Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara

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My rating: 5 stars

Book summary:

"Since the night of the crash, Wren Wells has been running away. Though she lived through the accident that killed her boyfriend Patrick, the girl she used to be didn't survive. Instead of heading off to college with her friends as planned, Wren retreats to her father's isolated studio in the far-north woods of Maine. Somewhere she can be alone.

Then she meets Cal Owen. Dealing with his own troubles, Cal's hiding out too. And when the chemistry between them threatens to pull Wren from her hard-won isolation, Wren has to choose: risk opening her broken heart to the world again, or join the ghosts who haunt her."

      Why didn't I write down all those amazing quotes? I've made same mistake - again. I pick up a book, realize it will be one of the epic kind, devour it in a day and I think my friends probably made an effort to save all the good quotes. They didn't! Lovely, Dark and Deep is a book that you should read with pen and paper. Amy McNamara managed to write a really powerful story that will leave you wanting more.

      Broken people, woods and Phillip Larkin. This is not a romance novel. Maybe you'd think it is after reading book summary, but it is not. There is a love story, there is a new, mysterious boy, but he is not what you might expect. Wren and Cal are "broken souls", running away from their past or future and hiding within the walls of their big houses in the woods. Lovely, Dark and Deep is a story about death and grief, just like Larkin's poem Aubade which Wren reads all over again. We think that death is something that happens to other people, we know we can't escape it, but it's something abstract, almost like a dream. Illness is always possibility, but again we tend to think about it as something that is not happening to us. Both Cal and Wren have to deal with their issues, families and each other.

      Realistic prose at its best. I am not exaggerating. This novel has that lyrical feel - Amy McNamara is master of writing about emotions and fighting our inner demons. Her character building is flawless and so convincing that at moments it looks like you are in Wren's head. It is easy to relate with her, especially if you are familiar with depression or grieving process. It's like author managed to describe every single one of your thoughts and feelings - I wish I read this book back at the time when  I needed to explain all those things.

      Who should read it? Everyone who read and loved The Pact by Jodi Picoult and Twisted by Laure Halse Anderson.. Fans of Jandy Nelson, Melina Marchetta and Jennifer Brown.

Happy reading,