She was his only light in a lifetime of darkness… few hours under the cover of night. Each time she gives in to that longing, she loses herself a little more. Only one man knows the real Lena Gardner, and only he has the power to save her from herself.
Owen Langford has worked hard to overcome a traumatic past, and the glowing memory of a childhood friendship was his true salvation. Now at age nineteen, Owen is determined to graduate college early and start his own business. He’s adamant that nothing is more important than achieving his goals, but fate may have other plans for him. Both he and Lena have their reasons for keeping their relationship casual, but Owen never expected to find his childhood savior sitting next to him in a lecture hall.
And he never expected to fall in love with her.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: This book contains brief but potentially sensitive themes such as child abuse in several forms. Proceed with caution.
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An extreme, emotional ride, with plenty of surprises
Before this story even begins, we are warned in the synopsis that it involves child abuse. While I’m sensitive to explicit abuse and violence, I have to say for others in my boat that this book handles that content both without shying away yet simultaneously conveying what’s happening without being too explicit.
And that’s important, as we start with four-year-old Ellie experiencing a car accident that horrifically ends her mother’s life right before her eyes. Away from home, she’s temporarily placed into foster care while they search for her family, and she meets another small, damaged soul — Owen. To say you feel for these children would be an understatement, and the instant bond that gives them their only solace tugs mightily on the heartstrings.
Unfortunately their damaged lives are just beginning to unfold, each into their own special horrors. Ellie, now preferring to be called Lena, traps herself in a joyless existence of living to please her father in penance for feeling that she caused her mother’s death. Owen is adopted into perhaps one of the most horrifyingly physically and sexually abusive situations imaginable.
So when they find each other again in college, not realizing at first that they’d already met long ago, it’s no surprise that they once again feel drawn to each other. After all, it takes someone who has been through such trauma to even begin to understand someone else who has gone through something similar.
Their relationship is anything but easy, though, as Lena struggles against a potential distraction from achieving the goals her father wants for her, and they both struggle to believe they’re worthy of the kind of love they suspect this is. As events unfold, it was refreshing to see that they both acknowledged their own mental hang-ups, as in the case with Lena acknowledging that she knows, intellectually, that she didn’t cause her mother’s death, but still can’t shake the emotional repercussions. It gave a realism to their inner turmoil as it played out in their romance.
Add in an intriguing subplot involving a business associate who is, at best, embezzling and, at worst, has much more sinister and deadly aims, and this is one extreme, emotional ride, with plenty of surprises.
Amazing read!
Tragedy in two young lives forms an unbreakable bond that gives them both strength to endure and overcome whatever life throws at them. Life comes full circle and the two lost souls finally meet again.
Lena lives with the guilt of unimaginable loss. To make up for it she’s vowed to be everything that her father wants her to be, even if it means working tirelessly towards filling her father’s shoes and giving up her own dream of becoming a writer. Through all of that unbelievable paternal pressure to always be the perfect daughter and student, she has one constant that grounds her the memory of a little boy with sad green eyes. Her protector even if he was lost to her, the memory of him remained forever in her mind and heart.
Owen meets his destiny a little early in life and the memory of his Ellie gets him through the horrific times of the hell that he has to endure during his adolescent and most of his teenage life. Her memory gives him the strength and determination to strive towards his dreams.
Soulmates will find a way to reunite with each other, as is the case of Lena and Owen when they finally reunite years later during their college years. It takes time. Each has too much on their plate but love finds a way through whatever life throws at them.
Christi spins a love story that has it all with the added element of intrigue to make you want for more. I can’t wait to read the second installment of this brilliantly written duet. It’s a fantastic can’t miss read.
Wow. How do I even begin to describe my experience reading Ember? I lost hours of sleep. My thoughts were consumed with Owen and Lena’s story. I’m pretty sure I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve rooted for a couple so hard that if they break up, I will be absolutely devastated. Their destined relationship is well done and truly remarkable. Their back stories are ultimately intense and poked at all of my emotions. Whitson’s writing style is also noteworthy. I don’t always go for 3rd person narratives, but she crafts it spectacularly. I can’t wait until Constant comes out. And then I will be so sad that their story is over.