When you are lucky enough to find love, take it in both hands and hold onto it like it’s your lifeline. Don’t let go. Don’t let it slip through your fingers.My name is Kinsley Carmichael. I’m one of the fortunate ones, I found my true love. I experienced it, felt it, tasted it. He was my best friend, my soul-mate. Life without him would be incomplete. So what happens when that love is taken away? … love is taken away? Is it possible to come back from something like that? Is it possible to want to move on? Can a person be granted more than one chance of an all-consuming love in one lifetime? I’m not sure, and I don’t know if I have the strength to find out.
This is my story…in all of its tragic glory.
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Every now and again you come across a book that makes you feel. Makes you feel the pain of the characters. Makes you feel the love without detailing the sex. Makes you feel the emotion and torment that comes from loving and losing , dreams being crushed, good byes, healing, and finally becoming whole. In this story we are taken through so many emotions and it isn’t always gentle. Then we feel the gentle touches as the characters are healed, even if that healing comes with tears. This author does an amazing thing in her debut novel, she draws you in and makes you apart of the story. She makes sure her characters invite you in and encourage you to participate in their story. It’s a well written story that will have your heart twisting and turning as it mends.
This is a debut novel that needs to be read. I don’t know how I was so lucky to find this author but I am so happy I did. This story is one that will touch your heart and warm you up while the love flows around you and put you in your happy place when it ends. And yea when I got to the end I wanted more.
3.5 stars
The Calm Within, a heavily emotional story. It’s a new to me author, a good debut book.
I liked that Ryker and Kinsley acted their age in the beginning of the story. A bit immature, with dramatic feelings and acting out. I liked their connection, that they’ve been there for each other since they were kids.
One of my few pet peeves in books, is when the author can’t keep track of the time. That they mess up which day it is, in the story. That just pulls me out of the story.
And why skip all the important scenes? I don’t mean the bedroom activities, but some scenes just faded and then I didn’t get to read what happened. To me, those were kinda important..
Most of the conversations between all of the characters in the book seems forced. I did adore little Elliott!
This was a good story with great bones. Kinsley and Ryker are typical teens who grew up together, and somewhere along the way, they realize their attraction is more than friendship. They rescued each other and would be lost without each other. But their lives are bumpy, hot just as individuals but together. Being the love of each other’s lives has its perks and its drawbacks. Even when things are meant to be, the road can be more painful than a heart might be able to endure.
I thought it was a wonderful coming-of-age tale. Their feelings are filled with typical overdramatic teen angst, but while she has a family that dotes on her, he isn’t so lucky. The author took a lot of risky chances that truly paid off. There’s a lot of over-the-top love language that made the first half of the story drag a bit, but that’s how teens can be with first true love. There is also a lot of heartache and pain, and for the author to take the story in the direction she did deserved applause. Even when it brings tears to my eyes, I’m always proud of authors who aren’t afraid to be true to their story.
Because I don’t read a lot of teen romances, it was a little difficult to continue through that first part because it felt drawn out, but when everything begins to take the biggest turns, I discovered that it was worth the read.
The Calm Within by Crystal A. Blanton is a wonderful complex story. Kinsley and Ryker have been friends forever. He has had a troubled childhood and Kinsey provides the stability and calmness he needs. They are more than friends, they love each other with a special kind of love, friendship and understanding. On the night they become engaged, disaster strikes and Kinsley is left alone to deal with major changes in her life.
The story fast forwards to 3 years later. More changes! Can Kinsley find peace and happiness when her world is falling apart? There many twists and turns and hidden secrets that unfold as the story progresses. I enjoyed reading this emotional story with all its drama and heartache seeing thing unfold.
I received this book as part of a Quirky Blind Date with an Author and I always review every book that I read. I recommend this one.
FULL review available on my book blog (Kali’s Book Reviews)! 😉
This book is so unique in that we get to fall in love with 2 heroes at different times, both deeply and unrelentingly. I love that we got to peer into Kinsley’s beautiful past with Ryker: their friendship, their slow ascent into more than just friends, and the creation of their love combined. I love that this isn’t a love triangle or menage or whatever other threesome combo you can think of. This is real life. This is what happens when the love of your life leaves you so unexpectedly and takes your future with them. This book is about healing when all you want to do is crawl into a deep, dark hole and let your sense of loss and abandonment swallow you whole. I think my biggest connection with this and why I stopped reading after Chapter 15 for 20 minutes to ugly cry is the thought of my sweet hubby no longer existing. Even sitting here writing this, that thought tears my heart in two, and I want to wrap my arms around Kinsley and love her through her pain.
I am genuinely hoping Miss Crystal will explore more with this book’s secondary characters (Thor, Jenna, Mandy, and Trexton). I see so much potential and just to be a little selfish: I’m not ready to let those crazy characters go yet. They add such a rich layer to an already awesome cake of characters and plot lines.
What’s this debut novel showing on the map to stardom? 5 ever-glowing stars blazing through the night sky. Ever seen a shooting star? Get this book and you can now say you have. Miss Crystal’s ability to deliver some of the most gut-wrenching literature I’ve ever had cross my path is just so astounding and impressive for a new author. I still can’t get over this book. It has changed the game for me with sweet romance in so many ways. This has everything: baby romance, friends-to-lovers, losing your soulmate, overcoming abuse, drug addiction and its high costs, and a second chance at love. It is just phenomenal! I can’t even disclose a big reason why it’s so insanely good in my eyes because you have to read it for yourself to feel this level of… I don’t even know what put here because there are too many words to narrow it down to a perfect one.
DISCLAIMER: I received a FREE copy of this book for an honest review :)Crystal A Blanton