By: Claire Wallis
Published: July 17, 2017
320 pages
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, New Adult
Source: ebook, ARC from author
(Goodreads / Amazon)
Summary:
My littlest girl has always been a bit peculiar. It was nothing I could ever put a finger on, but I always knew there was something inside her that made her a different kind of special. A deeper kind.MY REVIEW:
K'acy's got a light around her, one that'll just about knock you over, especially if you don't see her coming. She's got music in her soul, too. Deep, resonating music that echoes and hums, just like the notes that come from the bass guitar she's had attached to her hip since the day she turned thirteen years old.
She's got a heck of a secret, yes, but she does what she's got to do to make it one worth having. She takes care of people. She changes their stories. I spent my life telling both of my girls that you always gotta do what's right, even when it hurts, and it makes me proud to know she was listening.
I saw the way she looked at that boy on the day they met, and I knew right then that things were going to change. Two different people from two different worlds is nothing but a recipe for heartbreak, and when the lies pile higher and higher, it can change a person into something they're not.
It took me dying all those years ago to finally figure out just exactly how special my K'acy really is, and even though I'm not with her anymore, I don't want that boy and his family to change her. I want her to keep doing what's right, even when it hurts.
Because that's who she is inside. That's her deeper kind of special.
**This stand-alone novel from Claire Wallis is intended for readers age 17 and up.**
So this was much different than the previous two books I had read by Wallis. Push and Pull. Check those out too! Where those books started out pretty intense and kept me on my toes, this book is more laid back and chill and had a much slower build. The POV felt a bit all over the place if I'm being honest. It was definitely unique in that it bounces back and forth between the main character K'acy, her dead father George, and various former residents at the nursing home where she works, all right before they died. I wasn't sure how to feel about the POV's going back and forth, both in time and between people. At times I felt like I could see why that was inserted, but at other times I felt like it took away from the overall plot of the book. It's fair to say that by the end of the story it all wraps up together to make more sense.
Here's what you need to know. K'acy is a bassist in a local Philadelphia funk band that plays around town a couple nights a week. She also works at a nursing home called Pine Manor as an aide. She has an interesting connection with seeing death in someone's eyes, seeing when death is near and how much they'll suffer. So in that you could say there's a supernatural aspect to the story. K'acy is extremely warm, kind, and nurturing to the elderly patients. She decides to use her gift as a way to bring comfort to those that many have otherwise forgotten about. It doesn't matter how they lived their life or what their story was before, even if they weren't a "good" person...she just knows she has to be there for them now for their ending. To be the one to show compassion and offer a sense of forgiveness. She seems to have a bit of a savior mentality but perhaps without the arrogance. Though it struck me that there's some delusion in her thinking of using her gift to an extreme. You'll have to read the story to find out more.
Her favorite patient at Pine Manor is Ms. Sinclair, who has alzheimer's. In her six years working at Pine Manor, she has never seen any family members visit Ms. Sinclair. The only person Ms. Sinclair talks about is someone named "Bradley". Knowing how the minds of alzheimer patients work though, she could be referring to someone from her own childhood, or her husband or son, etc... No one can say for sure. Until one day a man shows up to see her named Adam. Adam and K'acy eventually form a friendship which leads to a deeper connection. Though K'acy has been warned to not develop relationships with patients or their families, she throws caution to the wind and proceeds to follow her heart and not her head...or the advice of her co-workers.
As in any good contemporary romance, there are always secrets. In this story there are definitely secrets both of Adam and of K'acy. Secrets are a recipe for disaster. My one major downside, I didn't feel as though I could relate very much to K'acy and because of that I didn't connect to the romance between her and Adam. For me, it just didn't quite hit my "feels" buttons.
Top 5 Favorite Quotes:
...where you come from or how much money you have in your wallet is not what makes you special. Cause special comes from the inside. Special comes from doing the right thing, every time. Every. Time. Without excuses or regrets.
"Life's too short for rainchecks."
"Black or white or pink or yellow or upside down and inside out, K'acy McGee - this is going to sound a hundred-and-one kinds of cheesy - but everything about you is right."
To be loved is a far more significant thing than anything else in this world, and to be loved by someone who doesn't share your blood is something to be treasured even more. Because that kind of love isn't given. It's earned.
Hearing someone means letting them give you a piece of their soul through a story or a thought. It doesn't mean you have to fix something, it just means you have to open your ears and your heart and try to understand who they are on the inside.
Language Rating: 2 (medium)
Mature Content Rating: 2 (medium)
Final Rating: 3.5 stars
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