She Writes Love

By Sandi Lynn

Synopsis

Two lives, two losses, and one meeting that changed their lives forever. Learning to move on and to love again isn’t always easy.

Review

What an emotional read about two people who lost their significant others way too soon, leaving them both widowed before their 30th birthdays. Paisley lost her husband after he suffered a heart attack on their one year wedding anniversary, while Ben lost his wife to cervical cancer after five years of marriage. Coming up to the one year anniversary of their deaths, they meet by chance when they reluctantly attend a grief counselling session. Both are still grieving heavily, preferring to be left alone and unsure how they’re supposed to move on. After another chance meeting the very next day, a friendship forms when they realise that nobody understands what they are going through better than themselves. Who better to help you move on than someone who’s stuck in the same situation that you are?

Each help the other sort through their feelings of grief and guilt, while forming a foundation for a relationship. Ben seems comfortable with the idea of starting a new relationship while Paisley is a bit more reluctant. Both have large families that sympathise with them and try to be supportive, but I found them to be a little too much: too pushy to get them to move on; too nosy and always up in their business; and unable to keep the smallest of secrets for five minutes.

She Writes Love… was a nice, emotional read, and I did find myself reaching for the tissues quite a few times. We’re given POVs for both Paisley and Ben which was great as we got to see what each of them were going through. That being said, I just can’t give this a 5 Heart rating. Despite being emotional and cry-worthy, I felt the story was lacking, that it was missing something. Almost every sentence is really short, and while this might not necessarily be a bad thing for some, it was something that caught my attention as odd right from the beginning. I also felt that some scenes were rushed and some incidents were skimmed over or left unresolved. I think if the story was fleshed out a bit more, if there was a bit more depth, I would have found this exceptional.

My Rating: