6 times, both sad and happy tears. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to review this early, one of my favorite arcs ever. Congrats on officially being an author queen! 🧜🏼♀️