Something strange happened in my house the other day. It’s something I don’t think has ever happened before. I’ve tried hard to think of another time when this event occurred, and nothing comes to mind.
This is monumental.
I bought a book and forgot to read it.
If you know me, you just fainted. I have a literal “to be read” pile in the drawer beside my bed. When I finish the book I’m reading, I dip into the drawer, pull out the next one, and move on. (I also have a Kindle, so I guess there is a “to be read” database for me also. Love the Kindle, by the way. I’m surprised by how much, but that’s another discussion.)
Anyway, I bought Trish Perry’s Too Good to Be True several months ago. I remember buying it, but somehow I never read it. Maybe it wasn’t God’s time yet? Who knows?
I read it this week.
Lately, I’m coming across a lot of books that keep me reading past my bedtime. This was one of them.
I can honestly say I’ve never read a book quite like this one. For the first chapter, the narrative style upended me just a little bit. But once I got used to it, I liked it. Trish Perry wrote this novel with such a voice that it feels like she’s sitting in the room with you, telling you the story of her friends Ren and Tru. It was kind of cool, and the only way I can describe it is to say that she doesn’t exactly tell the story, she narrates it. (That made sense to me, but it may not make sense to you until you read the book.) It made me feel cozy and warm and friendly to read her words, like curling up under a good blanket in a comfy chair with a cup of coffee.
Maybe it was that narrative style, but I felt like Tru and Ren were real people. To be honest, they are quite average. A teacher and a nurse dealing with day-to-day problems and real-life obstacles. They are ordinary, just like you or me. And yet I couldn’t put their story down. I wanted to see what happened next, how they dealt with these everyday issues in their lives.
When I was halfway through the book, I wanted to hug Trish Perry. Why? Because she made a normal, everyday relationship into what felt like an epic love story. We tend to take our lives for granted, to get lost in the fantasy world of romance and heroines who are swept off their feet by dashing princes on white horses. But real love is even more beautiful (even if it’s more complicated) than that. Epic love stories happen every minute between teachers and nurses, store clerks and waiters, mechanics and office managers, or (like me) teachers and soldiers. I love my husband to pieces and think he is the greatest man alive (I dare you to tell me different!), but suddenly, I appreciated our love story so much more. Life and love are not boring, and pretty much every single marriage has an epic love story behind it and in it.
So, many, many thanks to Trish Perry for helping me to remember that, and for giving us Ren and Tru and their story. I loved it!
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