2,5 stars
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The book starts with a Prologue in which a life-changing event is told… in the least effective way, unfortunately. I felt absolutely nothing! I couldn't feel Sarah’s pain.
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Then, we start to read about Sarah’s new life that has changed dramatically after that horrible event. She is sad, having lost her dreams and hopes but I still felt nothing.
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Then, by a twist of fate, she meets the man of her dreams – a rock star she has always admired.
Adam is not a rock star that we are used to. He is one with a beautiful soul. He has never been wild, going from one woman to another, never tried drugs etc. He is as straight as possible.
He also has a very lovely daughter, Cailin. I don’t like children much but Cailin was impossible not to love so I couldn’t help but adore her as much as I adored her father :)
The relationship between the father and the daughter was one I always wanted to have but never had :( So, Cailin was one lucky girl!
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Unfortunately, the way Adam instantly falls for Sarah was not convincing. It was too insta and it didn't feel real.
I am not one who dislikes insta-love, I do like it when it feels real, passionate and unavoidable but here, it felt like he just liked a new food he tried - no passion whatsoever - just a calm feeling of liking someone and thinking she is the one.
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Their first kiss was the worst kissing scene ever written, I guess. It was told by Adam and it was horrible.
Me? Well, still feeling nothing!
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And after their badly-written first kiss that made me feel nothing, I seriously considered dropping the book. Then, I decided I could skim and scan to see if it gets any better.
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Surprisingly, it gets a little bit better…
After they become a couple, I started to believe in their feelings and the way Adam helps Sarah to relive her dream was heart-warming and very sweet. I finally started to picture them as a couple.
I just wish I had felt their connection at the beginning, I just wish the first half of the book were written better, making me feel it all. Then, it might have been a much better reading experience…
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So, to cut it short, I only liked the second half of the book.
And, if I had dropped the book, it would be 1 star only but now it is 2,5 stars.
And for the sake of the hope it gives me in my dark days, I am rounding it up and raising it to 3 stars.
"It’s hard to believe the path that led me here. I never gave up faith and knew God had a plan for me. In the end, it’s exactly what it should be.”
And I hope, all the misfortunes I am suffering from today will eventually lead me to a path that I deserve in the end... Amen!
The book also gives a Bible verse that I love so much:
Matthew 7: Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
And yes, many characters in the book judge Adam in a way he doesn't deserve just because he is a rock star and through that experience, the book also deals with the concepts of judgement, tolerance, faith, belief, forgiveness and hope.
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The book ends in a sweet and happy tone but the actual Epilogue is only sent to you by e-mail if you subscribe to the writer's page.
I just wish it didn't follow the tradition of ending a couple's story with marriage and having a child. It's so cliché in my opinion but well, for the lovers of marriage and kids, it does end in the traditional way, giving us all. I just could have done without the pregnancy news, assuming they would have a child together eventually some time in the future; it didn't have to be right now, but that's the "weird me", I guess, because nearly everyone else likes the Epilogues with marriage and babies.
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P.S. I would have liked it more if the songs Adam wrote for Sarah and Cailin were also written and included in the novel itself. I tried to imagine the words that affected them so much but the actual songs would have been so much better if Ms. Runow bothered to write them herself.
In a book about musicians where the main characters write songs for each other, we, the readers, would like to see them, read the words if not hear the melody... Well, just saying...