Jessica Bell tore out my heartstrings.
String Bridge is one of those books. It’s a story that I had to read in one sitting because I felt an immediate connection to the characters. I read Melody’s story and kept thinking, “This could have been written about me.” Minus the adorable daughter, Tessa, and the fact that I’m not married, but all the thoughts, the insecurities, the internalizing, the fights, the emotions—all me. I think that’s what separates the good books from the great books for most readers. If the reader can see themselves on the pages, if they can nod along with every thought or sentence because they get it on a personal level, then BAM—magic.
String Bridge was magic for me.
I felt Melody’s pains and emotions as if they were my own. I wanted to beat the crap out of Alex and scream at him. I wanted to rush innocent little Tessa to the hospital and erase any bad feelings or scars she received. I wanted to rewind time and demand a do-over.
I won’t say why or give away too many details because if you enjoy emotional books about regular people (no supernatural powers, or paranormal creatures in this book) then I highly recommend reading String Bridge, but I don’t want to ruin any of its greatness for you.
I will warn you to have tissues on hand. I’ll admit that I’m a sap and have been known to cry (happy tears) at sentimental Christmas commercials. It doesn’t take much to make me reach for the tissue box, but you’d have to be heartless to not tear up while reading this book. It plays at your heartstrings, then it rips at them, then it tears them to pieces. You can't read this book and not be moved.
I’ll leave you one example of the many beautiful and poetic passages from the story…
"Imagine that you are the Earth and he is the sun, that silence is tangible, and the stars are the souls of your previous lives. Imagine distance is the place you’ll find life and death, where soil is your skin, and the dry fields your bones. Imagine love is the desert."Jessica is a gifted writer, but she's also a gifted musician. Go check out Matthew McNish's badass and brilliant review of the String Bridge album: Melody Hill: On the Other Side, by Jessica Bell.
eBook:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/
Paperback:
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/
Amazon UK: http://www.amazon.co.uk/
So many people are singing praises on this, I'm adding it to my list. Thanks for the review.
ReplyDeleteAnother fun aspect of Jessica's blog tour is seeing the effect her book has on other bloggers. Very nice review!! :)
ReplyDeleteWord. Well said, Karen!
ReplyDeleteKaren. I'm crying. OH MY GOD! I'm SO happy you reacted like this. It's exactly what I wanted. Thank you thank you thank you!!!! PS: I cry at shitty commercials too. Hahahahahahhaaa :o) MWAH!
ReplyDeleteI love her voice so much. What a gorgeous review!! I'm debating on reading it, but only because I don't like to cry. :-)
ReplyDeleteWonderful review! Adding another to the TBR list!
ReplyDeleteGood review, recommendation! Thanks for sharing! I'm fond of stories that don't follow an ordinary scheme.
ReplyDeleteI hope a suggestion of mine will be welcome? Which I usually post to any blog, site i like: Do you use sites like zazzle.com, cafepress. com, fiverr? They could be a good way to promote your works and to help "remove" stupidity in the streets like headlines on t-shirts, fridge-magnets, cups, etc: My Boyfriend kisses Better Than Yours, FBI - female body inspector, etc. Not everything we see and think of should be about sex, right? It would be much better if there were more nice pictures (even of mythical creatures), good thoughts, poems (from any genre are welcome I guess), etc? I'm allanbard there, I use some of my illustrations, thoughts, poems from my books (like: One can fight money only with money, Even in the hottest fire there's a bit of water, or
Let's watch the moon, let's meet the sun!
Let's hear soon the way the Deed was done!
Let's listen to the music the shiny crystals played,
let's welcome crowds of creatures good and great...
etc). Such lines sound and look much better I suppose than the usual we see every day? Keep the good work going! Best wishes! Let the wonderful noise of the sea always sounds in your ears! (a greeting of the water dragons' hunters - my Tale Of The Rock Pieces).