In Love, Carry My Bags, we felt Camryn Johnson’s joy and pain during her heartwrenching and heartwarming journey through life’s circumstances, poor choices, and difficult lessons. Through her relationships with both Glenn and Reese, she became the person she wanted and needed to be.
Now it’s Glenn’s turn.
Glenn, who feels chronically misunderstood, shares his side of the story in the stand-alone novel I Loved That About Her, revealing his own inner struggles and showing what it’s like to live at the mercy of forces beyond conscious control. These forces take him and his family to the edge when college arch nemesis, Raine Babcock, wreaks havoc on their lives. Glenn shows us that all is not necessarily what it seems, even to himself.
Walking a mile in his shoes, may change hearts and minds about the bad boy from Love, Carry My Bags that readers loved to hate.
Recommended for mature audiences 17+ for language and sexual situations.
C.R. Everett was born in Northern Illinois and has lived in various places over the years, currently residing in Utah. For twenty years she worked in finance, but today devotes her time to writing. When not writing, she updates her website, connects with her readers, does the mom thing, or cleans up after unruly pets. In her free time she enjoys reading, usually at the gym while on a treadmill, baking, taking walks, enjoying nature, and going to Starbucks. Mocha is her favorite.
This is a follow up book to Love, Carry My Bags. In the first book we got to hear Camryn's POV and in this one we get Glenn's. I had a feeling in the first book that Glenn really love his girl and now I know for sure. I loved knowing all the reasons behind the bad things he did. This story is heartfelt and it happens in some people's life everyday. If you haven't read the first book, you will need to before reading this one. Both sides of these character's POV are amazingly written. Now I am hoping we can get Reese's story.
This book took every preconceived notion or thought I had about Glenn and just threw them completely out the window. It took the judgements that I made after reading Love, Carry My Bags and completely changed my perspective on them. This changed everything I had to say about the first book in the series because it put the story of Glenn and Camryn in a new light. And that light was bright and unexpected. If you have not read Love, Carry My Bags, please do not read any further. The two books are very entwined and to fully understand the depths of this one, the first book is a must.
So when I finished Love, Carry My Bags, I was nearly thankful that everything ended up the way it did. Glenn just seemed angry and lazy and honestly I thought he was so self-centered that there would be no recovering from that. But then This book hit and it hit hard. Showing just how two people can view the same situations completely differently based on so many factors of their lives.
Glenn actually stole my heart a bit in this book because I was seeing the same story but through his eyes. It was not the same story at all.
The preconceived notions that I held about Glenn from the first book took a whole new dimension in this one and I was actually left in awe of his strength and character. He may not have had everything in the world going for him and most days he felt lucky if anything went his way, but he had love. Love that was burried so deep that looking through the eyes of anyone else, you may never get a chance to see. His perspective was so different than what I was expecting and in the end, I just found him as misunderstood as he always thought he was, but knowing the battles that he faced, I knew that he actually overcame so much in his life.
And he loved Camryn so very much until the very end. She was the one that changed his life. He admired her love and her compassion and her good. He admired his wife and would have done everything to show her just how much.
There was so much time wasted on poor communication with this couple. If they had sat down and taken the time to figure out how to communicate in the early years, the later years wouldn’t have been spent with so much pain and heartache.
This opened my eyes to see a different perspective and it was a brilliant reminder that hearing and listening are two different things completely and even the best of intentions can often be misunderstood.
This book was written in such a unique way that it just ended up touching my heart. I know the big question is how do I go from really disliking a character to actually appreciating him? Well, when you change your perspective, you change your opinion. The two books in this series just had a greater impact on me than I thought they would after reading the first one. It is well written and a great reminder never to judge a book (or a person) by its cover.
*I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
I thoroughly enjoyed Love, Carry My Bags (the companion novel to I Loved That About Her) and meeting Camryn and Glenn for the first time. When I heard that this author was working on a story from Glenn's perspective, I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into it to better understand who Glenn was and why he acted the way he did.
Glenn's character arc is well written. I'm amazed at how Glenn was portrayed outwardly as a jac#a$$ but in reading his thoughts, I came to understand why he acted the way he did. His defenses were up, he knew he was different but he didn't know why and his tough guy exterior shielded him from the rest of the world. You see how Glenn eventually realizes who he is and that he's not easy to live with and he does so just in time to apologize to Camryn.
In both books, Glenn was dealing with an undiagnosed disorder which made him act the way you did. Do you know someone whose actions you're always questioning? Do you know someone with a disorder like ADHD or bi-polar? You will relate to this book. Reading Glenn's perspective opens your eyes to what it is like to live with an undiagnosed disorder and how it impacts everyone around you.
Kudos to the author and then way she slipped the title of the book throughout the novel! I Loved That About This Book!
Brilliantly written, poetic, heart warming & heart wrenching. 5 Stars 5=I loved it, 4=I liked it a lot, 3=I liked it, 2=I liked it a little, 1=I didn't like it.
I wrote this book from popular demand. Many readers of Love, Carry My Bags despised the character Glenn and were wondering "what was he thinking?" and "oh yeah, About That...." While I Loved That About Her is a companion novel to Love, Carry My Bags, it is also stand alone. Very likely, if you read one, you'll want to read the other because...
There are two sides to every story. I felt it was important to understand the other side and delve into Glenn's head. While he was hard to get along with, he had his reasons. Not only does Glenn tell his side of the story, but he navigates a whole new precarious situation that wasn’t previously explored.
I think you will not only be pleased, but take pause, reflecting on the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God. Truth does not solve all the problems, but it does shine a light in the dark spaces, and that's what I hoped to accomplish with I Loved That About Her.
Oh where to begin with the emotional mess this book has left me in, it’s difficult to put the feelings into words. We met Camryn and her somewhat difficult Husband Glenn, in Love, Carry My Bags and I Loved That About Her is essentially a retelling of their story from Glenn's POV. I am not always a lover of return POV's but after reading Camryn's story I really wanted to know Glenn's side of things and get to understand what goes on in this man’s head hopefully. We learnt of Glenn's fate in book 1 and this is pretty much a beyond the grave observation of his life. We also learnt at the end of book 1 that Glenn in fact has Adult ADHD though this condition is not known fully to Glenn in the story. As a mother of an ADHD sufferer I have to say the author has done a wonderful job of explaining how the logic of an ADHD sufferers mind truly works, so much so that I had to message to thank her for bringing this condition to the wider audience. So Glenn, he is a lovely man but his condition just doesn't allow him to see how his ways affect his wife so much and it is heart breaking to see Camryn go through some of the difficult situations all over again. He just sits back, sticks to his guns and goes off on a whim and does as he thinks best before discussing anything with his wife. Had we not be in his head and seeing how this is all perfectly logical in his thinking you would be wanting to throw your ereader/book across the room in the same frustration Camryn deals with. We do also hear from Camryn again in a few chapters which was nice to have her input to certain situations. The book is again told in an autobiography style of writing which works really well and again it really does feel that you are reading true life. I love that the title of the book is in so many of Glenn's thoughts when telling us about his Camryn even before he realises he does actually love her but even that has you saying to him "well tell her then" a number of times. The story does sag a little bit in the middle as it is the same ground, during their marriage, being covered until we hit a truly shocking time in their lives which Camryn found too difficult to discuss in her story which I thought was really clever of the author to bring new life to the story and so it wasn't a complete retell. As the book comes to a close and leads up to Glenn's demise it is such emotional reading to see how he was trying to protect his wife, again perfectly logical in Glenn's mind. I have to say I found it truly difficult reading and cried through the last quarter of the book as if I had lost a close relative which is credit to the author for pulling me into Camryn and Glenn's story so well that I felt such an attachment to them. I was honestly laid in bed reading with a bunch of balled up soggy tissues round me and so thankful for my Husbands night shift. I am now hoping that there will be a third book as I would really like to see how Camryn and her girls fair in life after Glenn. A wonderful, enlightening, sometimes frustrating but very emotional read. I would recommend to anyone that enjoys a good tearjerker and a book that is not littered with sex, just sexual references. Also anyone that has a connection with ADHD as it is so well written that it is almost factual to how the condition affects sufferers. A brilliant five star read, again for the power of emotion this book stirred in me as a reader.
For the first time, I read a book which I don't know how to categorized. It shouldn't be the first time since I've read Love, Carry My Bags only that I was half-way through it and wasn't able to finish reading it then decided to read I Love That About Her. Now that I did, I want to go back to the first book and know the whole of Camryn's view on several matters. And I definitely will.
As of now though, let me talk about I Love That About Her. At first I was just going to the notion that I need to read this book and get over with it. I must admit that I find the opening of the book a little dragging and hardly interesting. But then as I go on, I realized reading the book was like getting to know Glenn personally. I then realized why C.R. Everett wrote it the way she did. Glenn was not an easy person to be with. He's about as annoying the the way he was introduced in the start of the book. But with each page, it's like I was getting deeper into an under ground tunnel of his mind, his ADHD mind mixed with dyslexia. I know a couple of people diagnosed with ADHD and Dyslexia and the author had made me see them in a new light with Glenn's story.
I came to understand him bit by bit. However, at times I still find myself annoyed with the way he acted and sympathized with Camryn because he definitely didn't make loving him easy. But when I read about his sincere feelings, felt touch deep within and started to blame myself for not fully understanding why he acted the way he did.
This book had left me in a mess of emotion. There are times I want to hate Glenn and his ADHD for making it so hard for Camryn but there were times when I want to hate Camryn for not knowing why he acted the way he is. I felt more like this book was a biography of Glenn's life. And the way it ended left me in even a messier turmoil of emotion. It was heartbreaking and sad I could almost hear my heart rip in two.
I don't know how Glenn was portrayed in the first book. But I am so sure that this book has redeemed his whole well being. Not just himself, but all the well being of people like him. And I commend C.R. Everett for writing this kind of story. It's not very often that I've read novels like this that is filled with factual realities of people who have situations like Glenn. And she did it magnificently that it felt like I was reading a true to life biography.
Thanks to Island Lovelies who provided me the ARC of the book.
Ok, WOW!! Where do I start with this book? If you read Love, Cary My Bags get ready for a whole new take on how you think about Glenn and Camryn, with that said be prepared to be a little frustrated and emotional. I Loved That About her is a story that helps you to see an alternative POV, to find who, and what make up Glenn.
After reading Love, Carry My Bags I really did not like Glenn. I knew he had some learning difficulties, but the way he coped with it and treated the person he is supposed to love, it just drove me nuts and made him unlikable to me. Reading his story, from his POV, helped to change my mind. I still wish he would have treated Camryn better and told her the truth way before he did, but I can understand. Glenn has ADHD and dyslexia which was extremely difficult and frustrating for him. I may not like his personality a whole lot, but C.R. Everett has written another amazing read.
C.R. Everett has crafted a book in which the reader gets to view the wonderful emotional journey of two people's life; not just the good moments, but the whole journey bad and all. She brought to light a subject, while not life threating, can still be a sensitive and troubling topic. Children get bullied for all kinds of things and not being able to read, opens doors for some people to be called all kinds of names. Not only does this traumatizes them, but it follows them into adulthood.
I Loved That about Her pulled me in from the beginning and held me captivated till the end. This book really pulls the reader into the story and lets them feel and experience what its characters are going through. I cannot wait to see what C.R. Everett writes next.
**I was given a free copy in exchange for an honest review.**
So this book was a great story from Glenn’s point of view. To say this was the same person that we met in the beginning is an understatement. When we met Glenn in the first book, Love Carry My Bags, he was the guy you hated. Being able to get a book from his perspective turned my hatred around for him. Granted you feel bad for Camryn too but to find out that Glenn suffers with ADHD makes you understand his actions better. I don’t want to give too much away but I feel everybody needs to read this book. It explains a lot on how people deal with this issue on a daily basis and also the support they need throughout it. I am giving this book 4.5 hearts.
I Loved That About Her is book two even though it can be read as a stand alone of Love,Carry My Bags. In I Loved That About Her you get the other side of the story. Both sides are better than only hearing one. Especially if you side with one person and NOT know what the other has done or said and why they have. I enjoyed this book better than book one. Maybe cause I felt that Love,Carry My Bags started off really slow for me and I couldn't get into it right away. I Loved That About Her took off great and caught my attention through the whole book. Great story line and loved the Male POV from Glenn. I do recommend this book. Well written C.R. Everett.
I Loved That About Her is a view from the other side the marriage in C.R. Everett’s first book, Love, Carry my Bags. Glen Conroy is a deeply flawed protagonist, which makes it a fascinating read. He lives for excitement (like partying and fast motorcycles), but he finds love when he meets a grounded, studious fellow student, Camryn Johnson. Their relationship is tumultuous from the start. I had to read to the end, wanting to know if their love could withstand Glenn’s whims, constant need for change, and his impulsive temper, which led both of them to an unexpected crisis—and ultimately, to a different view of the ending I had read in Love, Carry My Bags.
In I Loved That About Her we see the story from Glenn's point of view. He tells how he feels people are looking at him. He himself doesn't understand at times his own way of thinking. I love that CR Everett wrote the book for Glenn side. Sometimes I wonder when reading a book what the character see and feels.
When reading this book I can tell you it had me feeling some many different emotions. It made me think about how different our own way of thinking is from others.
C.R. Everett did a great job with this book!!
This a must read book. I had a hard time putting down.
I received this as an ARC in exchange for an honest review
Wow! - not what I was expecting After reading Love, Carry My Bags I didn't like Glenn even though he seemed to redeem himself towards the end of the book.
I Loved that About Her gives Glenn's point of view - things you would not even consider. You don't know what one goes through - there are always 2 sides to a story.
This book is a follow on book to Love, Carry my bags by CR Everett, In this story your hear Glenn's view on his life and relationships, with his parents, siblings, Friends and Camryn his girlfriend/wife. not one person is the same, we all deal with thingsand people differently. This book hits all your emotions one minute i was laughing out loud the next i was sobbing, so be warned have the tissues at the ready, your need them, it's a very moving story. i have a son that has ADHD and Dyslexia, his 17 but i already see so much of him in Glenn that it's scary. This book is a real eye opener, maybe your view people differently after reading this book.
Well done CR Everett, I loved this book, look forward to reading more of your book