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A review by richellemelynda
Chasing The Taillights by Kate Larkindale
5.0
Chasing the Taillights is a phenomenal and emotional read. It follows Lucy and Tony through the loss of their parents and how it changes the siblings both individually and their relationship with each other. `This book is about grief and loss, but also about the ties between family, and how when tragedy happens it can bring people closer to those who have drifted apart. Lucy having gone with her parents to a mutual friend’s wedding wakes up in the hospital with no recollection of what happened since the arrived at the wedding. Tony, having missed the wedding due to his demanding schedule for dive practice and university, gets a call from his uncle’s partner tell him to come home in the middle of the night. After learning of the loss of their parents, Lucy and Tony navigate what this means for them. At 16, Lucy needs a guardian and her parents wished it to be her uncle. however, Tony and Lucy decide that her staying with the uncle they never really got to know just didn’t feel right and decide that Tony will be transferred guardianship of his sister. Tony is now juggling his sister with trauma and her health, a demanding university schedule, his practices for diving as he is expected to be a champion, his friendship with Jake and also the grief his feels having lost his parents. How many balls will drop as Tony navigates through all of this? Will Lucy end up falling through the cracks?
Kate’s writing style was great! The story just flowed and was easy to comprehend. This story isn’t complicated with many plot points but more about the emotions and feeling what the characters felt. The emotion poured onto the page had me going for the tissues more times than I can count. Kate touched on a lot of themes and managed to cover going through grief and loss while coming into yourself and who you are so well. The world was well created – very realistic. The details throughout the world including what university life is like and how things are dealt with in a situation like this was pretty well thought out. I did like the pacing of the book. I wish we actually got to see a flash forward of Tony and Lucy at the end of the novel, but the ending provided so much closure for both them and the reader. This novel really reminds me of the duology, If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman. I highly recommend this book if you liked that series, or if you are looking for a contemporary read, or a book about how family can see you through the worst moments of your life.
A special thank you goes out to the author, Kate Larkindale, for providing me a copy of this book for review!
Kate’s writing style was great! The story just flowed and was easy to comprehend. This story isn’t complicated with many plot points but more about the emotions and feeling what the characters felt. The emotion poured onto the page had me going for the tissues more times than I can count. Kate touched on a lot of themes and managed to cover going through grief and loss while coming into yourself and who you are so well. The world was well created – very realistic. The details throughout the world including what university life is like and how things are dealt with in a situation like this was pretty well thought out. I did like the pacing of the book. I wish we actually got to see a flash forward of Tony and Lucy at the end of the novel, but the ending provided so much closure for both them and the reader. This novel really reminds me of the duology, If I Stay and Where She Went by Gayle Forman. I highly recommend this book if you liked that series, or if you are looking for a contemporary read, or a book about how family can see you through the worst moments of your life.
A special thank you goes out to the author, Kate Larkindale, for providing me a copy of this book for review!