Friday, September 1, 2017

Still by Mary Calmes

Beautiful heart warming story. I think mostly we read about romance novels which start at the beginning - introduction, relationship buildup up to a sort of HFN we feel will be a HEA. This one is different. We start at the breaking point, 17 years after Sivan Cruz and Walter Wainwright met, now a married couple with two grown kids finding life and romance isn't where they want them to be. 



Sivan (our sole POV) confronts Walter, asking for a divorce and Walter though quite silently agrees. We get a little glimpse into how they met right after but the whole book is about Walter and Sivan finding the way to go back to each other. They know each other so well, they love each other, yeah they have their quarrels and life had become a series of routines but inside these routines there are two men who love each other dearly and would do anything and everything for each other's happiness, question is - if breaking up is the answer? Naturally no.. but they need time, a lot of time to take off their masks and be brave enough to be truthful to themselves and each other. 

It's quite a short novel, but it had everything I needed to know about Sivan and Walter. I loved both of them and got why and how they came to this breaking point. Relationships need work, they need to be maintained and I guess after 17 years, and especially now that the house is empty of kids it's time to evaluate. I think Walter's actions are very clear so I guess we didn't NEED his POV but I wish we had, especially because he is the guy to silent treat you. Sivan made too many wrong assumptions though Walter's silences which brought them to this point but what Walter DOES excel in are actions. In these he doesn't fail. 


I loved both of them. I guess they are a typical Mary couple, the brooding big guy with the smaller energetic talkative one. But when something works why fix it? Also in a way it's even better when we get the next chapters of the book we usually don't get, how it looks so many years later when life is mostly settled. With kids, friends and associates surrounding a rather normal daily routine of work-home. 


I planned on finishing this book yesterday but in the end I finished it this morning and it was difficult to read about longing, wishing he was here and regrets on the 1st of September. For me it no longer symbols "the first day of school", from now on it reminds me whom I've lost. Eric, my Blue Great Dane, died exactly a year ago and I'm mourning him still. It's a day to think of who you have around you and love so dearly and let them know how much you care because you never know for how long you've got them and every minute counts. 


Thank you Mary for this sweetness of a story. I HIGHLY recommend it because of the unique turf and the relevance of this story to life and romance in the most realistic way. 



Rating:
E-Book
Edition
142
pages
Read on:
31-Aug - 1-Sep 2017
     

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