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Reading with Matcha
A personal space where I share what I love, what moves me, and what I would recommend without hesitation.
Lotus
Jennifer Hartmann
★★★★☆Synopsis
To the rest of the world, Oliver Lynch was the little boy who went missing on the Fourth of July. To Sydney Neville he was everything. She was seven when her best friend vanished without a trace, and ever since she learned to build her life around that missing piece. Twenty two years later, the last thing she expects is for that piece to come back. Oliver reappears alive, but as a man who spent decades in captivity and who no longer recognizes the world he returns to, not the technology, not the customs, not even his own body. Almost nothing is left of his memories from before, except one, the girl who kept him company in his head all those years. As Oliver learns how to exist on the outside again and Sydney tries to find the boy inside the man, the two of them discover that the connection between them never broke. But there are still unanswered questions about what really happened that night, and the truth will not be easy to carry.
The protagonists
Oliver Lynch
The boy who came back twenty two years later
He disappeared as a little boy on the Fourth of July and spent twenty two years locked away. He comes back to the real world without understanding it, with technology, social codes and even his own body turned into unfamiliar territory. He barely remembers the life he had before, but he does remember the girl who was his best friend, a memory that stayed with him the whole time.
Sydney Neville
The best friend who never stopped waiting
She was seven when her best friend vanished and she never got over it. She built her whole adult life around that gap, carrying guilt and a grief nobody else fully understands. When Oliver comes back, she has to learn to love the man he became without losing sight of the boy he was.
My review
I love finding romance books with truly unique plots that still keep the heart of the genre. Sydney has never been able to get over the disappearance of her childhood best friend. She was just a little girl when he was taken without a trace, which is why she cannot believe it when Oliver turns up twenty two years later. Oliver, who spent twenty two years locked in a basement, comes back to the real world without really understanding it. He barely remembers the life he had before, but he does remember the girl who was his best friend, a memory that stayed with him all along. Friends, this book is so beautiful. We get to see the process and the road Oliver and Sydney walk, getting to know each other again and realizing that the special connection they had never went away. It has a plot twist that is OMG, and it is so important to read the content warnings because it deals with really heavy subjects. Content warnings: kidnapping and prolonged captivity of a child, child abuse including sexual abuse, sexual assault, graphic violence, grief and death. This is a hard read, the author handles it with care but she does not soften it.
Who is this for?
For anyone looking for romance with a truly unique plot that still keeps the heart of the genre
For readers who love childhood friends who find each other again as adults
For anyone who can handle a hard, emotional read, as long as they check the content warnings first
Where to buy it?
AmazonReading with Matcha · Made with love by Ari