Eleanor & Grey

When you start reading a book and it makes Harry Potter references about 3% in, you know you have picked the right book for you. I cannot gush enough about how fabulous this book was. I wish I could start it again and read it for the first time. 

"Everything I knew about life, I learned from Harry Potter. I called him the greatest teacher of life lessons, and I swore up and down that he'd saved my life countless times. When I was upset, I wrote spells to turn people into rats, slugs, or toads."

"Greyson East left his mark on me. As the young girl who first fell for him, I didn't know much about life. I did know about his smiles, though, and his laughs, and the strange way my stomach flipped when he was near. Life was perfect..until it wasn't, and when we were forced to go our separate ways, I held on to our memories, let go of my first crush, and wished for the day I'd find him again. When my wish came true, it was nothing like I imagined. I couldn't have known when I took the nanny position that it would be his children I looked after, that my new boss would be that boy I used to know, that boy who was now a man- a cold, lonely, detached man. The smile and laugh I had loved so much were gone, now distant memories. Every part of him was covered in fresh pain. When he realized who I was, he made me promise to do my job and my job only. He made me promise not to try to get to know him, not to recall the memories I'd treasured all this time. But, sometimes, I saw the boy I'd once known in his stormy eyes. I saw the Greyson who smiled and laughed, who had stolen a young girl's heart, and there was no doubt in my mind that this boy was worth fighting for. I was given a second chance with the one who'd left his mark on me. All I hoped was that somehow I'd leave a mark on his soul, too."

"Did Greyson East just stand up for me and Shay? Well, okay then. I guess I'll be having his kids someday."

Let me just start by saying that I texted my book bestie and told her that Eleanor was my spirit animal. I knew it from the minute she talked about Harry Potter, and there was no question when she went to a high school party and spent the whole time under a staircase reading a Harry Potter book. She wasn't afraid to be herself, and she didn't care what people thought about her. She was going through some pretty heavy stuff at home, but she didn't let that dull her shine. I loved her as a teenager, and I loved her even more as an adult. She was so compassionate, and even when people thought she was weird, or they didn't understand her, she didn't care. She just kept on living her life, trying to find a reason to smile every day. 

"Why did you read them all?" "So we'd have something in common. Plus, I wanted you to form a stupid, unrealistic crush on me that goes against everything you stand for." 

"I was still stuck on the fact that he'd read all five books simply so we would have something in common. If he were a book character, he'd be the hero."

There are no words for Greyson East. He read the Harry Potter series just so he and Eleanor had something to talk about, he asked her to hang out with him once a week to take her mind off everything going on at home, he was truly something special. "He read your favorite series?" "Yup." "Eleanor?" "Yes?" "Marry this boy." He was one of a kind. He just genuinely wanted nothing more than to spend time with Ellie and make her forget the sadness she had in her life. He smiled. I liked it. Whatever. As an adult, Greyson had endured an unspeakable tragedy, he turned cold, he turned into something completely different than how he was as a boy, but you could still see flashes of the boy he once was. 

"I couldn't really imagine what would've happened to me if I hadn't had Harry Potter to get me through the past years. If I hadn't, I might've believed the lies people told about me. I would've thought I wasn't magical, and that would've been a shame."

I loved the way this story weaved throughout the years. I loved that we got to spend time with teenage Ellie & Grey, and then we got to see them as adults. They had such a special relationship when they were young, it was sad to see them drift apart. But the way they were brought back together, while heartbreaking, was really beautiful. Something should be said about the people who show up for the depressed souls. They never receive enough credit for being brave enough to stay. I loved how you got to see Grey be there for Ellie when they were young, how he helped keep the sunshine in her life, and then you got to watch her return the favor while they were adults. It was just a masterfully written story. 

"Thank you, Grey." She smiled back, and my heart skipped a beat. I hadn't known it could still do that. I hadn't known it could skip for another person. And it felt kind of beautiful."

Grey's daughters deserve a mention in this review. They were fabulous characters. Lorelai was a burst of sunshine. She brought laughter and brightness to an otherwise sad situation, and Karla, while troubled was beautiful at heart. She went through so much in this story, you were just cheering her on hoping for her to pull herself out of that darkness that she had emerged herself in. They added so much depth to this story. 

"She was she, I was me, and we were us. This was our story. This was our always and forever. And it was going to be beautiful." 

Overall, I'm giving this story 5 STARS. This was so beautifully written. You could feel the pain that all of these characters were going through, you could feel the love they had for each other, and you could feel the pain that they felt towards life and how unfair it was. I could not stop reading this book, I felt like I was tangled in their lives, and I just desperately wanted them to all get the happiness they deserved. When I finished I sat in my car, in my driveway, and cried. It was just so beautiful. Do yourself a favor and pick this book up. It truly is something special. 

"But do it anyway."