A Place Without You has made a place for itself on my list of favorite books. This is a beautiful, heartfelt love story that swept me up in all things Henna and Bodhi.
I was on Henna and Bodhi’s team from the very beginning. From the way that they met and their intense chemistry, everything just seemed to be lining up perfectly for them. I was convinced that they were meant to be. Being that this is a forbidden romance, though, I suspected that it wasn't going to be that easy. I knew that Jewel E. Ann was going to rip the rug out from under me and make this story hurt.
Henna was young, free-spirited, and she walked to the beat of her own drum. She was slightly immature at times, but then other times she would seem much older and wiser than her nineteen years. Bodhi was easily swept up in her aura, intoxicated by her youthful jubilance and zest for life. She was a temporary distraction, a glimpse at what his life could have been. She was everything that he couldn’t be or have.
I adore forbidden romances, and while this love story is forbidden, it was so much more. The angst and knots that I felt in my stomach weren’t really a result of their forbidden relationship, but from the events and obstacles that life threw at them. Every situation that they were faced with felt like a personal punch to the gut. I felt every ounce of emotion right along with them, all of their joy, pain, guilt, and love.
Jewel E. Ann can make me laugh on one page, break my heart on the next, and make me stop reading to reflect on the words that she’s written. My emotions can go from zero to sixty in the matter of a few pages. I’m not a reader who cries a lot. I will get a few tears in my eyes from time to time, but I don’t go in search of books that will turn me into a blubbering mess. For the last thirty percent of this book I had a steady stream of tears running down my face. My only saving grace was the fact that I read this book early in the morning, before my mascara was applied. Thankfully, I avoided Alice Cooper face (yes, it’s a thing).
A Place Without You has all of the elements of an epic kind of love story. Jewel E. Ann always writes all-consuming stories that are as unique as they are breathtaking. Her novels are filled with interesting, captivating, memorable characters. From the main characters to the secondary characters, each one adds something special to her stories.
I never felt as though I was just reading along, I felt as though I was on the journey with them.