TAKE CARE, SARA by LINDY ZART – REVIEW

Review by Jenny

You breathe in, you breathe out, and everything you know is gone.

Sara Walker is living a nightmare. Sara is lost and consumed by an overwhelming and neverending grief following the loss of her husband a year ago.  Sara reaches a point where she really doesn’t want to live in a world devoid of Cole, the love of her life. Theirs was a love so deep with a long and happy a life ahead of them.

“Time had no meaning for Sara, other than to mock her with its endless sorrow.”

Sara’s world had been ripped from under her and nothing can lift her from the sadness and loss she feels. Sara would rather be with Cole than live in a world without him and it is this mindset Sara makes a decision. One she is, thankfully, not permitted to carry out after some intervention by Spencer and Mason. Two characters I adored.

“Then I don’t have to hurt, then I don’t have to wonder, then I don’t have to worry about any of it.”

Lincoln, Cole’s brother is her one touch with reality but even Lincoln has difficulty reaching Sara.  Theirs is a close relationship and one where each is consumed with, and understands the others grief yet it is Lincoln who reaches out to Sara encouraging her to live her life. To be the Sara she used to be.

“This is reality. He’s gone, you’re not. Live, Sara.”

Little by little Lincoln coaxes Sara out of her despair but it is a long road and Sara isn’t a willing participant. Sara can’t begin to fathom how she will live without Cole – she feels him around her every minute of the day.

“He said when he looked at you he was home.”

Take Care, Sara will overwhelm you with sadness. You will live and breathe Sara’s grief, loss and guilt. You will mourn with her to the point where you almost want to reach in and assure her life will go on, you want to enlighten her and pray that she sees finally the man in front of her, the man who is always there for her.

This book really did move me. You felt the grief, the loss, the utter despair Sara was experiencing and you felt it every step of the way.

“So say his name, and stop acting like your world has fallen apart and mine hasn’t and……fuck.” Lincoln

My heart literally ached for Lincoln. This man was a saint and I loved him. Here was a man who was also dealing with an all-consuming loss, who was also hurting, yet he was there for Sara without question. His feelings for her never faltered and he was her rock. Her one touch with reality.  This selfless, beautiful man never questioned her and was always willing to give.

When Lincoln’s frustrations with Sara and her lack of will to face reality bubbled to the surface, I became frustrated with him.  I wanted so much for Sara to see the man he was and how he was trying to help her. He laid his emotions bare for Sara and gave so much of himself and I ached for Sara to return that to Lincoln. Although I understood Sara’s immense grief, I did feel at times she was a little dismissive of Lincoln’s own grief.

“On their own, they were weak, but together, they seemed to be able to cope.”

Take Care, Sara was sad, moving and so beautifully written.  You will feel joy at the occasional highs and despair through their lows. There were a couple of times I felt it did drag through the middle and at time could feel a little repetitive but this did not detract from the feelings I experienced overall in Take Care, Sara. I wanted so much for Sara and Lincoln to find the happiness they so both desperately needed and deserved and I was willing them both to make it work.

“Sometimes when you think you have nothing, you realise you have yourself…”

Take Care, Sara is a story about losing everything, finding yourself, moving forward, letting go and taking a second chance at love because find it once, you’re lucky.  Find it twice, take that chance…then you are truly blessed.

You breathe in, you breathe out, and everything you know isn’t gone, but reborn.

4 Stars