Book Talk Review; Eight
Love isn't free
You pay its price with your heart.
Title:
Eight
Series:
Love by Numbers #6
Author:
E.S. Carter
Release
Date:
June 13, 2017
Blurb
I'm sorry for
your loss.
Why do people say that?
When someone you love is taken from you, when a part of you dies along with them, you haven't lost them like you would your car keys or mobile phone. They aren't stuck down the side of the sofa or left in the ignition of your car for you to find later. You haven't absentmindedly put them somewhere and forgotten. You will never lose them because they live in you.
The soul crushing hurt that burns your lungs with every breath you take comes from knowing where they are and not being with them.
The ugly and real definition of grief is being left behind.
I'm sorry they left you.
I'm sorry you are alone.
I'm sorry it hurts to breathe.
Loss; it doesn't even compare.
She was my first love.
She is my last love.
I am an empty husk who pretends to be filled with enough love for those of us she left behind.
Our little girl and newborn son need me.
I am both mother and father now.
I am hollow and empty.
I am a shell.
So why does the girl with the face of an angel and eyes that mirror my emptiness, look at me like I'm her everything?
*Book #6 in the 'Love by Numbers' series. Can be read as a standalone.*
Why do people say that?
When someone you love is taken from you, when a part of you dies along with them, you haven't lost them like you would your car keys or mobile phone. They aren't stuck down the side of the sofa or left in the ignition of your car for you to find later. You haven't absentmindedly put them somewhere and forgotten. You will never lose them because they live in you.
The soul crushing hurt that burns your lungs with every breath you take comes from knowing where they are and not being with them.
The ugly and real definition of grief is being left behind.
I'm sorry they left you.
I'm sorry you are alone.
I'm sorry it hurts to breathe.
Loss; it doesn't even compare.
She was my first love.
She is my last love.
I am an empty husk who pretends to be filled with enough love for those of us she left behind.
Our little girl and newborn son need me.
I am both mother and father now.
I am hollow and empty.
I am a shell.
So why does the girl with the face of an angel and eyes that mirror my emptiness, look at me like I'm her everything?
*Book #6 in the 'Love by Numbers' series. Can be read as a standalone.*
Review
ES Carter is one of those authors who always knows how to make me feel.
And God did I feel with this book. This is Josh's story. And it's not
easy. I was in full on cry mode within two chapters. And it got harder
as time went on. But, it also got easier. Because I understood where he
came from. I felt his pain, I lived through pieces of it during the
previous Love By Numbers book, but seeing it firsthand. It hurt.
It's never easy to review a book that made you feel so many things at once. On one hand I felt for Josh and understood the reasons he lashed out so much. On the other hand, I needed him to be a little stronger and do what needed to be done. Of course grief comes in many shapes and forms and that is what ES Carter was trying to help us understand as we read Josh's story. As we read his love interests story. (No I am not going to reveal who she is)
The poetic beautifully written passages in Eight reminded me why I fell in love with Ms. Carter in the first place. I love books that aren't just good stories, but also have beautiful writing that move me. I am a word nerd, and aside from the carefully crafted stories that are flooded with emotion, it was the way ES Carter arranged her words that attracted me to her.
My heart ached, my eyes leaked, I did nothing but breathed, and loved Eight. The journey is beautiful, if you're already acquainted with ES Carter's words, you know there was no doubt about that.
If you're not used to the emotional onslaught of feels and amazingly written words, then you're in for a treat.
ES Carter took my fear for this book, and I had a lot of it, and turned me into a crying mess within a few pages. Then, even though she broke my heart into a million pieces, she managed to put them back together again, at least most of them.
It's never easy to review a book that made you feel so many things at once. On one hand I felt for Josh and understood the reasons he lashed out so much. On the other hand, I needed him to be a little stronger and do what needed to be done. Of course grief comes in many shapes and forms and that is what ES Carter was trying to help us understand as we read Josh's story. As we read his love interests story. (No I am not going to reveal who she is)
The poetic beautifully written passages in Eight reminded me why I fell in love with Ms. Carter in the first place. I love books that aren't just good stories, but also have beautiful writing that move me. I am a word nerd, and aside from the carefully crafted stories that are flooded with emotion, it was the way ES Carter arranged her words that attracted me to her.
My heart ached, my eyes leaked, I did nothing but breathed, and loved Eight. The journey is beautiful, if you're already acquainted with ES Carter's words, you know there was no doubt about that.
If you're not used to the emotional onslaught of feels and amazingly written words, then you're in for a treat.
ES Carter took my fear for this book, and I had a lot of it, and turned me into a crying mess within a few pages. Then, even though she broke my heart into a million pieces, she managed to put them back together again, at least most of them.
-Abri
Purchase
Links
Excerpt
“I can’t remember what I wished for back then. Can you believe that? The bloke who remembers everything can’t recall a single childhood wish.”
I turn away from Isaac, my gaze returning to Ivy who has found a friend, and I watch as they take turns to push each other on the small roundabout.
I could allow this moment to die without fully ensuring that he understands why it’s time for him to go back to his life and take up the amazing job offer Jake has given him. But it’s time to be a man and face things head on.
“I’d only need one wish now. No need to be gluttonous and beg for three,” I confess, the words slipping from my lips and drifting away into nothingness on the breeze.
“One wish would ensure that I’d get to wake up every day with her soft breaths caressing my neck. I’d feel the warmth of her lips on my cheek and the indulgent touch of her fingers on my skin. That one wish would have her heart beating within mine, and I’d forever be a happy man. I’d be rich and wealthy beyond my wildest dreams knowing that I would never have that feeling with anyone other than her.”
I look down at Arthur still happy in his buggy, and I ache for him. I hurt for the love he will never know and the woman he will never get to love in return.
“But wishes don’t come true, Iz. That’s a childhood fallacy we eagerly cultivate to encourage dreams. Life comes with a bigger price tag than juvenile wishes, and love comes at the ultimate cost. It’s not free. It’s the most expensive of all emotions because you pay its price with your heart and there are no refunds or returns. Once you love someone, you will always love them. There is no on or off button. Just because they leave, they don’t take that love with them. It stays as a reminder of what you’ve lost, and you wake up every day and pay that price.”
I turn away from Isaac, my gaze returning to Ivy who has found a friend, and I watch as they take turns to push each other on the small roundabout.
I could allow this moment to die without fully ensuring that he understands why it’s time for him to go back to his life and take up the amazing job offer Jake has given him. But it’s time to be a man and face things head on.
“I’d only need one wish now. No need to be gluttonous and beg for three,” I confess, the words slipping from my lips and drifting away into nothingness on the breeze.
“One wish would ensure that I’d get to wake up every day with her soft breaths caressing my neck. I’d feel the warmth of her lips on my cheek and the indulgent touch of her fingers on my skin. That one wish would have her heart beating within mine, and I’d forever be a happy man. I’d be rich and wealthy beyond my wildest dreams knowing that I would never have that feeling with anyone other than her.”
I look down at Arthur still happy in his buggy, and I ache for him. I hurt for the love he will never know and the woman he will never get to love in return.
“But wishes don’t come true, Iz. That’s a childhood fallacy we eagerly cultivate to encourage dreams. Life comes with a bigger price tag than juvenile wishes, and love comes at the ultimate cost. It’s not free. It’s the most expensive of all emotions because you pay its price with your heart and there are no refunds or returns. Once you love someone, you will always love them. There is no on or off button. Just because they leave, they don’t take that love with them. It stays as a reminder of what you’ve lost, and you wake up every day and pay that price.”
Also
Available in the Love by Numbers series
*NB: Books one
and two are a duet, and should be read in order. All other books in the Love by
Numbers series can be read standalone.
#1 Nineteen
#2 Twenty-One
#3 Three
#4 Thirteen
#5 One
Author
Bio
ES Carter
lives in Cardiff, South Wales. The home of castles, dragons and folklore.
Her family joke that she was born with a book in her hand, and the urge to write stories soon followed.
At eleven, she won her school's literary prize. At ages fourteen to sixteen - her poetry phase after falling in love with Dylan Thomas and e.e. cummings - she had a few poems published, but life, love and family overtook her dreams, and she was in her thirties when she began the scary journey of self-publishing.
Her debut and internationally best-selling series, 'Love by Numbers', are a set of interconnected stand alone romances, all with varying themes of love. From second-chance to romantic comedy and M/M romance. These stories do not need to be read in order, in fact, she is often guilty of advising readers to start at the last book and work their way back through.
Contemporary romance is not the only genre she writes, her second series, 'The Red Order', is as dark and twisted as you can get, but there is beauty there too if you can open your eyes and look.
With many more stories bursting to be set free, she hopes you stay along for the ride.
She loves to connect with readers, so please feel free to friend/follow her on Facebook, IG and Twitter or join her reader's group, E's Elite <3
Her family joke that she was born with a book in her hand, and the urge to write stories soon followed.
At eleven, she won her school's literary prize. At ages fourteen to sixteen - her poetry phase after falling in love with Dylan Thomas and e.e. cummings - she had a few poems published, but life, love and family overtook her dreams, and she was in her thirties when she began the scary journey of self-publishing.
Her debut and internationally best-selling series, 'Love by Numbers', are a set of interconnected stand alone romances, all with varying themes of love. From second-chance to romantic comedy and M/M romance. These stories do not need to be read in order, in fact, she is often guilty of advising readers to start at the last book and work their way back through.
Contemporary romance is not the only genre she writes, her second series, 'The Red Order', is as dark and twisted as you can get, but there is beauty there too if you can open your eyes and look.
With many more stories bursting to be set free, she hopes you stay along for the ride.
She loves to connect with readers, so please feel free to friend/follow her on Facebook, IG and Twitter or join her reader's group, E's Elite <3
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