THE SPACE BETWEEN US by ANIE MICHAELS

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Reviewed by Jenny & Gitte

‘There was finality and sense of being settled when it came to Asher. I knew he was it for me, that we were it for each other. ‘

Well this was quite the emotional rollercoaster! The Space Between Us held some truly beautiful, captivating and memorable moments. Charlie and Asher lived a true friends to lover’s story that spanned 20 years with lots of good times, fun times, bad times, sad times and a heck of a lot of unnecessarily wasted years and they shared a love that was held together through an invisible bond which you felt as they grew up.

At times the beautiful words and actions of Asher would have us clutching our hearts and swooning over his romanticism.

“What kind of heart is beating in your chest that makes you the most compassionate and thoughtful man I’ve ever met?”

We would be welling up over the sadness in some parts of the story and yeah, we also spent a bit of time on the phone having a very heated and passionate chat about how some parts of the story unfolded. At one point we both had to put our Kindles down and debrief. At no point though, did we consider not pressing on and finishing this story because we were so invested and had to know how Asher and Charlie’s story played out.

We both felt the author did an excellent job of expressing Asher’s love and commitment through Charlie’s POV. If anything, he was the one who held the emotional pull, more so than Charlie, who at times could come across quite nonchalant and ‘non-committing’ in her feelings towards Asher. There was never any doubt whatsoever in our hearts though, of the commitment and soul deep love that Asher held for Charlie. Not once did we question his unyielding dedication to her and his need to protect her.  We felt it in our hearts!

Herein lays our problem on why this book didn’t take us to the overall emotional heights we had expected. The author did such a brilliant job making us feel and believe that Asher’s world revolved around Charlie’s happiness and his love for her was unquestionable, his words and actions were so heartfelt and beautiful that we became angry at the complete 360 his character took a couple of times in the book.

We were gobsmacked, sad and above all, angry at the treatment the author dealt her character. It was undeserving and instead of being pissed off and disappointed in Asher, we felt he was let down for the sake of added drama and he didn’t deserve it. Truly, he didn’t…it wasn’t in him.

“You mean everything to me, Charlie. I’m not sure I even understand what that means fully right now, but every day it becomes clearer to me. You are my everything.”

Asher was a wonderful and romantic character who laid his heart bare time and time again. Charlie was the more reluctant of the two but Asher never gave up on her. He never belittled her, forced her or made her feel less than the most important person in his life. That was Asher.

When the time came for Asher’s explanation of a particular miscommunication, the reasoning for his actions were unbelievable. It felt as though 13 years of torment and heartache had just been swept under the carpet.

“I’m afraid that I’ll let you in, you’ll see me, and you’ll realise that you don’t want me anymore.”

Also, the missing 13 years in all other aspects of Charlie’s life were not explored nor were they convincing in the sense that no one, not even her best friend really knew her anymore. Reeve and Charlie were in fact complete strangers knowing absolutely nothing of what had happened to the other during the missing years. Their ‘friendship’ and feelings were therefore not believable once reunited.

Once the story moved along and we got over the “Asher incident”, we were again immersed in their love, only to have to endure a totally uncharacteristic temper tantrum by Asher. By this time we had almost stopped believing theirs was a soul deep, endless love that could withstand anything because from there on end never shown proof this was still the case. Instead, we were left believing that, at the first sign of trouble, these two would sadly cave.  We wanted them to prove otherwise and didn’t feel they did. The communication and soul searching stopped.

The ‘afters’ were pretty non-existent too and after going through all their ups, downs and heartache, the ending felt rushed and not convincing.

We waited with bated breath for the epilogue which we felt would be the glue to permanently seal this all together. Imagine our disappointment when found there wasn’t one!  If ever an epilogue was imperative to a story it was this one. We had put our hearts on the line for Asher and Charlie and couldn’t help but feel a little ripped off at the end.

This story did hold a lot of beauty, happiness, pain, passion, a lot of heartache, a few tears and moments of true magic and we really wanted to believe theirs was an enduring love.

‘I knew the words I said to him in this moment were the truest words I’ve ever spoken. If I lived, if I breathed, if I walked this earth, I was his. And maybe even beyond that.’

Watching these children grow through the years was beautiful, captivating and special. We’re only sorry we didn’t feel completely satisfied by the end that this was it…..true love which conquers all.

‘I had become numb to the term ‘broken heart’. My heart wasn’t broken. The word broken implied that it could be fixed or repaired. My heart wasn’t fixable…’

J&G Rating: We couldn’t decide on an overall rating for this one and decided to split it as follows:
Asher : 4.5 Stars
Charlie : 3.0 Stars
Story: First half 5 stars/Second Half 3.0 Stars/Final & lack of Epilogue : 1 Star
Emotion: 5 Stars
Writing: 4.5 Stars

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Purchase your copy of THE SPACE BETWEEN US here
AMAZON US / AMAZON UK / AMAZON AU / AMAZON CA