An incredibly emotional ride. I was very surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. The premise sounded intriguing, but the overall package of the story was really well done.

The writing is at once soft and evocative. The narration style lures you in somewhat comfortingly and then completely betrays your heart and pummels you repeatedly. A love triangle, heartbreak, tragedy, death, and a lot of mystery surround the plot.

The pacing is a little slow in parts and the structure can be a little dizzying as the timeline shifts back and forth from a "before" to 1968, but this book is addicting. I did see some of the twists coming, but that didn't deter my serious intoxication with this read. I did not want to put it down and it pulled me out of a bit of a reading slump totally unexpectedly.

I ran the gamut of emotions with this one. There were wonderful bits of love and affection, some serious toxicity, moments when my gut just felt wrenched, a solid section where I found myself fuming at the main character, and some pieces that had me completely on edge. I will admit that my anger at the MC had me briefly considering ending my read, but I COULD NOT pull myself away from the plot. Was it worth sticking though? Oh, you betcha.

This book hurt me in such a good way.