Bright Side by Kim Holden Series: Bright Side #1
Genres: Coming of Age, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance
Published by Do Epic LLC Publication Date: July 9th 2014
Pages: 389
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Secrets.
Everyone has one.
Some are bigger than others.
And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you ...
And some will end you.Kate Sedgwickβs life has been anything but typical. Sheβs endured hardship and tragedy, but throughout it all she remains happy and optimistic (thereβs a reason her best friend Gus calls her Bright Side). Kate is strong-willed, funny, smart, and musically gifted. Sheβs also never believed in love. So when Kate leaves San Diego to attend college in the small town of Grant, Minnesota, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with Keller Banks.
They both feel it.
But they each have a reason to fight it.
They each have a secret.And when secrets are revealed,
Some will heal you β¦
And some will end you.
I discovered Kim Holden’s book Bright Side on the C&B Facebook page when someone was asking about it. When i looked it up I decided to go ahead and purchase it on my Amazon Kindle and I regret nothing. Well, except maybe not giving it the proper amount of time. Due to Tim crunches I could not read the first half of the book and give it my undivided attention, however the second half crushed down on me and made me feel emotions I thought I had buried long ago.
I’m not a crier. Books don’t make me cry. Movies don’t make me cry. I can count on one hand the amount of times I have cried since 2015 began. Ms. Holden made me cry. Actually she made me curl up in the fetal position and bawl like a baby for a good thirty minutes after I finished reading Bright Side.
I honestly didn’t know what to expect based on the description of the book when I ordered it. What could these life altering secrets be? Murder? Mystery? Intrigue? Can you tell what genre I read most? Bright Side was out of the norm for me. Except for nonfiction I rarely read books of this nature. I’m pleased Holden’s book was the one I wound up with.
I can’t even begin to tell the story of Kate, Gus and Keller without spoilers so instead I will simply give you a warning: If you read this book you will cry. You will not be able to pick up another book for weeks. You will want to start book two (simply titled Gus) and find you are still not over book one.
Overall this book is about love. But it is not a romance. It’s a book about friendship and loyalty and desire. It’s a story that will touch you to the core and make you come out the other side with a completely different outlook than the one you started with when you first read the words written In Chapter One.
Told poignantly in the first person by Kate (with occasional first person excerpts by Keller) this is the first book I have read since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that I did not immediately recover from.
