inconceivably

Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy McNamara totally caught me off guard, you guys. I have seriously heard absolutely nothing about this book. Well, let me tell you: that is a MAJOR FAIL on the part of the blogosphere. This book was out of this world incredible. Run…don’t walk…RUN LIKE THE WIND to the nearest bookstore. This story is so worth it.This will definitely be one of those reviews where I flail around like a lunatic, because YOU GUYS. I can’t even. The writing is so good that I was literally rereading paragraphs by the SECOND PAGE because I was so in awe of the words. Mesmerizing and eerie and descriptive and perfect. In fact, here is the first passage I bookmarked, barely three paragraphs in:I came here because it’s pine-dark and the ocean is wild. The kind of quiet-noise you need when there’s too much going on in your head. Like the water and the woods are doing all the feeling, and I can hang out, quiet as a headstone, in a between place. A blank I can bear.Sigh.Basically, by the end of the first chapter of Lovely, Dark and Deep I was sending prayers up to the Book Gods, asking to just please please let me love the story and the characters even just half as much as the writing. Luckily, I did.Wren was in a car crash that killed her boyfriend – and affected her in a couple of other ways that aren’t revealed until later. She has fallen apart and left her mom and college plans behind to live in Maine with her father, an artist. There she meets Cal, a fellow traveler on the road of my-life-sucks-and-not-even-endless-piles-of-nachos-and-cookie-dough-will-help-me-out-of-this-nightmare. The relationship formed is born more out of intensity and loneliness than any actual romance, but it works for them and I was definitely along for the ride.Also, I can’t even begin to describe to you how in love with the title I am. Lovely, Dark and Deep are easily the three words that describe the story best. Everything about these characters is stark and uncomfortable and sad in this compulsively readable way. I couldn’t put the book down. The ending doesn’t bring closure or any certainty of the future – but it does leave you with hope that things are looking up for Wren and Cal, and I closed the book feeling 100% satisfied.To Sum it Up:-Before I even had a chance to meet the characters, I fell in love with the writing. Gorgeous and lyrical and descriptive and just…everything.-Wren and Cal, the main characters, definitely pulled me in as well. They both have major issues and an inability to deal with them. I couldn’t wait for the moment to come when I would see them finally able to shake off some of what weighed them down.-This isn’t a happy book, but it IS a fabulous one. READ IT. IMMEDIATELY.