Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940016471211 |
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| Publisher: | EM Tippetts |
| Publication date: | 05/21/2013 |
| Series: | Shattered Castles , #2 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | NOOK Book |
| Pages: | 230 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Love in Darkness
5 out of 5
based on
0 ratings.
4 reviews.
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Love in Darkness takes us forward two years in Alex and Madison life. Alex left Madison. He wanted her to have the best possible life, even if that meant he was not in it. Having to take care of his mother and she her health deteriorate with her schizophrenia, he just could not handle Madison having to take care of him. When he suffers a psychotic episode, he realizes he must return home and make sure that Madison moves on.
Madison just wants to be with Alex. She wants to give their love a second chance, but Alex is determined to push her away. She must make he realize that loving someone means more than the good things, it means the bad things as well. Taking each other as they are.
This story touched me in ways that I can even begin to explain. The agony of watching someone you love slowly lose themselves, it can be pure torture. Then there are the times when the person you love shines through and everything else is forgotten. I can understand where Alex is coming from, but to give up the one person he loves for what might be, is madness. You cannot chose who you love. The heart wants what the heart wants.
This story is touching, beautiful, sad, heart wrenching, and above all REAL. This story sings the song of unsung heroes. The men and women who have these diseases and are not understood, the ones that love them, take care of them, and above all else understand them. Journey into the heart of a man who is tortured by his own darkness and a women who is his light.
I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
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*I received a free e copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
This was a beautiful and heartbreaking story. In the beginning I wondered if I could possibly like it as much as I did the first one. When things start going bad for Alex, I decided that no it was impossible for me to like this book as much as I did the first one. Who wants to fall in love with this beautiful amazing couple only to read the second book and find things going so downhill so fast. But, I was wrong. This book is as great as the first one. Even more so. Towards the end this book put me in mind of another great story, It's A Wonderful Life. I don't know if the author was even aware of the likeness as she was writing it but I wanted to point it out because it also is an amazing story which made this one even better for me.
The first book centers on Madison and her life and her feelings. The second book centers on Alex and his perspective. It was very interesting to know that the cool, dark, dangerous boy had just as many insecurities as she did. It was wonderful to watch him work his way through them and learn to overcome the many challenges that life has thrown his way. The boy who started out with no one in fact finds that he has more people on his side than he could ever have imagined. I really and truly loved reading this book. Congratulations to the author for writing such a powerful story and for giving us some insight into a disability that is a mystery to anyone who doesn't deal with it directly. I am honored to have been able to read this story and I will recommend it to anyone and everyone.
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I like books that throw me an unexpected curve. Ones that challenge my perception of a genre. And E.M. Tippetts did just that with LOVE IN DARKNESS. I walked into the novel completely blind. I hadn't read the first in the series. I didn't peek at the synopsis. So the opening chapter came as somewhat of a shock. I thought: what the heck is going on here? But I liked it. I wanted to delve deeper, and boy, am I glad I did.
This isn't your typical romance and that's what makes it great. First off, Alex is mentally ill. He's on the verge of becoming a full-blown schizophrenic. He's hearing voices in his head he thinks are real. But not only that, he's a missionary returning home to his high school girlfriend, Madison, who has waited two years to be with him. But instead of running into her arms for the reunion he so desperately desires, he shuts her out...completely. Why does he feel the need to play the martyr and bring misery to them both? Because he knows what it's like to take care of someone like himself. He inherited the condition from his mother and he has watched her deteriorate over the years. He doesn't want that for Madison. He loves her too much, so he gives her up.
But Madison doesn't go down without a fight. Throughout the story, she doesn't give up on Alex. He has such a low opinion of himself for his past as a juvenile delinquent and his inability to hold onto his job as a respite care provider due to the progression of his illness. [P.S. There are a lot of touching scenes with Alex and his handicapped clients that illustrate just what a fantastic human being he really is.] But she doesn't see him that way. She focuses on the good. How he makes her feel like she's the center of his universe when she's around him. He's a person who feels things deeply. When he loves, he gives himself completely, heart and soul. It's such a rare quality in a person. Madison knows that and cherishes that part of him above everything else.
I have to say that I'm a bit of a cynic but passages of this book reaffirmed by belief in love. They were that touching, truly special. By denying himself a future with Madison, Alex just wants to stay buried within his psyche. He's at the point of giving up on the world. But the power of Madison's belief in him is the only thing capable of bringing him back. He doesn't have all the answers, and neither does she. It's all about the two of them making peace with it and moving forward. Alex says, "I need to feel like we're together forever and you'll be with me no matter how bad things get." and Madison responds, "Nobody makes me feel the way you do, and I don't care how difficult a life with you would be...if I could just have a life with you." They bring out the best in each other and it's a beautiful thing to witness. By denying their love, they were only destroying themselves. And seeing Alex come to the following realization is simply uplifting, "There may or may not be dark days ahead, but I know I won't face them alone."
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I love Alex. A lot. Even when he has voices in his head.
This story was a few years after the first, and told from his point of view. Madison is the ever present light in his shadows, the reason he wants to be the person he always has been, but didn't know. I love how his insecurity is portrayed, his innocence about women is adorable.
This story was a bit deeper, darker, and sadder than the first. His mom keeps getting worse and it's obvious he fears for his future. I think Tippetts did a fantastic job of informing readers of the diseases she touches on and writes about while making them into real characters.
I can't wait to read more of her work. And I hope she writes a story about Alex and Madison's kid some day :D
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