The Life you Leave BehindThe Life you Leave Behind by Coedee Shaner Burba

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Disclaimer: I picked up this book through Bookkus.com free for review. I just learned about Bookkus and am still finding my way around, but there seems to be quite a few authors willing to let their books go out there for review.

Given the above, I read bearing the imminent review in mind. I found this a very hard book to read. There is a lot of angst. The main character spends her time mooning over a married man while whipping herself with her Catholic guilt, she seems to sing “I’m just a girl who can’t say no…” As a reader, it is plain that she is walking into trouble. Even so, we are brought along on this angsty ride. I read to escape depression. This book drew me into darkness. As often as I thought, I should just move on to another book, I kept reading. It was like the train-wreck you can’t keep your eyes off of. There were redeeming qualities to the main character that kept me reading. I wasn’t sure how it would end. It didn’t seem like there could be a good ending. Yet I stayed with it.

Now that I am finished reading the book, and trying not to give away spoilers, I can say I was taught something. Maybe that was something the author was trying to teach through this story? I was shown my own judgemental feeling toward Faye. And I learned her strength of character she learned along the way through making her own mistakes of love. If you can deal with the angst of a YA romance there might be something here for you, too. Thank you for letting me read your book, Coedee Shaner Burba.

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