BUY LINKS: Out of Focus (Chosen Paths)
Out of Focus by L.B. SimmonsMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reviewed by: Michelle
ARC provided by author in exchange for an honest review
“Secrets aren’t meant to be shared. They’re to remain hidden, safe from the judgment of others as they remain a burden for you, and only you, to carry alone.”L.B. Simmons continues to amaze me as she once again bewitches her readers with her words, prose, raw characters and story line. She is one of my favorite authors who has always seem to know how to capture my undivided attention. Every facets of raw emotions were literally pouring off each page. Words will be just words until you bring them to LIFE. And that's what Ms. Simmons continues to master as she held our hearts hostage with her latest new release, Out of Focus.
Out of Focus was utterly breathtaking, raw, emotional, uplifting, and hopeful. This is not an ordinary tale of finding love. It is a story where love transcends and douses us with pure passion and beauty. It is a story where fire is ignited within oneself in order to keep that spark of hope alive. That hope will be our salvation to heal and mend the broken pieces in our shattered hearts. Where the pieces of brokenness are not just picked up but are glued and fused together to make a heart whole once again.
“I read obsessively to escape my own world. To live the dreams of others when, for so long, the reoccurrence of my nightmares has been my reality. I read to fall in love and find a happily ever after, even if it is purely imagined. With each story I read, I’m able to live and love vicariously through the characters in my books. It’s the only plausible way for me to survive.”Innocence is often seen as something so pure and beautiful. And so when that is taken away from you, it is something that can never be returned. And for Cassandra Copper, her innocence was ripped out under from her. It destroyed her. Held her under the influence of guilt, shame, sadness, and pain. It broke her. Left her life out of focus. And so begins the tale of the real Cassie Copper. The young girl who is struggling to hold onto any sanity and good thing in her life. The girl who reads to escape. The girl who needs sex to fill in the void. The girl who hides behind the plastered smile. The girl is who trying to get her life out of focus.
So if you read L.B. Simmon's previous books, The Resurrection of Aubrey Miller and Under the Influence, then you will be very familiar with the characters in this story. The prologue alone in Out of Focus immediately held my attention. It spoke to me on a deeper level because I could feel Cassie's pain as to why she hid her secrets and why there is a strong need to escape from reality. Let's face it, we all have our secrets. Secrets that are cherished and then there are those that we want to hide and forget. The ones we just want to stay hidden and kept buried. But in truth, buried secrets are never really kept buried. They can always seem to find their way to haunt and consume you. Darkness begins to creep in and destroy pieces of your soul. And soon these pieces are like a kaleidoscope of shattered glasses that puts your life out of focus.
“What I see is exactly this: You refuse to smile for yourself, but you smile for her. With everyone else, including me, it’s forced, but with her, it’s real. And it’s beautiful. I’m interested in understanding why.” He shrugs. “Call me selfish, but I also want to learn what it takes to get you to flash that gorgeous smile at me. For me.”Out of Focus is not just a love story. It is a journey. A journey of finding oneself in the darkness and letting light shine. A journey of letting go and washing away all the hate, pain, guilt, and shame. A journey of finding that voice to be heard. To be resurrected. To be healed by love and held under the influence of real unconditional love from the people that really matters. And most importantly writing your story. Embracing each moment of your life. The good, the bad, and the in between. It is a story where words convey so much more and can truly impact how you view yourself and what really matters in life. A story that is meant to be heard. A story that is meant to be written. And most importantly a story that is meant to be read. And so Cassie Copper got her story. A story that deserved to be loved times two.
“As much as I would love to drown in this feeling, as much as I would love to surrender and give myself to him completely, I can’t. I’m damaged. Shattered. I can only offer pieces of what he seeks because pieces are all that remain.”As I stated earlier in my review, L.B. Simmons did a phenomenal job with this book. She had resurrected her readers to see the light. She had us under the influence as she douses and bathes her readers with raw emotions. And most importantly she has us see nothing is truly out of focus when it comes to earth-shattering love. So if you are looking for a book, that strips you naked as your are drenched with an overwhelming magnitude of raw emotions, hope, and second chances then I highly recommend you to read Out of Focus. And lastly, thank you L.B. Simmons for writing a story that was meant to be read and be out of focus because real life is about writing your own fucking phenomenal epilogue.
L.B. Simmons
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