The Best Thing I Never Had by Erin Lawless

The Basics:
The Best Thing I Never Had by Erin Lawless
HarperImpulse
Chick Lit, Romance
Published December 5, 2013
Amazon.ca Kobo.com

Blurb:

‘So much more than a love story, more of a life story.’

Five years ago they’d been six friends at university that laughed hard and loved harder.

Nicky and Miles, the couple that were always meant to be… Leigha and Adam, maybe not.

So when Harriet and Adam grew close, during those long summer days in the library and too many seminars they (well, Adam) hadn’t prepared for, they did the one thing that changed everything. They kept a secret. And when it came out, the trust was broken.

When the day comes for bridesmaids to be chosen, and best men to fulfill drunken promises, Nicky and Miles’ wedding isn’t just a wedding, it’s a reunion – loaded with past hurts, past regrets, past loves.

Can you ever relive those uni days – or would you ever want to?

The Best Thing I Never Had is in turns funny and sad, but always honest, about friendship in all its forms and the practicality of second chances.

Why I picked up this book:

The buzz was pretty positive, and I liked the idea of a book about the relationships between a big pool of people in university.

My thoughts:

I loved this book. Personally, the characters really resonated with me. It's easy to sympathize with the ups and downs of close friendships, the trials and tribulations of wanting to date within your pool of friends, the drama of crushes alongside the difficult process of making life-altering decisions about career and family. 

I found reading the material about the university years a lot like slipping on a favourite pair of slippers - cozy and warm and snuggly. Yes, there's a lot of hurt and stress and Drama! but there's also a lot of joy and discovery and potential. My first impressions were rapidly sundered as my heart started to break for one of the characters.

The chapters involving the wedding were also excellent. I've experienced that feeling of picking up right where you've left off - unfortunate that for so many of the characters involved that meant emotional pain and having to revisit old wounds. Certainly a little bittersweet, but hopeful, I think. Sometimes it just takes a little faith and a willingness to look through someone else's eyes. 

Lawless packs so much into each chapter - the only way you might consider this a quick read is if you get as hung up on it as I did.

I was left thinking about whether or not it's possible to go back and recapture friendships from our youth, what moments we can revisit and which are lost to the distance (in years). 

Bottom Line:

I couldn't put this down! Buy it! Read it! Love it! This book is a steal at ebook pricing. I'm already thinking about re-reading it.

After I finished The Best Thing I Never Had. I thought about how this was another story that toyed with the idea of communication - how much is too much/too little.... Now I'm trying to think of books wherein poor communication is not a part of the central conflict. I think I might have to go to a different genre for that....

5 stars
For fans of good books.

Darkness Watching by Emma Adams

The Basics:

Darkness Watching by Emma Adams
Curiosity Quills Press
Book One of the Darkworld Trilogy
New Adult, Young Adult
Published October 10, 2013

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Blurb:
Eighteen-year-old Ashlyn is one interview away from her future when she first sees the demons. She thinks she's losing her mind, but the truth is far more frightening: she can see into the Darkworld, the home of spirits- and the darkness is staring back. 

Desperate to escape the demons, Ash accepts a place at a university in the small town of Blackstone, in the middle of nowhere - little knowing that it isn't coincidence that led her there but the pull of the Venantium, the sorcerers who maintain the barrier keeping demons from crossing from the Darkworld into our own world. 

All-night parties, new friendships and a life without rules or limits are all part of the package of student life - but demons still stalk Ash, and their interest in her has attracted the attention of every sorcerer in the area. Ash is soon caught between her new life and a group of other students with a connection to the Darkworld, who could offer the answers she's looking for. The demons want something from her, and someone is determined to kill her before she can find out what it is. In a world where darkness lurks beneath the surface, not everyone is what they appear to be...

What worked for me:

This book has a lot of great, big ideas: Demons. The people who can see them. A self-appointed secret organization to police said people. Using college to re-define oneself/start over without the weight of high school impressions. The heroine being targeted by a murderer. There's a lot going on here, and it all comes together in a relatively interesting package - which is lukewarm praise, I know. 

Ashlyn has an interesting emotional journey both within this book and as implied by the aftermath of this book's events. Armed with more information about herself, I'm curious to see how Ashlyn gets on from the point where things end in this book.

What didn't work for me:

I didn't feel any urgency in this book. Now, I had to read it in a bit here and a bit there - but if I'd been really interested, I could have stolen time in longer increments to finish it. still, I didn't necessarily get the real rhythm of the book because I couldn't read it in big batches. But never did I really feel like there were dire consequences on the horizon. 

Somewhere in the middle:

The cast of characters varied from mildly interesting to expected YA-type tropes. There's a hazy love triangle set-up, there's an anti-heroine female character, a pair of adequate potential new best friends in the form of flatmates. Surprisingly, Ashlyn retains her best friend from high school (despite, by her own admission, having withdrawn emotionally of late), which is a nice change over either being surrounded by high school friends or completely dropping everyone upon entering the hallowed halls of post-secondary education. It's also a far more realistic portrayal of that transition than either of those two usual depictions.

There wasn't *enough* of anyone for me to really connect - or not - with them. And that was the rough impression I had of the whole book. Lots of material sketched out, but I never felt like I was sinking into it all. 

Bottom line:

Lots of good ideas, but Darkness Watching only scratches the surface. I'll definitely try the second book in the series, but I'm going to need more oomph to push through to the third. Overall, not a bad read, so check it out with moderate expectations.

3.5 stars
For fans of urban fantasy, of demons in their fantasy, of college-age adventures