Days Like This – Danielle Ellison – Bookish Group Press – Published 2 June 2015
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Synopsis
Sometimes the only thing standing between fear and hope is you.
Almost a year ago, nineteen-year-old Cassie Harlen had a lot to deal with. A stack of college acceptance letters waiting for answers, a proposal from the boy next door, and a mother whose most recent bipolar episode left Cassie hurt and confused. Tired of cleaning up the messes caused by her mother’s disorder, of resenting her mother for not being there, and scared of being trapped by an inevitable future—which included marrying Graham Tucker—Cassie did the only thing she could think of to keep from ending up like her mother: she left.
Graham never knew why Cassie walked away. He woke up one morning and she was gone—along with the life that he’d created around her. After eleven months, Graham has a new plan for his future. One that doesn’t involve Cassie Harlen.
When Cassie’s mom nearly burns down her house, Cassie’s forced to return home. Back to a mother she’s tried to ignore and the guy she’s been unable to forget. Graham doesn’t know how he’s going to spend the whole summer living next door to the person who broke his heart without letting those old feelings push through to the surface.
Neither does Cassie.
My thoughts
Cassie walked away from everything – her mother, her home, her life and her fiancé. Or maybe she ran. Now at college she is trying to pretend to be someone else. But a phone call from her ex-fiancé about her mother setting fire to the house has Cassie returning to everything she once ran from.
Unfortunately I didn’t enjoy this book very much. Graham and Cassie spend the majority of the book bemoaning their bad luck about not being together anymore and the rest berating themselves for either a) hurting the other or b) being unable to control themselves and still wanting the other person. This in between lustful longings of epic proportions. Unfortunately it was all mostly telling rather than showing. I’m sure they are made for each other, destined to be together, etc, but I wanted to know why. Why do they still love the other, what was their relationship based on, and not just the sparks they feel when the other person smiles, laughs, frowns, touches, moves? I know I’m being harsh, but this book had lots of potential and there were some sections that I enjoyed, however then the story would revert back to the I want her/him, can’t have her/him repeat and it lost me again.
I didn’t much like either of the main characters – probably because they were very similar and very whiny. I kept reading because I wanted the characters to redeem themselves. Graham does a little, in my eyes, as he makes slightly better choices about relationships and how they should work. But I just found Cassie to be stupid and selfish. I read the story with a great deal of detachment, and the ending seemed overblown. The story was sweet, but unfortunately the writing style and characters weren’t for me.
The publishers provided a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
More information
Category: Fiction
Genre: New Adult Contemporary.
Themes: Romance. Relationships. Family. Mental Health
Advisory: Coarse language. Sexual content.
Published: 2 June 2015 by Bookish Group Press
Format: Ebook.
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