Kate Sweeney (1)

"There's a strange awareness to having a crush, especially one you know you shouldn't be having. It's the feeling - the hope - that at any moment that person could be watching you . . . And they start to look different too. Soft focus blurs out all the weird and ugly parts. All you see are perfect details, like the freckle on the back of a wrist, a soft earlobe. Sometimes, it almost looks like they're glowing."

Mary, or Marigold, is dealing with an abrupt move to New York from California. Her show more mom's taken her and her sister, Bea, to live with an aunt after their father's death. Mary feels like she's floating through life, and the only way she can capture moments and make them feel real is through a camera. With college applications looming and a new place to figure out, she's struggling to find her footing. Then she meets Jesse, a cute fellow photographer with a darkroom. The only problem is that Mary can't quite seem to let go of Bennet, the boy she kissed just before she left California.

The author draws an intimate portrait of three different ways of dealing with grief - rebellious Bea, withdrawn Mary and their mother, who builds a new life through work. The supporting characters are great, too. Jesse has a heart of gold and just wants Mary to be okay. Sam's equally lovable as the popular nerd left behind by all her older friends, who are on to bigger and better things.

This is a slow build book, with the beautiful notes starting out soft at first, then building to a crescendo as the romance catches on and Mary's family finds different ways to deal with the unraveling of their world. The author shows you the beauty of the world through Mary's photographer eyes, revealing all the feelings Mary can't quite find her way to put into words. This beauty of a book draws you in and feeds your soul.

I highly recommend this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Penguin Teen for the advance review copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. show less

I read this book back-to-back with [b:How Sweet It Is|17290894|How Sweet It Is|Melissa Brayden|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1363658184s/17290894.jpg|23913152]. Both have the same premise, losing a partner in the prime of their lives. Both deal with the tortuous process of moving on. But the similarity ends there. The mood and tone of both books can't be any more different.

'How Sweet It is' is as earnest and poignant as 'Winds' is funny and endearing. As an unintended show more consequence of reading the books in sequence, I had to chuckle at the contrast between the two surviving partners. Even after 4 years, Molly ('How Sweet') still 'talks' to her late ex while Liz, in just 6 months, could barely remember hers.

Much of the charm of 'Winds' is due to the cutesy, cuddly (see cover) 3-year-old. A close second is the 40-something composer, Casey. Resigned to being a lifelong bachelorette, she is quite possibly the person least suited to the job of parenting. When, all of a sudden, she is saddled with not just one, or two, but three dependents, her world is turned upside down. The author successfully mines the highly improbable situation they're stuck in for maximum laughs and some pathos. Yet nothing feels forced, overdone or slapsticky. Liz is a bit more puzzling, but its probably just due to the pregnancy hormones.

I'm not particularly fond of child characters in romances. They tend to be annoyingly whiny or sassy, hog the limelight too much or just get in the way of the romance. Not Skye. If only all kids were like her. :) show less

Oh my gosh! I love this book. Kate Sweeney really knows how to write the perfect romance or at least you'll see it that way if you love sweet, adorable, funny and endearing love stories.

Whether it's three-year-old Skye and her cute little personality or music composer Casey and her tough facade hiding a very caring heart or Liz and her stubborn pride that battles with an intense need for love and family, everyone here charms in her own way. You'll find yourself feeling right at home with the show more characters that live and breathe in Sweeney's world.

It's funny. In another writer's hand, Winds Of Heaven could have become very annoying very fast. Die-hard cynics who would normally roll their eyes at this kind of stuff may possibly find their hearts melting ever so slightly.

It takes a certain amount of talent to keep cute from entering overly precious territory, but Kate Sweeney gives her readers something that will surely brighten their day and let them believe in true love...for at least as long as the book lasts!:) show less

I want to like this much more than I do because it's a Kate Sweeney book and I just love her fiction.

What starts out as a steady stream of good humor and intriguing secondary characters eventually get to be a bit too much and the love story between main characters Roz and Kit suffers. A sitcom feel to a book can be wonderful, but not when romance and characters fall victim to too many laughs.

As oddly endearing and well-intentioned Helen (mother of Kit) says: "This is an absurd situation show more between you two, and I have had enough of it. It will be resolved this weekend. Before I die.” That's kind of how I felt at times while reading I Love You Again.

Sometimes (no matter how entertaining a read may be) you just want to get to the heart of the matter and stop with all the silly stuff. show less