LOVE, KINSEY by BRANDY JEFFUS CORONA

Reviewed by Jenny 

4.5 Beautifully heartbreaking stars

It’s been since I’ve cried this hard in a book. I cried my heart out through Love, Kinsey for all sorts of different reasons and I’m kind of at a loss how to put into words the level of emotion this book elicited from me nor the effect this Kinsey’s story had on me.

“I’m okay, Colby. I’m going to die. And that’s okay,” I whisper. That statement scared the living daylights out of me. – Kinsey

Love, Kinsey had me sobbing, and I mean SOBBING for hours after finishing it.  I cried tears of sadness and I cried tears of hope and I cried because an author, through her storytelling, made me realise just what life is all about. It reminded of the important things in life and how even the little things we do and what others do can touch a person’s life, directly or indirectly.

“This sucks, Rose. It really blows. I’m going to lose my best friend.” –  Colby

Cancer is one of those subjects where so many have been affected and no one wants to be reminded of the pain or sorrow felt from through or from this insidious disease. However, what Brandy Jeffus Corona has achieved in her prose is to give us a heartfelt and beautiful story of a young woman who, after being given the most devastating news imaginable reaches out to those she has loved and who have loved her to witness the effect she could have possibly had on their lives and in that the author offers words to people who have dealt with or who are dealing with the loss of a loved one. I found this story to be somewhat therapeutic after losing a close young friend a year ago to cancer. Like Kinsey, my friend did get to say her goodbyes and she too was able to witness the effect her short life had made on other and so this story felt quite personal to me.

‘This was her journey to make; the journey to find out just how special she really was. How big of a difference she made in the lives she touched.’ – Colby

Love, Kinsey is poignant and it’s real. It’s sad yet uplifting. Everyone will take something away from this story, I know I did.Kinsey’s story is flawlessly told through the voices of Kinsey and her fiancé Colby. Both Colby and Kinsey completely and utterly stole my heart.  And I have to say here and now, I was overawed at what a truly wonderful man Colby was.

“Don’t you do this, God. Do not take her away right now! I need her! I need her!” – Colby

As far as book heroes go, you won’t a man more befitting that title than Colby.  He epitomized what that word means. He was so understandings with a heart full of love, loyalty and compassion and whose strength Kinsey so relied on in her life and in her final moments and this man had my heart.

‘Please. Please, let me keep her’ – Colby

Kinsey. Where do I start with this courageous, beautiful, sweet, loving and giving woman who had inadvertently touched so many lives?  Kinsey was so full of life and love that it was incomprehensible to think of her suffering the way she did and that the life of such a beautiful soul could be cut short?  Well, it shattered my heart to think of her this way.

‘I felt content. I felt whole, complete. I felt like I was ready to die. Now it was merely playing the waiting game.’ – Kinsey

Having the author tell their story so richly, in a way that makes the reader feel as though they are on this journey with Kinsey and Colby contributed so much to the overall experience I encountered in Love, Kinsey.  It was touching and it was real.

‘I had to be strong for them. Telling a pair of parents their baby is going to die is hard, even harder when you’re talking about yourself.’ – Kinsey

Being there with Kinsey when she broke her tragic news to family and loved ones was devastating but it was Colby’s hearing feelings that destroyed my heart. Kinsey may have had many loves but this man was her true soul mate.

Do you think this was the last time we’ll be able to make love?” -Kinsey

What he went through, what he did for Kinsey and how was trying to cope with the possibility of living without the love of his life…….yep that killed me.  Kinsey and Colby really were unique and wonderful and just thinking about their story has me typing this review with tears streaming down my.  God only knows how the author ever got through it because I am moved beyond words at what I experienced.

“Kinsey , you’re going to Heaven. You don’t need to be worried about that. You will go to an absolute paradise where He will wipe every tear from your face and you won’t suffer any longer.” – Landon

This was certainly a story that will stay with me for a long time. I witnessed the love, the anguish, the pain, the suffering, the beauty and the strength of so many people all within the pages of a book. Love, Kinsey taught me that we are not defined by riches or material items or personal achievements, but by the love and happiness we bring to others. It taught me to treasure every person in my life.  It taught me to love deeply, laugh often and cherish every single minute I’m blessed to be here. Now how many times do you get to take that away from a book?

 LOVE, KINSEY
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