I'm sitting here the morning (afternoon) after, still trying to figure out what to write about this book, and I'm actually a bit frustrated with myself. All I can say is that Tarryn Fisher has done it again. This is the fifth book of hers that I've read, and she just sucks me into her worlds every single time. She has this ridiculous talent for writing about love and relationships, but not without incorporating all the sadness, hurt, pitfalls, and downsides that have the tendency to come with fighting for what you want.
Tarryn writes romance that's unconventional as far as novel standards go, but is very normal for the real world. When we read a story of love, we want the perfection, the happy ending, the extras that we don't get when it comes to the mundane and every day of our own lives. She takes real issues and people who are less than perfect, and lets them tell their story.
Helena is a unique soul. She is not the perky cheerleader that is her best friend, Della. She's shaping her whole future around a dream she had one night. In this dream, she was married to Della's boyfriend, Kit and together, they have two children. It seems silly and unrealistic, but Helena is able to let go of what she thought her future was supposed to be (the beige bitch who works in accounting, as straight-laced as you could possibly get) in order to discover who she really is (artist? blogger? working in an art studio?). Her friendship with Kit allows him to see things about himself as well.
Their friendship is strange considering the circumstances. He's dating Della, and Helena winds up single when she finds out her boyfriend, Neil (the one she was supposed to build a future with) has been cheating on her. Helena hangs out with Kit while he works, they text each other fairly regularly, they hang out from time to time, which blurs the line of the friends they're supposed to be, and something else entirely.
It ached to see their chemistry meshing so well, but their timing so wrong. Without a dream opening up their curiosity to what they could be together, Kit and Helena could have remained blissfully unaware of their potential. I can completely understand why this book is titled the way it is, because all I kept thinking during their struggles both together and apart was, "f*ck love".
Kudos to them for trudging through a roller coaster of a journey loaded with twists and turns to see what would happen. There were so many times when I thought I would have walked away and just taken the loss. When they were hurting, it was brutal, and I couldn't bear it for either of them.
Happy endings are another thing Tarryn does so well. While other stories wrap up everything in a sweet little bow with a wedding or a baby (or both), she goes the route of something much more realistic in this day and age. It just proves an indviduals' ending is different and unique to their own lives, and you don't necessarily need a white dress or a bunch of flowers to achieve pure happiness.
My Final Rating: five out of five stars
