Review: The Empty Jar by M. Leighton
Note: This ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
"I will always love you. Every part of you. There will never be another one like you. Never. Not for me. And just so you know, I would do this all again, fall in love with you over and over, no matter how long we'd have together. You're worth it, Lena. You're worth everything."
Easy reader. No, that wasn't a typo on the title of the iconic movie. I consider myself an easy reader. It doesn't take highfalutin words or copious pages to get me to fall in love with a book. I've loved both complex and simple stories and main characters have undoubtedly won me over once I find myself emotionally invested in them. I've read thousands of books in my forty-two years and there are those familiar stories, the ones that carry the same overall theme or share the same vein with another one (or more), and familiar characters, the ones that you feel you've met before in another book, that come along but for as long as they're able to stand out in their own way and I'm left satisfied, I'm all good. See? Easy peasy. But when a book comes along that isn't just different--when you know that it's extraordinary and it sets itself apart because of not just how it's written but because of the story it tells and the voices that share it with you--it's special, I take notice. That book is The Empty Jar by bestselling author M. Leighton, an author whose name is familiar because I've seen it on the book and reading websites I frequent but whose titles have never graced my e-reader before today. And I get it. I now know what I've been missing.
The Empty Jar is a standalone contemporary romance novel about Nathaniel Grant and Helena Holmes Grant, but to me, they're just Nate and Lena. When I started their story, they were strangers on a page, but by the time I finished and I wiped my last few tears away, I felt as if I knew them and not just in a superficial sense. M. Leighton delves into the myriad of emotions that our main characters experience here--the emotions, thoughts, and feelings that they relish in, they push down, and wish they could run from--and in the process, they're evoked in the reader, stirring them gently until, without knowing it, they become an unavoidable vortex. But then, even if I was given an option to avoid it, I wouldn't. Why would I rob myself of a reading experience as exquisite as this one? Even knowing that there were moments that squeezed my heart painfully and had me pulling one tissue after the other. You see, with the those times that wrecked me, there were those that brought a smile to my lips and lightness to that same broken heart, putting it back together, knowing and waiting that it's bound to repeat its fate more than once. It was the same with Nate and Lena. They took each joy with every sorrow and their triumphs with their challenges.
Even if I could give you details so that you'll have some idea of what this book is all about I wouldn't. Well, I will share with you one that I believe will be more than enough to set you off on your journey. First, this is a story about true love and how, even when the love is purest and strongest, it is tested more than once. Nate and Lena love one another beyond measure, and would do anything for one another, regardless of how much it may pain them, willing to sacrifice themselves--their wants and needs--if necessary, for the other. I'm writing this review a couple of hours after I finished the novel, and I don't think I've come with words fitting enough to tell you how remarkable the love these two share or how both inspiring and heartrending their choices and actions were, almost always taking into consideration the other first. There was no doubting their love and loyalty, but their courage, resilience, and faith were wondrous. I'm a cynical romantic but Nate and Lena Grant's story had me desperately hopeful about a love this strong, one that encompasses then reaches beyond, existing. If there's only one book you get to read this year, please make it The Empty Jar by M. Leighton. There aren't enough stars for an all-time top favorite this amazing. ♥
Release Date: 08 May 2016 07 May 2016 (released early!)
Date Read: 08 May 2016
Learn more about M. Leighton.
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