“BRIGHT SIDE is a devastatingly good story. It’s not a happy book. But I don’t regret one minute that I spent getting to know these characters. Being part of this ride. Letting them take over my life and my heart.” ~ Under the Covers
Just break my heart why don’t you? I had decided I would read this for #rollbackweek and then I didn’t do it. But my friend Trish (who was supposed to do a buddy read with me) went ahead and read on schedule and then kept pestering me to read this. Of course, I had gotten the warning that there was so much crying her eyes were swollen and red and her daughter might’ve texted asking me what happened to her mommy. I just said give her a hug.
So I picked it up. And I immediately fell in love with the characters. I fell in love with Kate, and with her best friend Gus. And the fact that he calls her Bright Side. And the fact that you can tell even with the distance between them that he loves her deeply. I was smitten.
Katie is originally from San Diego, CA but decides to go to college in Minnesota. This story starts when she’s starting college. Not knowing anyone in this new town. Trying to find a job and make friends. But as Gus likes to refer to her as, Bright Side, she easily has a group of people just eating out of her sweet hand. She is a lovable girl, she wants to have fun and live life to the fullest. No regrets. And she teaches those she comes in contact with to embrace that as well.
Throughout this book and this beautiful story we slowly see as she falls in love with Keller. He has his own secrets. I have to say, honestly, it took me a while to warm up to the idea of Keller as the love interest because I was sooooo smitten with Gus. And no, this is not a love triangle. As the story progresses they both take a spot in my heart and just won’t let go. But as I said before, I’m smitten with Gus. Can’t help it.
Kate’s journey will make you laugh and will warm your heart. But just like my friend warned me about, it also stomped on my heart more than a few times. The tears I cried, the sobs at 3am that woke up my husband. He took one look at me, saw I wouldn’t take my eyes off my Kindle and went back to sleep. All while sobbing and crying, which made continuing to read quite difficult. I even had to pry my eyes open so that I could read through the tears. I couldn’t stop. This merits a warning. Make sure you are not reading this book in public, it’s one of my ugliest ugly cries.
BRIGHT SIDE is a devastatingly good story. It’s not a happy book. But I don’t regret one minute that I spent getting to know these characters. Being part of this ride. Letting them take over my life and my heart. If your heart is up for it, then give this book a try. It’s my favorite tear jerker in quite some time! Thanks Trish for pushing my ass to read it. I don’t think I’ve ever found such a sad book to be so fulfilling and uplifting to see it end the way this did. A fair warning here, this is not an HEA.
Now…. bring on book two because I need some happy sauce to go with these tears! And someone give me a hug.
Favorite Quotes:
“Do epic.”
[about-author author=”Kim Holden”]
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I’ve read numerous good reviews but I’m not sure if I could read this one, I may give it a try again.
If you ever get to pick it up, just remember I’ll be here for moral support!
Thanks Francesca
this might be too heavy for me….it took me a long time to read the fault in our stars. ..
Yes, it’s very close to that much crying as TFIOS.
Great review! I liked the book–just read it over the 3-day weekend, but it didn’t evoke near the emotion that TFioS did for me. I liked the characters but had trouble connecting with most of them. And by the end, I was drained from all the times “Dude” was used (195 times, by the way). lol