This blog tour is organized by the Bookish Diaries Book Tours managed by Amanda of Fandomly Bookish and Jothee of The Bookwhore Diaries!
An epub material was provided for free by the author, Christine Brae, for review purposes in helping her promote her book, The Light in the Wound, here in the Philippines. Christine Brae is set to visit the country on September 2015 along with two other authors, Colleen Hoover and Tarryn Fisher.
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The Light in the Wound (#1) by Christine Brae: Book Review
***Warning: Spoilers ahead***
*No. of pages: 372
*Average Rating on Goodreads: 3.9/5
*My Rating on Goodreads: 4/5
SYNOPSIS via Goodreads:
Affected by her parents’ highly publicized divorce, Isabel grows up isolated and alone, with a resolve to never fall in love and repeat their mistakes.
When Jesse Cain enters her life, she falls hopelessly in love with him, and every sadness she’s ever felt is washed away by his intensity and passion. But people change as they grow up. Things can never stay the same forever.
Jesse and Isabel fight to stay together, determined to hold on to what they once had. Isabel wonders if a second love can ever be enough to make her forget her first.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Christine Brae is a full time career woman who thought she could write a book about her life and then run away as far as possible from it. She never imagined that her words would touch the hearts of so many women with the same story to tell. She is currently working on her third book which she hopes to release in June, 2014.
When not listening to the voices in her head or spending late nights at the office, Christine can be seen shopping for shoes and purses, running a half marathon or spending time with her husband and three children in Chicago
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Review:
The Light in the Wound started off with an interesting beginning, the readers are aware of whose point of view it is but the other character that is in the prologue is a mystery. With a very short prologue that is set ten years ago, Christine Brae managed to spike the curiosity of the readers on how the course of the story would be. We would come to know that the protagonist, Isabel, is about to get married—but she just spent the night with another guy. By the last page of the prologue, Isabel left this poor guy and broke his heart to be wed to another man. Then came the first chapter that is set on the present, giving the readers the details on what happened—Isabel got married and already has a child. But the interest spikes up even more because the author did not provide a name on who Isabella ended up with. Is it with the guy she left ten years ago or with the guy she was really about to get married to? There are a lot of questions, making you read even more, giving you the need to turn the page on and on to get the answers you seek as we, readers, are taken back years away from the present.
Isabel was still young when she learned how complicated and painful life could be; she saw it through her parents’ divorce and through her separation with her sisters. Isabel would make you feel something—she’ll make you feel sympathetic and understanding, it is as if she’s reaching out to you without even trying; she’ll make you understand her situation and a lot of people could even relate to her situation of having a broken family. The first few parts focuses on where Isabel came from, the story of her family and how she became who she is before the arrival of her first love.
As the story progresses, we meet Jesse Cain, Isabel’s first love and to whom she gives all that she’s got. It was a puppy love at first, with all the butterflies and knees turning into Jell-O, but of course, reality strikes again and normal issues consumed their relationship. Jesse Cain, being the young man who is so ambitious, took advantage of Isabel’s love for him as they graduate from high school and goes into the real world in their college life. Insecurities devoured Isabel, long had gone the girl who has great self-esteem and strong confidence; replaced by a girl too vulnerable, alone, and dominated by a boyfriend that’s more of a dictator. What I love about this story is that Christine Brae does not sugarcoat anything; she shows what’s real, what’s really happening, and how one gets so drunk in love that they forget to love themselves, because that’s how it really works most of the time. Jesse just wants to be the right man for Isabel, she is rich and everything is handed down to her on a silver platter, while he works hard to get even the smallest things that he wants. In doing all that he can to prove to Isabel’s family that he is right for her, he lost control of all his priorities and ended up neglecting the reason why he is really working hard—Isabel. That’s why it is not really a huge shock when another hot guy has finally been noticed by Isabel, a guy who loved her way back in high school, Alex.
The phase of the story, however, is slow phased. But the way a lot of unexpected things are occurring chapter per chapter makes you grip your copy of the book or the arm of the chair you’re seating on as you read! And since you already got a glimpse on how things would progress, you come up with tons of hypothesis on how the story would lead to that course and yet again, something would happen just right on the next chapter that would make you think otherwise!
Isabel is not really your ideal protagonist—she makes a lot of mistakes and you’ll definitely find yourself wanting to strangle her because of her decisions and the way her mind works. Yet, you’ll feel for her. Even if you go against everything that she stands for, you’ll understand where she’s coming from. Isabel becomes so real because her actions makes her seem true, thus proving that Christine Brae’s writing is very effective because it will capture the hearts of the readers. Brae manages to make you indecisive yourself, for example you are rooting for Team Alex instead of Team Jesse but at some point in the book, you’ll find your heart breaking for Jesse (geez Christine, you’re driving me crazy!). Take note that this story does not contain the typical love triangle dilemma!
This story does focus on romance, but it also has a lot of aspects that teaches the readers a lot. It teaches you how to become independent, how to see your self-value, how to take risks, and how to discover who you really are and what you should do with it. The Light in the Wound is a story about love, family, friendship, discovery, character development, choices, and independence. However, I don’t recommend this book to people who could not handle such painful stories because like I said, this is not only a love story, it is about a lot of things. If a chill read is what you are looking for, then you should let this pass. Also, for those who are too young to read this novel (not commendable for readers below 16 years old), I suggest that you ask your parents or guardians first before losing yourself in the pages of this book for it indeed has a lot of intimate and sexual scenes that may not be appropriate for young readers. But overall, at the end of the first book, along the journey of Isabel, Jesse, Alex, and everyone else, you’ll come to realize that you yourself have learned a lot.
This book is a story about life—how it molds and shapes you, how it consumes and devours you, and how it brings you joy and sorrow. This book is a story about society—how you lose yourself in it, how one is forced to conforme to its desires, and how it still gifts us of new possibilities and discoveries.
Go ahead, pick the book up and find yourself learning a lot about life from The Light in the Wound and at the same time, adore Christine Brae’s astounding debut novel.
After you read it, go and proceed on reading the second novel entitled, His Wounded Light.
GIVEAWAY!!!
There are 3 signed copies of The Light in the Wound up for grabs for Filipino readers! Just go and click the link below to find out how to get entries! Hurry!
https://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/389df0601/
EXCERPT
“I’ve always been honest with you about how difficult it has been to let go of the past. But you are my present and my future. From the first time we were together, you saved my life. You saved my soul. You made me want to make you proud. You made me realize that I deserved better. You made me unafraid to love you. My wounds are healed because of you.”
He lifted me up, placed me on top of his lap and held me close as I leaned my head on his chest. He stroked my hair lightly as he spoke.
“Baby, I’m so sorry I left you that night. More than being filled with jealousy, I was afraid that you might have never really loved me. I know I told you long ago that it was okay if you didn’t love me just yet, that I had enough love for the both of us. I should have understood then that you never lied to me about your true feelings for him. You were always honest with me. And even now, at this very moment, I’d rather have a part of your heart than none of it all.”
Stay tuned for my review of Christine Brae’s second book, the sequel to The Light in the Wound, entitled His Wounded Light.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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