What do you think?
Rate this book
338 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 19, 2020
"You can fill your life with nice things, but nice things don’t fill the holes in your soul.”
I thought I knew who I was, but I had no idea people can become different versions of themselves in different settings.
Tears are dribbling down my cheeks as I write this. Partly for this story but mostly because it compounds the numerous heartbreaking moments we’ve been through in 2020. This just tops it perfectly. Just another broken piece of my heart, even if it’s for fictional characters.
Mehn, I don’t know. This hit too hard. FRTC, maybe.
“Damaged people recognize other damaged people. It’s like a club you don’t want a membership to.”
Beyah (19), having lived most of her life in poverty, is left with no option but to spend her summer with her father, whom she barely knows, and his family in their beach house in Texas. There she meets her neighbor Samson (20). A rich boy who rents out his parents’ properties during the summer.
On the surface, they have nothing in common. Drawn to each other by the secrets and troubled pasts they see hiding behind their eyes, they start to develop a relationship. One that will end in ruins if they’re not careful. What mystery are they afraid to reveal? Who do you think is going to break first?
↠ Despite having a tragic beginning that punches you straight in the gut and a beautiful ending that warms your heart, the first half of the book is pretty slow. Not to mention, this book is short. I wish it had more pages as I feel like some issues could’ve been explored more.
↠ You might find yourself frustrated with Beyah because of how judgemental she is towards the rich people in the beginning. She doesn’t know life outside of her own. She’s jaded and bitter. So, I think that behavior (warranted or not) is not a surprise.
↠ Even though the side characters (Brian the father, Alana the stepmother, Sara the stepsister with her boyfriend Marco, and Marjorie the grandma next door) are all different shades of kind, nice, and lovely; they are also somewhat . . . hollow.
↠ Beyah and Sara have a growing friendship that I adore. However, the father/daughter relationship is . . . rushed and unsatisfying. I would’ve loved to see how Beyah removed her animosity towards Brian and how they repaired their relationship.
↠ The romance blossoms too fast within a month and a half time of them being in each other’smiserablecompany. Plus, with no distinctive humor and fun banter, what even is this? Sorry, love, we have to stick to the theme and keep it angsty and depressing.
“Maybe we did grow heart bones. But what if the only way of knowing you grew a heart bone is by feeling the agony caused by the break?”
“You can fill your life with nice things, but nice things don’t fill the holes in your soul.”
“What fills the holes in a soul?”
“Pieces of someone else’s soul.”
“People sometimes still drown in the shallow end,”
Damaged people recognize other damaged people. It’s like a club you don’t want a membership to.
“You can fill your life with nice things, but nice things don’t fill the holes in your soul.”
“What fills the holes in a soul?”
Samson’s eyes scroll over my face for a few seconds. “Pieces of someone else’s soul.”
"He might be right. Maybe we did grow heart bones. But what if the only way of knowing you grew a heart bone is by feeling the agony caused by the break?"
Damaged people recognize other damaged people. It's like a club you don't want a membership to.