Fall Out Girl by L. DuarteMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Michellle
ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review
“His arms wrapped around me. It was home. Like a swallow, I had found a home.”So where do I even begin how to put in perspective of how much I LOVED Fall Out Girl by L. Duarte because this story was so more than an ordinary genre of Young Adult . Fall Out Girl exceeded all my expectations of what I would typically expect to find in a high school romance because the story of Luna and Caleb was so much more. It was the kind of love that paints a literary tale that has the power to grip, touch, and make you feel. The kind of love that leaves you in awe and breathless knowing that without a doubt, your life will forever be entangled and intertwine with this person because this person has left it's permanent mark on your soul. So if L. Duarte's mission was to make me fall then I will happily say that she delivered. Ms. Duarte has made me fall in love with her gorgeous prose, raw characters and the beautiful union of two souls intertwining and setting their hearts, past, and hopes free.
“My love for Caleb was hard to describe. I loved him with madness and delirium, music and heartbeat. Time with him was morphine, bliss , shooting stars, and bursts of energy. It was an angel’s choir and angelic bells, rainbows and free falls, giggles and laughter, baptism and rebirth, blue lagoons and lemon drops.”Fall Out Girl was a story brimming with so many facets and layers of raw emotions, family, second chances, loss, forgiveness, destiny, hope, heart and most importantly the sacrifices of one's love. They say life is a gift and it should not be wasted. And one of the important aspect of life is the gift to love. For some, love is like a buried treasure waiting to be found. And for Luna, she had experience three kinds of love that changed her. The love of a father, the love of her best friend and cousin, and the love that will alter and shape her to really shine and find her wings.
They say father's love for their daughter is endless. It is a love built on protection, hopes, sacrifices, and dreams. Luna had experienced that and so much more. So when she lost her father to an illness, it changed her. The beauty that once radiated off her was not dimmed. So when she moved in with her drug junkie aunt, Luna's life was forever changed. She was the perfect student with a high GPA but she was an outcast. The goth girl. The girl who had to sell drugs in order to put food on the table, pay the bills, and save enough money so she can provide and protect her cousin, Jake. So what happens when the outcast catches the eye of the rich and popular kid at school? Can two people from two different social class find true love?
“And I craved Caleb. I craved more of him. More skin to skin. More. Just more. The desperation with which I wanted him was both terrifying and thrilling.”Caleb was the quintessential rich boy. He was popular and had the charisma to make any young girl fall to their knees. And so why would a guy who is clean cut be madly attracted to Luna? The answer to this is simple. He saw her inner beauty as well the beauty she radiates from the outside. He saw a beautiful woman who had the charisma, confidence, and fierceness. He saw the girl who ignited something inside him. Yes, this may the story of the rich boy falling in love with the girl who was dealt with a shitty hand. But the story of Luna and Caleb was so much more than that. It is the story of a boy who didn't see an outcast but a girl who stood out among the endless sea of women. He saw the stars and the moon. He saw Luna. The girl that he was meant to be with.
“The many secretive facets of me, hidden deep inside my soul, exposed, disrobed for him to see. The fearful, the lonely, the broken, the ugly, the hopeful.”What really stood out to me with this book was the maturity of Luna. She was dealt a shitty hand in life after the passing of her father but she made do and accepted her life. She didn't say woe is me. She was a fighter. A survivor. And most importantly, she had a heart of gold. A heart that was waiting to find the person to fit perfectly with hers. The person who saw the real Luna. The girl who loved birds, the girl who loves classic literature, the girl who loved animals, and the girl who is willing to sacrifice for the people that she loved. And Caleb saw that and so much more.
“I love you, Luna. When I saw you for the first time, I had this knowing, this certainty that you were the love of my life. No, it’s beyond love. When my eyes found yours, my entire being connected to you. I could feel parts of my soul twisting, stretching like tentacles, reaching for yours. I felt my flesh prickling, my heart expanding, making room for yours. I knew then, what I’m telling you now, Luna. Without you, I’m condemned to a lonely existence. To a meaningless life. You are entwined with the deepest parts of me. You are ingrained in my body, mind, and soul.”The relationship of Caleb and Luna gripped my heart in how strong, fierce and loyal they were to one another. I loved the simplicity of their relationship. It was Luna and Caleb. A love that was tangible and palpable from the start. A love that can comfort and shine light upon the darkest moments in our lives. A love that can transcend. So what else can I say but go read this amazing and breathtaking book by L. Duarte. Get ready to fall in love with Ms. Duarte's words as she captures and tells a beautiful, bold, and uplifting tale of true love, sacrifices, and second chances.
L. Duarte
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