Review: Don't Let Go

Don't Let Go by Sharla Lovelace

 

 

Description:

Noah Ryan and Jules Doucette spent every moment together, first as best friends and later as young lovers. The two had planned a life together—until one unspeakable decision tore them apart for good.

Twenty-six years later, Jules is still carefully living the life her mother planned out for her. She’s running her mother’s store, living in her mother’s house, following her mother’s rules, and keeping the secrets her mother made her bury.

Then Noah comes home and any sense of an ordered life flies out the window. Noah’s return does more than just stir up old memories—it forces Jules to see her life in a whole new way and uncovers secrets even she didn’t know were buried. Secrets that could easily destroy her world once more.

My Thoughts:

Don't Let Go was my first book of Sharla Lovelace's but it most certainly will not be my last. Wow! That is all I can say really. I mean I picked this by accident with absolutely no expectations and it blew me away. It stole my heart and crushed it and then slowly it took my down a path that allowed it to slowly heal. Along the way it didn't dare to spare any the feelings. Over and over again it tore my heart out, then put it right back with promises of hope and happiness, only to tear it right...more Don't Let Go was my first book of Sharla Lovelace's but it most certainly will not be my last. Wow! That is all I can say really. I mean I picked this by accident with absolutely no expectations and it blew me away. It stole my heart and crushed it and then slowly it took my down a path that allowed it to slowly heal. Along the way it didn't dare to spare any the feelings. Over and over again it tore my heart out, then put it right back with promises of hope and happiness, only to tear it right back out again with an evil smile. Ah, how I loved it though! Somehow even when you feel that tugging on your heart string and that overwhelming sense of raw emotion where you just want to curl up in ball and sob your eyes out, it makes you feel so much better. How is the possible? Is that even possible? Well, I think it is... somehow because Don't Let Go made me feel all of that. I loved the fact that it made me feel so sad, so hurt, so lonely and betrayed and lost when it wasn't even me that was going through it all. It takes a certain skill to be able to provoke such powerful and raw emotion from a reader without being too manipulative - *cough* like John Green *cough* - yet somehow it is achieved perfectly in this. The characters were touchingly written and I fell in love with every single one. I loved how we got to explore each one of them individually. Their motivations, their feelings, what made them tick, nothing was left untouched. In the end, I felt like I knew each of them, really knew them. What I came to appreciate most of all though was that while this is an adult book, I still loved all the characters, I still shipped them, I still loved reading the romance. Writing this now, that seems a little weird as I am pretty sure that Jules and Noah are older than my parents, but isn't that something that the author was able to make me fall in love with them and their story regardless of that? I sure think so. Sharla Lovelace is a seriously skilled and able writer. I absolutely loved Don't Let Go and would hastily recommend it to fans of the genre. It melted my heart and pieced it back together again. I'll definitely being checking out more of her works. Note: a copy was provided courtesy of Sharla Lovelace and Beyond the Page Publishing, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review. No compensation was given or taken during this process.