GOD SHAPED HOLE by TIFFANIE DEBARTOLO

‘…memories are the patches that make up the quilt of our emotions. A beautiful way to put it, but wrong. If that were true, then memories would blanket us, they would keep us warm. My memories were chilling me to the bone.’

Oh our hearts. We are wrecked! Wrecked we tell you. We’ve recently overhauled our blog and in doing so, discovered we had never reviewed God Shaped Hole. This is one of our favourite books, and we couldn’t do it justice without once again experiencing the provocative words of Tiffanie De Bartolo, so we decided to do a re-read. There was a little hesitation as we wondered if we would experience the level of emotion we did when we first devoured it over 5 years ago.

‘But I guessed that no matter how strong it was, love alone couldn’t turn a speck of dust into a galaxy of stars.’

Well, we needn’t have worried because the answer was a resounding yes! All the feelings we experienced then, were just as prevalent now. There’s so much to say about this book, but then to say too much would impact on how you experience the evolution and conclusion of Trixie and Jacob’s intense, aching and beautiful love story. These two were the epitome of soulmate love.

Tiffanie De Bartolo’s writing is breathtaking. Just as in To Kill A Rockstar, one of our all-time top favourite reads, this author delivers words that impact your life and heart with what appears to be a natural and effortless talent. Her words are poetic, profound, thought provoking, honest and sincere. Nothing is sugar coated, we get a warts and all look at a love that’s intense, organic, beautiful and flawed, through the stunning prose. Her musings via Trixie left us shaking our heads in awe.

‘It seemed cruelly unfair to me, even then, how fast your life can change before you have an opportunity to rethink your choices. We should get second chances on the big stuff. We should come equipped with erasers attached to the tops of our heads. Like pencils. We should be able to flip over and scribble away mistakes, at least once or twice during the duration of our existence, especially in matters of life and death.’

Emotions are at an optimum during our time spent with Trixie and Jacob because at a point Tiffanie De Bartolo draws us into Trixie and Jacob’s life and love experiences and these guys ceased to be characters, instead they felt like people we know, people we care about and people we love.

‘.. you can’t put life on pause and then catch up with it later when you have more energy to give. You have to play it all the way through to the end.’

The synopsis summarises everything you need to know about the story so we won’t expand on that except to say, Jacob and Trixie’s happiness made us euphoric, their disappointments decimated, and we felt every emotion in between with them as they circumnavigated the ups and downs of their new found love. OMG! We suffered at times, our hearts really did hurt.

“Don’t waste your time with fear….fear won’t keep you safe from being hurt.”

The music which exudes from every pore of the author in her writing, once again plays a role in God Shaped Hole, relating moments to song and making each moment personal.

The second read was as painful, fun, emotional and as tortuous as the first, and we enjoyed every feeling this author elicited from us. Nothing was spared in this achingly beautiful exploration of true soulmate love, dreams, fate, and we wouldn’t want it to be.

“Just knowing you exist changed the world for me.”

After our re-read, we’re okay….well, we think we’re okay. One thing we know for sure, book world needs more Tiffanie De Bartolo stories, two just aren’t enough! Do yourselves a favour, and 1click this book now!