Our Dust Has a Pulse

I received an ARC of this book from the author for my honest review. This was my first book by Malynda Schlegel, so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised. Our Dust Has a Pulse releases on September 26th! 

He is going back home. She is trying to find a home. Katherine Colby has spent her short eighteen years as a reserved, passive player in her own life. Getting her first boyfriend and moving in with him right out of high school was the first time she really thought for herself. Little did she know, she was heading into a year-long relationship that would turn sour, leaving them broken, and her with a new determination to find a life of her own outside of Delaware. Decker Jefferys knows a thing or two about broken relationships. He knows some are worth fixing, like the family he abandoned in search of his own fresh start when he ended up in Katherine's home state, and some are beyond repair, like the girlfriend he's given the past year of his life to. The official end of his own relationship is the push he needs to go back to Colorado, to the place and the people who mattered first in the hope that he can fix his mistakes. Decker and Katherine have spent a year fighting their mutual attraction, sticking to casual conversations, but now, their pasts have pushed them together on a road trip across the country..with nobody between them. But the past can also work against you. Sometimes, the past can keep you from having a future. And sometimes, the thing you're fighting against is the thing you should be fighting for. 

"Your not on your own. You're never on your own, and you don't have to do this on your own. Depending on someone isn't a bad thing. The bad thing is depending on the wrong person."

Katherine and Decker barely know each other. They are mere aquantinces in each other's lives, brought together by his friendship with her sister and her sister's fiance. They have always felt this pull towards each other, but the timing has never been right for them. When things happen, and they end up on a cross country road trip their mutual attractions come to the fore front. 

When I first started the story, I wasn't sure I was going to like it. I didn't think I would be able to connect with the characters, I didn't really care for Katherine right from the start. I changed my mind about her as the story went on, and while I couldn't connect with her as 33 year old me, I could connect with her as 18 year old me. She was immature, kind of crazy, and jumped the gun often without thinking things through, but when I put myself in her shoes when I was that age, I realized thats exactly how I was. It was alot easier to relate to her when I thought about it like that. She just had some growing up to do. And she did, her character did a complete turn around from the start of the book to the end, and that was very impressive. 

"And we both know family isn't always blood. Blood means you're related. That's it. Family is love. Trust. Loyalty. Security. Happiness. Family is owning up to your mistakes. Family is forgiveness." 

I liked Decker a lot. He seemed a bit more mature than Katherine, and that was easier for me to relate to. He wasn't afraid to let Katherine know how he felt, how he had always felt. I wish we could have gotten to know his family more, like we did Katherine's. The brief time they were in the book I really like them. I would have liked to see a little more family dynamic on his side. 

I love a good slow burn, and this was definitely a slow burn. I also appreciated that once they finally got it together that wasn't all the story was about. There was so much more to this story then the romance, and the sex. This story was about two people finding their way, and then finding their way to each other. It was a story about emotional growth as a person, and finding a true loving and trusting relationship with someone else. 

"She's not just trying to figure out her life, she's trying to figure out herself. For her, this trip isn't just about finding where to land, but who to be."

Overall, I'm giving this one 4 STARS. It was a really great read, from an author I haven't read before. I only wish I would have got a little more of Decker and his family. I liked how this wasn't just a love story, but a story about life, and finding out who you are.