This book was a great surprise! I got it as a free download at some point and it's been sitting on my Kindle for who knows how long waiting for me to discover it. I didn't anticipate that I would like it so much and finish it so quickly.
Jonathan has just woken up...from a 6 year coma. A stroke at age 28 put him into a coma that has eaten away the last 6 years of his life. He wakes up to find that he has to learn how to do everything all over again and try to remember who people are. That's the other thing he lost - he has no memory of anyone, not his parents, his brother, nobody. He's starting clean. The problem with Jonathan starting clean is that everyone else isn't. They expect him to be who he was before and don't understand that he is no longer that person. As Jonathan relearns everything from talking to walking to what feelings are he also meets another young stroke patient who is on her own path of relearning. Together they forge a friendship that helps them learn new things and figure out why they wouldn't want to go back to who they used to be. Unfortunately that is hard on those friends and family who can't fathom a personality change as a result of a stroke. Jonathan and his friend, Rebecca, help each other come to terms with their new personalities and help each other help their families to see that they truly aren't who they used to be.
I've never heard of Keith Cronin, much less read anything he has ever written and I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I loved his style and how he developed characters and story line. He crafted a story that makes the reader value the changes they themselves or others have gone through, because of an injury or not. I know I am not who I was 10 years ago, in some ways I'm not who I was 2 years ago! We all shift and change and grow and he chose to tackle those shifts through something that really can and does happen. I really enjoyed this book.