UNSPOKEN WORDS by K.M. GOLLAND

“We need to talk. You need to yell. I need to let you yell. And then we both need to cry and hold each other.”

By the closing chapters of Unspoken Words, we found ourselves welling up as K.M. Golland’s story about fate and a once in a lifetime love, came to a close. This is a love story that began when two souls met at twelve, and despite obstacles and the complexities of youth and first love, they would reconnect and once again their bonds of love are tested.

From the ominous prologue, we thought Connor and Ellie’s love story was going to be an emotional one. We couldn’t wait for our hearts to be crushed as we witnessed the most beautiful scene in present day, then suddenly the story switches back to Ellie and Connor meeting as pre-teens.

When Connor Burke moves next door to Ellie, he brings with him pain and loss, after the tragic death of his best friend. It’s a loss he struggles to move on from, but with the help of outgoing Ellie, he finds a friend he can talk to and open his heart, and for Connor, it’s much easier to write his feelings than verbalise them, a matter of contention for Ellie.

“Love hurts no less than it’s supposed to.”
“You should write that into a song.”
“I already have.”

For Ellie Mitchell, Connor is the boy she sees herself with for the rest of her life, but she’s also focused on school and her future and wants Connor and herself to fulfil the plans for University they initially set out to achieve. Level headed Ellie proposes that she and Connor take a break to focus on their last year of school, away from any influences that could derail their plans.

Well, for reasons you’ll discover, things don’t go as expected with Ellie fleeing her hometown, leaving Connor and obtaining a Bachelor of Arts in Darwin. However, four years later and Ellie is returning to Melbourne and about to face the boy, now a man, who broke her heart.

We did enjoy much of this story, however, there were some aspects which prevented us from experiencing the utter sob fest we had anticipated at the start of the book. We felt Ellie and Connor spent a little too much time apart for us to truly connect and feel the devastation their paths would take.

“You’ll never lose me, Connor. You just can’t have me either.”

We couldn’t help but feel sorry for Connor – it felt as though he couldn’t win a trick. All we kept thinking of was that Friends episode…you know…’WE WERE ON A BREAK” – we felt his confusion as he tried his best to understand Ellie, and always felt his love for her was unquestionable. She had his heart.

There were some truly beautiful quotes and moments in this story and our hearts did ache throughout as K.M. Golland reminded us of the mark some people make in our lives and how we need to grasp and enjoy every precious and memorable moment. We just wish we could have experienced the full blown heart clenching emotions we were hoping would emanate from this story.

‘People come into our life all the time. They come and they went, and they left their mark. Sometimes, that mark was subtle and, sometimes, it was more intense. But then, sometimes, if we were lucky, a person came along and marked our existence so profoundly we felt as if the earth had shifted from its axis, and the affinity shared was so overpowering it stole the air from our lungs. Sometimes, we met a person who left us breathless and, for me, that person was Connor.’