“A thousand half loves must be forsaken to take one whole heart home.”Carin Frost doesn’t understand what’s happening to her. A confident businesswoman, wife, and mother, she begins to resent everything about her life. Nothing makes sense. Nothing makes her feel. Maybe it’s the recent loss of her mother in a tragic accident. Or maybe she’s just losing her mind. Enter Matias Torres. As their new …
Enter Matias Torres. As their new business partnership thrives, so does their friendship—and his interest in her. Carin is determined to keep her distance, until a work assignment sends them to Southeast Asia where a storm is brewing on the island. In the midst of the chaos, Matias asks her to do something unimaginable, exhilarating, BOLD. Carin knows the consequences could be dire, but it may be the only way to save herself.
An honest look at love and marriage and the frailties of the human heart, this is a story of a woman’s loss of self and purpose and the journey she takes to find her way back.
“A lyrically written masterpiece of women’s fiction that is emotional, raw, and real.” ~Tarryn Fisher, New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author
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Rating: 3.5 Stars
Carin Frost seems to want something different for her life. Matias Torres seems to catch her eye. This story seems to be about a woman looking to make some changes to her life. When first meeting Carin, I felt like she kept herself and us at arms length. I didn’t feel as if there was anything to engage the reader.
She’s a woman who seems to have it all but it just seems that she’s looking for something more. She didn’t appear to be getting it from her family or her job. The author shows how easy it is for women to hide their true feelings. It was very easy to see that “for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”.
When I first opened the book, I was happy to see that the story was being told in parts. I thought that would help me to find just the perfect place to stop. Once I started to get into the story I found it easier to stop after each chapter. I just couldn’t seem to connect with Carin. At the beginning, she’s the one we rely on to tell us her story but it felt like she was keeping us on the outside – like we were a ghost watching her walk through life. I did like how it seemed as if she was talking to the reader – as if we become Matias. Was impressed when she turns things around on the reader – it was a good attempt to get the reader reengaged into what was going on.
It was hard to connect with Matias. He seemed to be a smooth talker going after someone he wanted and it didn’t matter that she was already in a committed relationship. Every time he was around Carin, I could almost see him rubbing his chin/beard. But I wanted to see more about Carin’s family dynamic. Usually it’s the man that’s never home and always working. This time it seems to be the woman’s turn. But since there’s a hole where the family seems to reside, they only make an appearance when needed. The story seems more about her life away from home but then the story is based on Carin and Matias’ interactions. Even though this story wasn’t for me, the author did give her readers a nice Epilogue. The last sentence leaves me wondering if their story will continue. This won’t stop me from checking out some of the author’s other work.
I was not compensated nor was I required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.
The Year I Left left me feeling perplexed. There are things about Carin I just couldn’t understand and things I wholly understood. It’s a bit confusing to feel like you didn’t really like a character but I was interested to see what happened to her; what choices she’d make, live with, regret, and to see how things might or might not work out for her.
Carin Frost is a woman perplexed by her life. She loves her son madly but has been genuinely unhappy in her marriage, in her life itself for a long while. I think this line spoke to it best, to her lack of joy in life itself:
“What was happening in my personal life? I’d hardly spoken about my family. Who in their right mind would be vaguely interested in a neat little life, filled with clichéd accomplishments like work, career, marriage? Such normalcy embarrassed me.”
While this is the script that seems to run in her head, in her heart on loop, she’s drifting away from her family and into the arms of another man – a man she convinces herself is the love of her life. And he may be, it’s just how she got there that stumped me and the co-dependency on him, Matias Torres, to heal her. I just never felt their spark. I read about it, just never felt it. And I think Carins’ vulnerability is what drove her attraction to him. When she finally decides that she deserves happiness, a situation presents itself that gives Carin a way out, unlikely though it may be. The Year I Left takes the reader on an adventure as Carin and Matias find the opportunity to grow their love. With this one choice, there are many consequences, especially to Carin.
One thing I didn’t really love was how the story is told in a diary-like fashion, directed at Matias. In a way, it lends itself toward a mystery as to when he would he be reading this, but there is something in the tone of that style that always puts me off. But it does lend itself to trying to show the reader the emotions of the character telling her story. So in that Brae excels as I felt every single spell of depression that Carin experiences. At times it felt histrionic, overly emotional, but I suppose her despair was deep. Ultimately I think that Christine Brae wrote a highly emotional if slightly improbable, story of a woman, mother, wife, and professional finding her true path in life.