childhood friends |

Book Review – Come to Me Quietly (Closer to You #1) by A.L. Jackson

Posted on May 17, 2014 by Kristal

Come to Me Quietly: The Closer to You Series

By A. L. Jackson

I haven’t ever read an A. L. Jackson book that I haven’t loved. I always end up completely consumed by the characters and their lives. Come to Me Quietly was probably the most consuming of all A. L. Jacksons books that I have read so far. In fact, I have taken some time between finishing the book and writing this review just to process my feelings. Mend my heart a little.

Aleena Moore is content with her life. She has goals and dreams and an easy smile. She also has a secret she holds locked inside.

Jared Holt believes he doesn’t deserve to love or be loved. He destroys everything he touches. Haunted by the mistake that shattered his life, he’s fled from the memory of that pain.

Jared doesn’t know why he’s compelled to return, but finds himself drawn back to the place where it all began. The exact place where it ended. When he runs into his childhood best friend, Aleena’s older brother Christopher, he agrees to share Christopher and Aleena’s apartment while he looks for a place of his own.

Aleena is no longer the little girl Jared remembers from his past and evokes feelings in him he never wanted to feel again. Terrified of destroying her, he fights to keep her away. But her touch is something he can’t resist—the touch that sealed his fate.

Their pasts are intertwined and their futures uncertain. The only truths they know are the secrets they whisper in the night

I’ll start off with Jared. He was a hugely complex character and at times I almost felt smothered by his issues. His guilt is absolutely crippling and it’s difficult to see how he is going to work through it. I found it hard to sympathize with him (I know, I know, I’m a bad person). My heart was absolutely broken for him, he had become a tormented shell of a person, unable to find his way out of the black hole of grief, but every decision he made was a conscious one. While he didn’t choose for his life to pan out the way it did, he did choose his actions. He chose to go down a path that would only ever lead him to destruction. Again and again. Jared is probably one of the most broken characters I have ever read in a book. He was sorrowful, intense, and stunning.

“The storm raged around us, so much like the man who held me in his arms. Violent. Unpredictable. Beautiful”

Aleena was so sweet. I actually thought at the start of the book that she was going to have a little more spunk than she did and I was looking forward to that! It didn’t quite turn out that way but her character was actually perfect for Jared. I don’t think anyone else would have been able to comprehend just how broken he was and still love him so immensely. She was ready to fight for him every step of the way. I knew Aleena had a secret of her own but I didn’t actually feel a huge build up towards that? I was almost surprised when it came out because i’d kind of forgotten all about it.

“Stay.
A fierce squall of wind pushed into the space, rippled with energy, stirring my blood, stirring my heart.
Stay.”

The love between Jared and Aleena was captivating. I felt such a huge range of emotions while reading their story. I wanted so much for them. Even from early on in this book I believed in these two. I knew that while it was going to be painful, they could do this. They can make it. They are soul mates. I desperately wanted them to find their HEA! But I know that’s going to take a lot more work and a lot more time.

“Loving someone is one of the biggest chances we ever take. Maybe the most unfair part of it is that it’s rarely a conscious decision we’ve made. It’s something that blossoms slow or hits us hard, something that stirs and builds gradually, or something that shocks us with its sudden intensity. And sometimes it’s something that’s been a part of us our entire lives.”

A. L. Jackson is a hugely talented writer. Her story telling is beautiful, emotional and powerful. You feel everything she wants you to. I’m hanging out for book 2!