Love And The Sea And Everything In Between: A Book Review

Happy Saturday, Soul Questers!

Today, I’m doing another book review! I’m really excited to review this particular book! The book I’ll be reviewing is Love And The Sea And Everything In Between by Brian Mcbride!!

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Here’s the blurb:

WINNER OF WATTPAD’S 2016 WATTY’S AWARD “We are bright. We are brave.” College Freshman Adam West’s world has been falling apart for a long time. Broken, betrayed, abandoned, alone… there’s nothing left for him but a handful of mental illnesses. He’s tired and ready to end it all. Then, Elizabeth Richards comes along. All it took was the kindness of a stranger to make Adam’s world just a little bit brighter. For the first time in a long time, as they travel the West Coast together, he’s starting to see that there are still some adventures worth living for. But pain isn’t easily forgotten. And the past doesn’t just disappear. Sometimes the only way to come alive is to fight and wrestle through all the darkest places. For fans of Stephen Chbosky’s THE PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER and John Green’s THE FAULT IN OUR STARS, LOVE AND THE SEA AND EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN shines a light on some of the darkest places of human struggle. Heart-rending and raw, it reminds us that love has the power to bring healing to even the most broken places. 

First, before we even get into the book itself, I just want to say that I love this cover! It’s even more stunning in person. I’m obsessed with the colors and the fonts altogether. It really is what got me to look more into this book.

I first heard of the author, Brian McBride, when I was reading an ARC (Advanced reader’s copy) of Project Canvas, which is a collection of writing advice and inspiration by various teen authors. Brian’s chapter particularly intrigued me, especially when he talked about how his award-winning Wattpad novel had impacted people. Soon after, I heard it was being published and immediately after seeing the cover and reading the blurb, I knew I had to get my hands on it.

I do want to thank Brian for sending me a copy of his book to review. However, this is my blog and anything I write are honest truths. I don’t let free books stop me from being honest about my feelings for the story.

I was really impressed with Love And The Sea. It was so raw and real and I really found myself rooting for these characters within the first few chapters.

Both the main characters, Liz and Adam, are each wounded in some way. They are both fighting their individual battles. It’s what brings them together and helps these two college students bond. Throughout the book, we get to see their history in short clips of backstory. I really appreciated how the flashbacks weren’t super frequent and they didn’t take over the story. They were pieced in at good points and really helped you appreciate both the leads on a deeper level.

With other books I’ve read, the backstory sometimes tended to feel more like a subplot that I didn’t care to read about, but Brian does a good job with only inserting backstory when it’s relevant and not stretching too far. In the end, it does its job of helping me build a deeper understanding of the characters.

Liz and Adam bond over the different road trips they take so Adam can show Liz the different landmarks on the West Coast like the Golden Gate Bridge and the Grand Canyon. I found all those moments so sweet and it surprised me to see how much Adam opened up to Liz in such a short amount of time. However, there were a couple points it felt like it was getting repetitive and I expected some sort of conflict to pop up, and there wasn’t that much of it.

Despite that, the last quarter of the book was very suspenseful and made up for the lack of tension throughout the middle of the book.

If I’m being honest, I didn’t expect how their relationship developed. I thought it was going on more of a friendship level, but it was more romantic. I’m OK with that though. For one, I love a good romance. This one didn’t feel super forced. It developed very nicely, though some people may find it a little Insta-lovey.

Brian did a great job writing emotional scenes. It was really easy for me to connect with the characters, When I don’t connect with characters, I don’t usually enjoy the story.

This is a book I definitely see myself rereading in the future. It was so heartbreaking and beautiful and eye-opening and I definitely recommend picking it up.

Right now, I’m following along with Brian’s second book on Wattpad:  Every Bright And Burning Thing and I love that book too so you should read it if you aren’t.

So that concludes my review of Love And The Sea And Everything In Between by Brian McBride. I hope you enjoyed reading it!

In the end, I gave this book a shining 5/5 stars!

Buy the book here.