Life's A Cappella - Yessi Smith
Book - Life's A Cappella
Author - Yessi Smith
Publication Date - November 15, 2013
Type - Stand Alone
Genre - New Adult, Romance, Self-Discovery
Rating - 4 1/2 out of 5 Stars
Book provided by Author in exchange for an honest review
Synopsis
I want to tell you how great my life was. How I lived without regrets. With constant laughter. Without any tears. I want to tell you how I lived each moment to the fullest. How each breath I took was fresh and full of life. With eagerness. Without any fear.
I want to tell you all of that, but then my story would be masked with lies and not worth telling.
My life didn’t start until I left my past. And I left everything. My mother, my friends, my name.
My new name, the name everyone knows me by is Erin Lewis.
Four years after finding the courage to leave her hometown in Alabama, Erin is finally happy with where her life has led her. Not only is she secure in her environment, but the relationships she has formed center her, making her forget how damaged she once was. Before she can fully settle into her new life, her past crashes into her present, unraveling a set of events that destroy the very foundation she has built her new life on.
Review
Here are my original thoughts when I first finished this story....
Damn....I never thought I would like this book as much as I did!!
I cried - not just once but twice and then a third time with tears of joy!
I am giving this book 4 1/2 stars - and the only reason I took 1/2 back is for the many many references to songs and their singers - it was nice but a bit too much after awhile.
Other than that...this book TOUCHED me....I mean really TOUCHED me! I CONNECTED
I kinda feel like a disciple back in the B.C. times and listening to Jesus preach a parable - because there were so many lessons to learn with this story.
This author is AMAZING!! It is a rare thing that I get so connected with a story that it emotionally and physically effects me, the way this book did. And here is the kicker...this is the author's debut novel!!
One single tear that screamed louder than a
torrential downpour of tears.
This is a story about a girl who has fought to survive through a terrible childhood and continues to battle with her inner demons regarding trust, acceptance, help, love and self-esteem. This girl's life has been heartache after heartache but with the help of a few people and her own strength, she finds herself and true love.
Erin lived with an abusive and drug addicted mother until she was old enough to leave and start over again - leaving everything about her past behind. She starts a new life for herself and is close to finishing college to become a nurse when the story opens. She has a group of friends who she trusts to an extent and meets Trent in Key West.
"You can change your name and your address, but you can't escape
your past, especially when it's staring you in the face in the present."
Finally her life is happy and she is content until her past catches up with her and she finds out that she has a 4 year old sister she knew nothing about along with finding out her mother is dead.
Erin is hit with more and more devastation in her life that leaves her spiraling downward and it isn't until a trip back home to try and get custody of her sister, that Erin fights to make a life for her and her sister.
It is through the help of each other that the girls start to heal and learn to trust in each other to put their past demons to rest. Is this enough for Erin though?
It was with Leah's help and our weekly venture to meetings that made me
understand that who I was today was shaped by my past, but that
my past could not define me as a person.
Only I could do that.
Can she learn to trust others also? Even though she continually pulls away from Trent and has lost him in her life, is that what she really wants?
Erin again has to fight against herself and others to get her happily ever after.
Wrap Up
I can't explain fully the feelings I had while reading this book - this book MOVED me - and I wanted to fight right next to Erin the whole way through.
Every loop life had thrown at me was
responsible for where I stood today.
Don't miss the opportunity to live a life in Erin's footsteps.
