How much difference a year can make…

Synopsis

Two strangers.

One missed flight.

It only takes a moment to change a life.

One year ago Casey Cassidy was happy. She had great friends, a wonderful teaching job and a busy life – until with one missed flight, everything changes.

One year later Casey knows what it means to find that once-in-a-lifetime love people dream of. But when Ben leaves, her heart is shattered.

Left facing a year of firsts without him, piecing her life back together seems impossible. But then a friend offers her a home in rural France.

In the solitude and emptiness, Casey needs to comes to terms with what’s happened and find a way to move forward. She has no idea where that will take her one year later…

My review

Last year, Casey Cassidy was ready to have a holiday with her best friend Ellie. However, when one forgotten passport meant the start of a whole new adventure.
Because her missing her passport made her meet Ben, the love of her life.
While Casey is afraid of real commitment, everything with Be falls right into place and she cannot wait to spend the rest of her life together with him.
But one year later, Casey could have never imagined that the rest of her life would be without Ben… Broken – hearted, Casey decides to accept the offer of a friend, to stay in a house in rural France, to come to terms what happened and figure out how to overcome such a great loss, and what her future will hold…

If you are looking for a story filled with romance, the perfect happy end and no big issues addressed, this is not the book for you.

While seeing the blooming romance is wonderful and sweet to read, we know that something terrible will happen, making Casey end up alone.

The story is divided in two parts, the ‘before’ and the ‘after’.
The ‘before’ was right my cup of tea! Two people meet by pure coincidence (or Fate…), fall in love and start planning their lives together.
The odds of meeting your perfect match in such a way are practically non – existing, so I truly enjoyed reading how that was how Casey met Ben.

It was sweet to read how the both of them had the same visions and felt the same about things. And while Ben was a bit more fanatic in some aspects, I understood where he was coming from and his wish to make a change.
Even if his solastalgia was not something I have heard before, or could fully comprehend, I could understand him on some level.

And seeing two people so in sync, made me wish to find my own perfect match too!

But… the ‘after’ part broke my heart…
The pain Casey is feelings, it was so palpable. And I can somehow grasp how she wasn’t able to put her loss behind her. How would you feel loving someone and then he’s gone?
It is not clear what happened to Ben, and somehow I was hoping that Ben would resurface somehow and all would end well.

When the whole story is out, I can say I honestly had to take a break from reading and had to have a good cry…
The more I was reading, the more I could see what would happen, but actually reading that bit was breaking my heart.

During the ‘after’ reading sessions, I found it bittersweet how Casey was still hearing Ben and giving her his advice and encouraging to just keep going.
And slowly, we see Casey find that spark again, with a desire to continue Ben’s passion on her own way.

I also loved how Casey meets new people in France, and those people have an influence on her and vice versa. And how a found diary makes Casey realize that many people have faced the pain she is still living and the revelation in the end makes her open her eyes a bit more.

This is a story about finding and losing love, but also about the struggles a person is facing. And that not everything is always what we think we see.
I learned more about the pain a person is enduring. In one case it’s an obvious pain, in Casey’s case, but for Ben, it was hidden and darker…

The author brings our attention to so many issues that are in the world, and shows us that not everything is so black or white… And sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we cannot help the person we love the most.
And that is not something we should ever feel guilty about, because even no matter how much we love and try to help, it’s not in our hands, and it’s not about us.

After a devastation, we have to learn to find our purpose again, but we also have to keep in mind there isn’t a set timetable to move on with your life. Each person is different and that means that also the way to handle grief is different for each person.

This story may not be what I expected it to be (I kept hoping that there would be a reunion somehow) but opened my eyes on so many levels and made me appreciate everything I have even more…