He came back to me 16 minutes and 59 seconds into Beethoven’s Symphony no. 7.We parted amid tragedy, so it seemed poetic. Dylan O’Dea, my childhood sweetheart, had once meant everything to me. Now we were strangers, and honestly, after eleven years I never thought I’d see him again.I lived in the world of the average, of getting paid by the hour and budgeting to make ends meet. But Dylan, he … ends meet. But Dylan, he lived in the world of wealth and success. He’d achieved the great things I always suspected he would. The dissatisfaction he’d felt as a teenager had obviously been an excellent motivator.
He started a business from scratch, pioneered a brand, and created perfumes adored by women across the globe. I was just one of the people who’d been there before. Now he was living his best life in the after.
And me, well, I’d been in a dark place for a while. Slowly but surely, I was letting the light back in, but there was something missing. I was an unfinished sentence with an ellipsis at the end. And maybe, if I was brave enough to take the chance, Dylan could be my happy ending.
How the Light Gets In is Book #2 and the concluding instalment in L.H. Cosway’s Cracks duet.
more
The conclusion of the Cracks duet is a beautiful conclusion. Picking up eleven years after A Crack In Everything, where oceans and continents have kept two people who live each other apart. Has too much time passed, too much water flowed under the bridge or can Dylan and Evelyn find the essence and balance to find their way back to each other.
Dylan left Ireland to chase his dream and make something of himself. As a lad growing up in the Villas he had a jaded attitude about his surroundings and how they held him back. Although he was living his dream in the US, creating perfumes something or rather someone was missing in his life. Fate brought him a chance meeting with Evelyn’s aunt, who invites him over for lunch. The feelings all come rushing back when he’s face to face with Evelyn after all of these years.
Evelyn finally made the move to the US after her gran died. She’s working in a bar and has become very negative about herself. Overwhelmed when she sees Dylan again, she does a runner. He slowly works his magic getting her to agree to be his friend. Although he wants more he’ll take whatever Evelyn offers. She struggles to hide her feelings and remains very guarded.
How the Light Gets In picks up eleven years after A Crack in Everything. Evelyn has moved to NYC to join her Aunt and is working with her in a bar. Shortly after being there, Dylan shows back up in her life, reminding her of the past, which was both loving and soul crushing. Now the two have to figure out how to move forward with each other back in their lives.
It’s funny how things change, right? In A Crack in Everything, Dylan was the Debbie Downer and Evelyn was the optimistic one. Yet here they are, eleven years later and life has handed Evelyn tragedy that causes her to be the gloomy one and Dylan has become much more optimistic. It’s an interesting turn of event and even poetic. I loved that it was now Dylan who has to show Evelyn how great and fulfilling life can be.
Dylan makes it clear that he wants Evelyn because she’s always been the one but it takes him a lot of time and patience to get her to see what it is that she needed as well. We knew these two were destined to be together so watching them fall back in love was beautiful.
I think one of my favorite things is just how passionate Dylan is about not only his career but about Evelyn. Everything is with her in mind. He’s loving and caring and now that he’s older we get more of the bedroom alpha, that I’m digging.
How the Light Gets In did exactly what I was hoping it would do. It picked up the pieces of my heart and soul and mended in back together again. It’s beautiful and inspiring and exactly what I needed. I strongly recommend that you read this duet. It will be emotional but it will be worth it.
Dylan O’Dea is everything. After the loss of Sam, Evelyn’s foundation is hardened and cracked. Dylan has been waiting for the right time to show her how to let the light back in; quietly paying tribute to her in his perfumes. Dylan is loving, patient and understanding in dealing with Evelyn’s melancholy. I could literally feel how much he loved her. And the extra benefit of Conner and Yvonne made the ending so joyful. The tears came in the epilogue of course, but they were from the light getting in.
Check out my blog:
bookcravers.blogspot.com
This duet is just so sweet and romantic. I liked that there wasn’t really anything over the top or filled to the brim with drama. Just 2 people finally finding their way back to each other and being happy. It’s the power of love!
This series was everything. EVERYTHING! I absolutely adored it! ‘The Cracks Duet’ was a swoon-worthy romance that made my heart explode!
I am speechless! I thought the first book in this series, ‘A Crack in Everything’, was phenomenal, but ‘How the Light Gets In’ was extraordinary! Really, L.H. Cosway, I bow to you!
The second book takes place eleven years after the first ends. WHAT, You ask? No fear, my friends, this time jump is perfect!
Now adults, our amazing cast of characters have transitioned into adulthood and are forging their own paths, with all the trials and triumphs that entails. And, that’s all I’m going to say about the plot! This is a series best going in blind.
As a reader, I love angst, the angstier the better, bring on the feels! I also love a good slow-burn romance filled with sexual tension. I fall head over heels for a hero with alpha tendencies, who is slightly tormented and/or “odd”, I turn all co-dependent and want to take care of and take away the pain from said hero. All that together makes for a swoon-worthy romance sure to make my heart explode, and ‘The Cracks Duet’ fit that bill! A MUST READ!
What a great way to end this series. It was such a great journey these two characters went on. It was one so full of loss, love, but most importantly life. The ending was perfect. I definitely recommend this book, this series and this author.
“Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
A Time for Everything
3 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.”
Sorry if you are not religious, but for me it has no better text to expresses the Cracks Duets and sorry if you wanted a review for each book and will read only one, but for me they form a unique book with a strong message of overcoming, how fight for your dreams and love, so much unconditional love.
The books show a trajectory of Evelyn and Dylan’s love , two teenagers with histories of life and very different expectations.
Evelyn is a naive and pure girl who believes that the world is a good place to live, even having a pain of having been abandoned by her mother. She thanks for the love of Aunt Yvonne who created her and her grandmother who teaches her to grow flowers. She has in her friend Sam, her base of support and joy. When she met Dylan, a whole new world opens up in her eyes.
Dylan is a closed boy, very mature for his age, more realistic than Evelyn already has suffered hard pains. A serious young man who takes care of his father and has a well-defined life goal that he planned a while ago and will do everything to achieve.
In spite of the next age, they are very different and are in different stages of life, the love enters their lives of overwhelming form. Dylan has Evelyn as his muse and Evelyn sees Dylan as a guy need to see a beauty of life. It is this journey of maturity and struggle that I followed in Book 1 and 2.
In the first book, there is still the discovery of a life and beauty of a world cruel and yet bright and full of aromas and memories. They live many experiences with their friends Sam, Connor and Amy, including a tragedy that changes their lives forever.
In the second book, what else looks like a great epilogue for the previous book, They are already adults with another view of life. Dylan becomes a powerful entrepreneur and perfumer and Evelyn still remains trapped in a moment of the past and without expectations and dreams. She just wants to help Yvonne in her new business. Dylan is determined to make Evelyn see the value she has and once again see colors and scents in a dark world .
I honestly liked the book one much better than book two, for me Evelyn is annoyingly confused in Book Two and this frustrates me a lot, but I admit that without this book I would never perceive the writher’s macro message and the relation to the passage I copied in beginning of the review nor the fact that each of their protagonists needed to live their own moment and that at the appropriate time each one their help one another to see beauty beyond the walls of their big heart’s walls.
The duology completes and fits beautifully and poetically with Matrix references and lots of musicianship and synaesthesia. And to think that I almost didn’t get the books because I thought the covers that were YA fantasy and not a contemporary romance as they really are.
4/5 stars
I’m having to review these as a whole because I feel like I couldn’t do this love story justice reviewing them separately.
I’m a huge fan of LH Cosway’s work, she creates effortless magic with everything she does and I honestly never expected something to replace Six of Hearts and Hearts of Fire for me. But this duet? This duet is one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever read, I feel genuinely blessed, like she’s given me this priceless gift of words that inspired me more and more with every breath and syllable.
‘The thing about a hero is even when it doesn’t look like there’s a light at the end of the tunnel, he’s going to keep digging, he’s going to keep trying to do right and make up for what’s gone before, just because that’s who he is.’ – Joss Whedon
This quote embodies Dylan, for me. He’s the kind of hero that you’d expect to see in a dystopia novel, the strength and fight and determination to change the world, the kindness and gentleness he also shows to those he loves. I think this is so telling for how dystopic our world seems right now. Dylan is one of those characters that shift your perception of the world and change the way you think, even for just a little while. His fight is all about making the world better, not just his world, but everyone’s and that’s what makes him so captivating and inspirational.
‘Hold fast to dreams,
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird,
That cannot fly.’
– Langston Hughes
Evelyn is a beautiful character, kind and gentle and hopeful, her positivity radiates in every word used and it’s so captivating to read. The flowers she grows are an extension of herself, and when the loss, heartbreak and grief drown her, she loses that connection and loses a huge part of herself. It’s so poetic to read, especially how their roles reverse after the tragedy, his pessimism and her optimism transfer to the other. This was actually really beautiful to read too, in the most soul destroying, heart wrenching, relatable way, LH Cosway explores the effects that grief and trauma has on someone.
Seeing these two lost souls falling in love, and then finding their way back to each other was beyond beautiful, it was hope and love in its purest form and it warmed every part of my heart and soul. Unique, enchanting and awakening, this lyrical duet carved out a part of my bookworm heart and remained there. I’m waiting with baited breath to see what LH Cosway brings us next. Thank you.
Favorite Quotes:
I’m ninety-nine percent convinced all Americans think Irish people talk like Leprechauns.
I felt so small. Why did you bump into old flames when you looked your absolute worst? It was one of God’s twisted celestial algorithms that made it happen to everyone at least once in their lives.
I was one of those people who were all, spa days are for spoiled housewives. But then as soon as someone said they’re paying, I was already in a bathrobe, cucumber slices on each eye, while a lady dressed in white gave me a pedicure.
Okay, fine… You’re not a cougar. I take it back. You’re a lion cub, a cute and adorable baby lion with no wrinkles and the most youthful appearance.
My Review:
Book two picked up eleven years after the tragic ending of A Crack In Everything and was significantly lighter in tone with frequent hits of levity and clever banter between the characters as they slowly rekindle their relationship. The writing was witty, engaging, beguiling, and increasingly hopeful while the characters were thoughtfully deconstructed and reassembled. The first person POV held my interest and rapt attention throughout as I was highly curious about those eleven years and how the story would resolve. I was more than satisfied by the thoughtful and ever so sweet conclusion.