Bradley Booth (1)

This was a wonderfully written, poignant book about love, what it means, and about the detours that life takes. It also talks about friends, family, and about other people who come into our lives that know us better, in some ways, than we know ourselves.

A definite must read.

This is a beautifully written book by a very talented author. It is a story about a man learning to come to terms with losing someone he loves and spending years grieving for her. He relives the events of her death and consequently he makes his life as orderly as he possibly can. BUT there is so much more than that within these pages. There is a full range of emotions put forth and you can feel everyone of them while reading this story. This is a powerful book with varied twists throughout show more the story. Especially the ending! I literally could not put this book down. The writing is clear, the characters are detailed and with that you have a clear picture of everyone of them. This work was based on this authors own life experience, and it shows through the whole book. You feel it - you know it while reading. If you get the opportunity to read this book, I would highly recommend it. I personally will not give up my copy! This is a story that I will read again and again. Bravo to Mr. Booth. Your book "I Apologize" is a touching and thought provoking story that everyone should read at least once in their lifetime. And as Mr. Booth says: "Never let a day go by without telling that special someone that you love them". I promise Mr. Booth, I will now. show less

“I Apologize” By Bradley Booth is the story of Tony Richardson, a successful man who has endured a terrible tragedy and resigned himself to never loving again. Despite his resolution, Tony finds love when he least expects it, with Christina – a beautiful famous violinist .

The Author himself has lost his fiancé, which leads me to believe this is a true story, or at least somewhat based on real events in Bradley Booth’s life. This adds a great deal of meaning, and emotionally show more connects the reader on a more intimate level.
“I Apologize” is displayed in a format that expresses a clear order of events which makes it easy to follow. While the text itself is very well written, the formal tone in which the two characters speak to each other throughout the entire novel makes the dialog difficult to relate to; it’s hard to unlock the true feelings behind the uptight and formal language that Tony and Christina use with one another. I was hoping to see this couple engage in at least one casual conversation, where they displayed the comfort level of a normal, married couple. Although I was expecting a modern story, there were very few aspects of this that seemed to be consistent with present day or even the past decade. It reads like a novel from a much earlier era.

As Tony and Christina repeatedly express their undying love for one another, in a strange and over-the-top fashion, I can’t help but wonder where this love is coming from, as the characters have just met, and barely know one another. Their first meeting is an unexpected meal together. Their second meeting is at a party, which ends badly. They are then married, in a wedding that the groom (Tony) knew nothing about until he was at the altar.

It is difficult to relate to Tony’s innermost thoughts about Christina. The conflict in his mind consists mainly of two emotions: one minute he is feeling paranoid that Christina is trying to control him, and worried that he has made a mistake; the next minute he is feeling blessed and so lucky for having her in his life. It is unclear which is the more dominant feeling, as his mind takes him alternately between these two ideas multiple times, and his feelings never truly come to a resolution. To be fair, his confusion is somewhat justified in the fact that Christina seems to have two personalities – one is that of a sweet and innocent woman, trying to be the best wife possible; the other being manipulative and controlling. Examples of her manipulation include planning their wedding without his consent, as well as later getting pregnant against his wishes. Impressively, she manages to immediately get back into his good graces after each of her manipulations. This contributes to his ever changing opinions of her, which range from love to disdain and back to love within minutes – over and over again.

The sexual references are absurd, to say the least. The strange metaphors and descriptions of intimate moments will make you laugh out loud, which is unfortunate because I don’t believe they were meant to be funny. The couple constantly refers to each other as: Princess, Dearest, Precious and Sweetness – typically several times in each conversation. It gets to be a bit much.

Christina’s eager-to-please attitude goes entirely too far to be taken seriously, while Tony’s lack of a personality is evident and it causes the reader to wonder how or why each of these people came to be this way. Unfortunately, there are no clear reasons or past events to justify Christina’s overboard behavior or Tony’s underdeveloped character. By the end of “I Apologize”, we find out the details of the tragedy that Tony faced years earlier, which helps in understanding what Tony has been through.

Regardless of my opinion about whether or not I enjoyed reading “I Apologize, “ this novel could be significantly beneficial to anyone looking for support after experiencing the tragedy of losing a loved one. Perhaps this novel is not meant to provide entertainment to the reader; this book may be one to aid in the healing process for someone who has lost the most important person in their life; meant to inspire them to have faith in love and believe that amid the ups and downs, they can live and love again. show less

I’m not sure I’ve actually decided how I feel about this book. It certainly was an easy read. I read it in less than 3 days. I didn’t struggle through it, it was enjoyable enough. The problem may be that this genre of book isn’t exactly my first choice, but here are a few thoughts anyway. The main character Tony was believable enough, but his love interest Christina was a bit hard to take. At times she is portrayed as the loving wife but at other times I couldn’t help but wonder if show more she wasn’t going to end up to be an axe murder in the end of the story. A bit psychotic to say the least. The way the story unfolds was nice, leaving subtle hints about the trauma in Tony’s past. The way it was revealed was probably the most riveting part of the book too. The semi final scene at the hospital has a really great hypnotic psychological disorientation about it. Perhaps my favorite part of the book. But finally I can’t help but wonder why the author chose to tell his story in this way. The story is inspired by actual events in his life which defiantly adds a heart breaking element to the story but I wonder if the story of the woman he lost, instead of the story of the way he found himself again, would not have made a better one. Overall it’s worth the read. There are some really great messages about facing your deepest fears, never letting pass by an opportunity to let the one you love know how much they mean to you. Many scenes in Tony’s life made me reminisce about events from my own, sad and happy. People I’ve loved and people I’ve lost. And this kind of effect from a book is truly remarkable. show less