Review: Come to Me Quietly

Come to Me Quietly by A.L. Jackson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It has been 6 years since Aleena Moore has seen her brother's best friend Jared Holt, the self-destructive bad boy she had secretly loved since the beginning. After he disappeared from her life after the dark and tragic event that shifted everyone's lives, Aleena lost sight of Jared as he plummeted into a endless pit of sorrow. She decided to move on and maybe even to give another guy a chance.

"I wondered how it was possible for a heart to be broken at fourteen. But my heart had, because it'd broken for him. Still it was something my young mind could never fully comprehend. My feelings for Jared had haunted me, left this hollowed-out place deep inside me..."

But after the arduous 6 years, Jared shows up at Aleena's home (who she shares with her brother Christopher), in which she is totally unaware of. She finds Jared crashed on the couch after she comes home from work, and she can not believe that this is real, that Jared is in her house. The following morning, Jared spats at her that he does not want to see her or talk to her, where really he is trying to just hide his feelings for her the only way he knows how. After the incident that repeats in his mind every day, he assumes that he does not deserve love or happiness or joy, and isolates himself from Aleena and Christopher; however, Aleena is keen to break through the wall he is closing himself in, and proves to be successful!!

"...He'd had the biggest heart of anyone I'd ever met. I could never forget the way his sharp ice blue eyes still managed to appear gentle when he spoke to me, or the way he was so interested in everything happening around him..."

Being back in his hometown, Jared finds the familiarity all too suffocating, and allows himself to find comfort with Aleena. Although he still believes he is wrong to take without giving back, he begins to talk and mend his friendships with Aleena and Christopher. Soon enough, he spends his nights sleeping in Aleena's room, without Christopher knowing, and he comes to a place where he is able to share his experiences and fears with Aleena, but still holding a lot back. Aleena's and Jared's relationship soon escalate to the edge of boyfriend-girlfriend, and he decides to end it, he runs away like he always does, and vows to not return to Aleena, for it will only break her heart even more.

"I don't think I'd ever felt intrigued by a girl before the way I was now, had never wanted to crawl inside someone's mind to dig through her thoughts, to find out who she was. Why she was..."

Aleena hides all of her love from the past in her notebooks that she and only herself are allowed to see, even including Jared. Jared is gone and she os heartbroken. He returns finally and mends their relationship, but when things get intimate and love starts to blossom, he is gone at the first moment. Aleena is fare more heartbroken than the last time because now Christopher knows about their relationship. After three months, Jared is constantly thinking of perfect Aleena and attempts to mend their relationship for the last time.

"Every cell in my body was screaming at me to get up, yo take her in my arms, to kiss her and jhold her and make sure she was real because I'd spent so many nights dreaming about her that I wasn't entirely sure what was real anymore..."

Jared and Aleena's story is so sweet and heartfelt that you cant help but cry. Their connection and how they balance each other out truly makes the novel a masterpiece. I will recommend this book to any reader looking for a romantic and devastating read!!



View all my reviews