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384 pages, Klappenbroschur
First published May 10, 2014
You know what the best thing about purses was? They could carry around books.But on a more serious note, Ashlyn has dealt with a loss. Not a normal loss, a profound loss that has changed her entire world. Her life has been turned upside down and she’s just trying to survive, pick up the pieces amongst all the changes.
His eyes were so blue and filled with interest. For a second, I thought they were a passageway to a different world.When these two met and connected, I felt the world shift. They define the words ‘meant to be’. From the first time they hang out together, you can just tell. They have a deep connection. They have so much in common it’s uncanny. For the first time in a long time, Ashlyn feels something besides grief, sadness and anger.
Beautiful.
Breathtaking.
Brilliant.
Blue eyes.
I sighed. Maybe there were a passageway to a better world.
“You know what I like about you so far?”
“What’s that?”
“Everything.”
He was still there. Daniel wasn’t merely Mr. Daniels- he was still himself. And I was still on his mind, the same way he lived in mine. Maybe there weren’t two different Daniels. Maybe Mr. Daniels was just another part of him. So it wasn’t surprising that I had fallen for both sides of the coin. I was crazy about all of him- the good, the bad, and the broken pieces. I think I liked the broken pieces the most.
“I think you’re beautiful. And I don’t mean your looks. I mean your smarts, your protectiveness, your brokenness. I think that’s beautiful.”
“I don’t want to be your friend. I want to be yours, I want you to be mine, and I hate that we can’t be us. Because I think we were meant to be us.”
“The best things in life aren’t easy. They are tough, they are painful, and they are raw. That makes the arrival to the final destination that much sweeter.”
“Pretending to be happy is almost like being happy. Until you remember that you’re only pretending. Then you’re sad. Really sad. Because wearing a mask every day of your life is the hardest thing to do. After a while, you get a little scared because the mask becomes you.”
“Humans weren’t made to be perfect, Daniel. We were made to screw up, fuck up, and learn new things. We were made perfectly imperfect.”
Maybe home wasn’t a location. Maybe it’s simply the people who you were surrounded with that make you feel as you could be whoever you wanted to be. Maybe home was friendship.
“You’re the reason people believe in tomorrow. You’re the voice that scares the shadows away. You’re the love that makes me breathe.”
Our hearts would always beat for one another. Our souls were destined to burn together in a mystifying flame that lit with universe with hope and passion.




“I loved how distant we were but how close we felt.”
“I want to make love to you everywhere twice.”


“I was the luckiest. Because for a moment he loved me back.”


To Whom it May Concern,
It was easy to call us forbidden and harder to call us soulmates. Yet I believed we were both. Forbidden soulmates.
When I arrived to Edgewood, Wisconsin I didn’t plan to find him. I didn’t plan to stumble into Joe’s bar and have Daniel’s music stir up my emotions. I had no clue that his voice would make my hurts forget their own sorrow. I had no idea that my happiness would remember its own bliss.
When I started senior year at my new school, I wasn’t prepared to call him Mr. Daniels, but sometimes life happens at the wrong time for all the right reasons.
Our love story wasn’t only about the physical connection.
It was about family. It was about loss. It was about being alive. It was silly. It was painful. It was mourning. It was laughter.
It was ours.
And for those reasons alone, I would never apologize for loving Mr. Daniels.
-Ashlyn Jennings
“I don’t want to be your friend… I want to be yours, I want you to be mine, and I hate that we can’t be us. Because I think we were meant to be us.”
“I couldn’t believe that girl deserved to be so sad. I secretly hoped that someday someone could make her smile… I hoped someday she would be all right.”
“Was I dating my English teacher? Was what we were doing truly unethical? Falling in love? Could falling in love ever be wrong?”
“I hated that I couldn’t tell her how beautiful she looked each and every day. I hated that, when she walked into my classroom, I had to pretend that she wasn’t on my mind…. I hated how close we were but how distant we felt.”
“I loved how beautiful she looked each and every day. I loved that, when she walked into my classroom, she was on my mind…. I loved how distant we were but how close we felt.”
“I was lost, but so were they.
There were no maps to be found.
At least I wasn’t walking alone.”
“Daniel,” I whispered… “You’re doing it.”
“Doing what?”
“Bringing me back to life.”



"I’ve never seen two people who loved each other so quietly."

with the whole poetry quoting that was going on here. The book is romantic and even steamy at times. 










"Beautiful.
Breathtaking.
Brilliant.
Blue eyes."

"If there was a God, which I'm not certain there is, do you think this night would be a form of apology for him taking away the things we loved?"
"He wasn't the handsome man who'd awakened my spirits a few nights ago with his romantic vocals. He wasn't the man who'd made me laugh and allowed me to cry into him. He wasn't the man who'd reminded me that I was still alive when his lips had triumphantly found mine. No, he wasn't Daniel anymore. He was Mr. Daniels."

"Because pretending to be happy is almost like being happy. Until you remember that you're only pretending. Then you're sad. Really sad. Because wearing a mask every day of your life is the hardest thing to do. And after a while, you get a little scared because the mask becomes you."
"I hated how close we were but how distant we felt.
I loved how distant we were but how close we felt."

"I want to be yours, I want you to be mine, and I hate that we can't be us. Because I think we were meant to be us."
"I love you slowly...
I love you deeply.
I love you quietly.
I love you powerfully.
I love you undconditionally.
I love you gently and hard, slow and fast. Before time and after.
I love you because I was born to do so."

* Beautiful - Unforgettable - Touching *

"I was convinced that everyone in the world had a form of weirdness to them. The idea of finding your other weirdo was so attractive to me."





























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“Because pretending to be happy is almost like being happy. Until you remember that you’re only pretending. Then you’re sad. Really sad. Because wearing a mask every day of your life is the hardest thing to do. And after a while, you get a little scared because the mask becomes you.”
'Student-teacher romances' are not right up my alley. Unsurprisingly, Loving Mr. Daniels was not my cup of tea.
The novel follows Ashlyn, a senior, grief-stricken student who is mourning her twin sister, Gabby, who has recently passed away. She stumbles across a handsome stranger on the train on her way to the city she's moving to and has an instant connection with him. Being completely swept off her feet, she faces an insurmountable obstacle when he turns out to be her school teacher.
The story was cheesy and corny and I would even go as far as to describe it as overdramatic. The protagonists' attraction was 'insta-lovey' and I was not emotionally attached to them at all. They were one-dimensional and I could not care less about them. The story was dull and boring and I felt like nothing was happening for the most part of the book.
Things I appreciated about the book: the powerful relationship between Ashlyn and Gabby, the bucket list Gabby made on account of Ashlyn and the letters she had directed her sister to read once she had crossed off an item she had completed, the references to Shakespeare, Daniel's band that was named 'Romeo's Quest' and the lyrics at the beginning of each chapter.
I cannot pinpoint exactly the reason for my being mildly apathetic about the story. The shadow of death, loss and grief was superabundant. I may have to come to terms with the fact that nothing Brittainy C. Cherry has come up with can beat The Gravity of Us.





“If I learned anything these past few months, it's that life sucks, Daniel. It sucks. It's mean, it's vicious, and it's unapologetic. It's dark and cruel. But then, sometimes, it's so beautiful that it knocks all of that darkness out of your system with the light.”