5 Beautiful Stars!
Sometimes love is painful. Sometimes love is beautiful.
I’m not sure how to start this review other than to say that it was BEAUTIFUL and PAINFUL in equal measures. The beauty in the book came from Flynn Hendrick and the pain came from Ellie Mccallum. This book will bring about emotions that will have your heart hurting in ways it may have never hurt before BUT for me it also had my heart experiencing a pure sense of love that made it worth each and every tear that fell. And your tears will fall. I hope my words don’t deter you from reading Flynn and Ellie’s story. I am so happy to have met these two. Their story has affected me in a way I won’t soon forget.
I will say what made a HUGE difference for me was not going into this book blind. I needed to know a little bit about it. I skimmed a friend’s review, asked a question or two then found myself one-clicking and had the book on my Kindle. That was back in March. Then I waited for that moment when my finger unconsciously clicked it open.
Here are my thoughts about Flynn, Ellie and their friendship, their pain and their love.
Flynn~
Simply put he was beautiful. He is my superstar. He is also different than most. Flynn has Asperger’s Syndrome. For me it is his illness that made him so beautiful. He felt things differently, he loved differently. Flynn didn't always understand “why” things were the way they were or “why” people treated him the way they did. He just wanted to be liked and to belong.
“Flynn was pure. He was untainted. He was good. And this man trusted me”. ~Ellie
Ellie ~
There is so much to dislike about Ellie. She was mean. She was hurtful. She was a coward. But there were likeable parts of Ellie that she had locked away deep within herself. Even though she was flawed she had love to give. It was just something that wasn’t easy for Ellie to do. Ellie was diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder. Her illness is a result of her difficult life within foster care and having no family. She needed desperately for someone to want her in their life. Someone to need her in their life.
“You should do what makes you happy. You are smart. You are beautiful. You can do anything”. ~Flynn
Their Friendship, their pain & their love ~
Flynn and Ellie’s story was one that I won’t soon forget. Not only because of the sadness and the pain that came from it but because of the friendship and love that Flynn unknowingly nourished between them.
Flynn and Ellie meet at school and share one class together. Ellie is visually different and Flynn is drawn to her. Flynn’s directness with his words and actions startle Ellie a bit but it is also what pulls her towards him. Flynn is flawed just like Ellie, albeit differently. Flynn’s illness makes it difficult for him to fit in, for him to be like most in social situations. As he begins to interact with Ellie, in his eyes a friendship starts.
Ellie doesn’t understand (for lack of a better word) what starts to happen between her and Flynn. She should right? Friendship is something she should know about. But the relationships that Ellie has always been part of have offered her nothing but pain. The people that she currently calls her “friends” are just like her. Hate flows through their veins. But Ellie becomes a friend to Flynn. On her own terms, terms that Flynn would never be able to understand.
The little things that Ellie would say or do when they were together made Flynn happy. He just wanted to be liked, for people to talk with him, to have a friend. Ellie’s friendship gave him that but it also brought him sadness and pain. Ellie’s friends would bully and torment Flynn. The things that they did to him were despicable and horrid. What is worse though is that Ellie stood by and allowed it and sometimes joined in. Flynn may not have had the ability to understand but he felt the pain. And the hurt that Ellie caused was the worst. He hated her friends Dania, Stu and Shane but his feelings for Ellie were different, different until that final day.
Ellie and her friends make one final hateful choice that brings upon a punishment that Ellie deserves and this removes her from Flynn’s life. It’s been two years since she has seen Flynn, two years where her mind and heart has hardened where Flynn is concerned, two years where she told herself she would never see him again. Yet fate has other plans for these two. Flynn walks back into her life.
Ellie is not prepared to see Flynn again and what happens between them is something, once again, she doesn’t understand. But this time something is different with Ellie. Ellie’s life is no longer consumed with hatred. There are other things that begin to fill her life and allow her to see things a little differently. She has a job, she is doing community service at a pet shelter and she takes a big step to improve her future by attending college.
As Flynn continues to pop into Ellie’s life he offers her something simple, friendship……love. It wasn’t easy for these two to move beyond the past that they shared but they had to. Flynn cares for Ellie and wants her in his life. Ellie wants this too but knows she doesn’t deserve him. Not after all the pain she has caused him but she isn’t willing to give him up. She is only willing to fight harder to keep him in her life.
❤ I know you’re sorry Ellie. You weren’t very nice to me. You made me feel angry and sad and I cried a lot because of you. But now you make me smile. You laugh and I laugh and we have fun together. You want to be with me and I want to be with you. We belong together. ~ Flynn
You think we belong together? ~ Ellie
You make me feel good, Ellie. I make you laugh. We’re happy together. That’s all that matters. ~ Flynn❤
Will how Flynn feels be enough for both of them?
Please pick up this book and read what happens with Flynn and Ellie. Experience their journey. Find out if these two souls can be mended or if the pain from their past is too much to overcome. Can they have a relationship filled with touches, kisses and intimacy?
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
Reclaiming the Sand is a story that has found a special place in my heart. Flynn was precious. Ellie was someone difficult to come to love and accept. But I did I come to accept her and forgive her but I won’t forget what she did. I never came to accept or forgive her friends. Hatred is all I feel for them.
I want more though. I hope we get more of Flynn and Ellie’s story and see what fate still has in store for them.❤
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