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An absolutely beautiful read, this book resonated so powerfully with me that it was difficult to see it end.

Deeply evocative, the author captures perfectly the heady rush that comes with being eighteen, on the cusp of adulthood – a time so jumbled up with innocence, heart-ache, yearnings, mysteries, firsts, and the crushing, exhilarating wonder of all-encompassing love and loss. I adored this book – finding myself completely immersed in a time and a place poignantly reminiscent of a world not entirely forgotten, after all.

Talia is the consummate heroine – vulnerable, raw, saddled with the emotional remnants of a childhood steeped in transience and insecurity, she is desperately searching for a place to belong – and is counting on her escape to Olympia, Washington, and a new start at college, to help heal her ever-present “old, empty ache”.

A wonderful character, – Talia is creative, artistic, and insightful – with a clear, guileless, narrative voice so authentic that it feels as if we are eavesdropping on a student journal held-close. At times, her thoughts, both beautiful and emotionally compelling, read as pure and as elegant as poetry (of the very best kind, unstudied and straight-from-the-heart).

“The night was like a hand, with us in its wide, dark palm”.

“His voice was like a warm blanket and when I thought how I wouldn’t be hearing it for so long, my heart sliced in two”.

“I was becoming his and he was becoming mine and this pulled something out of me”.

“I was feeling something else, fed and nourished and brilliant, like every day was my favorite song“.

A dancer, fascinated with her study of Indian classical Orissi dance, Talia’s intense physicality, her joyous dissolution into music, movement, and the seductive lure of the sensual world, is as wondrous for her as it is engaging for the reader.

As she struggles with life-altering questions – who and what to really love; when and how to let go; how to lean truly fierce, and strong, and graceful – it’s not exactly clear how her own “small story” will find a fit “into a larger one”, – but thankfully, for this reader, the magic is all in riding along to share in her bittersweet journey.

A great big thank you to the author for an ARC of this book. All thoughts presented are my own.

@blackrosewriting @jennyjaeckel