From GoodReads:
"What does it take to rise from life’s depths, swim against the current, and breathe?
Weighted down by the loss of her parents, Blythe McGuire struggles to keep her head above water as she trudges through her last year at Matthews College. Then a chance meeting sends Blythe crashing into something she doesn’t expect—an undeniable attraction to a dark-haired senior named Chris Shepherd, whose past may be even more complicated than her own. As their relationship deepens, Chris pulls Blythe out of the stupor she’s been in since the night a fire took half her family. She begins to heal, and even, haltingly, to love this guy who helps her find new paths to pleasure and self-discovery. But as Blythe moves into calmer waters, she realizes Chris is the one still strangled by his family’s traumatic history. As dark currents threaten to pull him under, Blythe may be the only person who can keep him from drowning.
*This book is intended for mature audiences due to strong language and sexual content.
Note: due to mature content recommended for Ages 17+"
My Thoughts:
What a sad, and I mean TERRIBLY sad, but amazing story of love, loss, and fate. And what a BEAUTIFUL story of a close knit family, and their love of one another.
Blythe McGuire is in her last year of college. She is terribly depressed, and content with just riding along day by day in her own closed out world. No matter how hard she tries, she cannot get past the guilt and pain of losing her parents 4 years ago.
"How's that for a goddamn silver lining? .... Wait, what's less than silver? Iron? Zinc? Could there be a Zinc lining?"
After the tragedy of losing her parents, her relationships with everyone else become estranged. She has almost no family left that she still speaks to, and no friends at all that she has kept in touch with. It is Blythe, and only Blythe, trying to come off as normal and invisible as possible.
Then in the course of one day.. her entire world changes. In walks the Shepherd family, knocking down Blythe's walls as fast as possible.
First comes Sabin, who is officially my new favorite person in any book. He is HILARIOUS, and outspoken, and the friend that Blythe never knew she needed, or wanted. He comes into Blythe's life like a hurricane, and will not take no for an answer when he asks her to come to one of his performances in a few days.. (wall #1 is chipped away..)
"At least it will be something, though. Something other than numbness. It will be a distraction, and distractions are always welcome."
Then there's Christopher, who comes into Blythe's life by a "right place, right time" meeting, when they were both looking to escape their lives for a while.
(wall #2 crumbles down..)
Soon after that we meet Estelle, the beautiful loud mouthed twin to the oh so quiet Erik. (walls #3 and 4 have visible cracks..)
These 4 siblings (plus Zach), Blythe, and her younger brother James, have absolutely no idea the crazy journey they are all about to take together. Between the 7 of them, they are all slowly on to their own paths of healing.
"It's just pain."
Off the bat, Chris and Sabin, make it their missions to get Blythe out of her own head, and moving toward the direction of healing. Blythe quickly finds that these two brothers have the power to make her feel better than she has in years, especially Chris. With a bond from the first second that neither one of them can explain, it constantly feels like there is more to their story than they are aware of. Their relationship is definitely way more than either of them want to believe they can handle.
"It's just fucking heartbreak, that's all."
Both families have their own set of secrets, and as one family heals, the other family finally starts to face their own demons. Soon enough, these two families have become one large family, consisting of only eachother.
"'This is all sorts of fucked up.' 'I know, baby. I know. But the best kind of fucked up.'"
Left Drowning was the book that had me crying for the characters losses, cheering them on as they faced their future, and straight up yelling at my kindle "oh fuck you!! you did NOT just do that!!". My eyes burned, and my stomach hurt for so many parts of this book, just feeling the pain that all of them had to go through to get to the end of the road.
Speaking of the end, this was hands down THE best ending to a book. It was amazingly done, and nothing was left to wonder. Every single character was covered, and it created such an awesome movie running through my head.
Absolutely read this book. Read it now, mark it to read, do whatever you need to do. But add this book on to your lists.
Favorite Quote of the book:
"Then I understand something: this is why they say that people become one."
(compared to any other scenes similar to this in other books, this one was definitely the most well thought out, realistic, and beautiful.. you will understand when you read it.)
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