Heart Stronger

by Rachel Blaufeld

An emotional story of learning to live again, of seeing that the loss that has devastated your past doesn’t have to decimate your future too.
The story was intense, it pulled on every heart string and rightly so, it had a point to get across and was willing to do everything it could to ensure that as the reader you got what it was trying to say.
Claire was such a powerful character, she had been through so much, more than many would have been willing or able to deal with but she was still standing…although at times it seemed like it was only just!
The death of her daughter left her a shell of a woman and she was in no hurry to heal that void, she didn’t believe that without her child she had a right to even exist, her pain was so all-encompassing it was heart-breaking to read, I ran my fingers across the screen of my kindle wishing desperately that I could take some of the horrors from her but it was her reality and she had to find a way to allow herself to overcome it…I just wasn’t sure that she could.
I thought that there was a lot placed on the fact that her new neighbour was younger but I didn’t think that a six-year gap was much, but it seemed to matter to her, then again everything mattered to Claire, everything was an excuse, so I suppose that is what counted in the long run, but despite the age what couldn’t be denied was the fact that Aikon was just the most delicious man.
He had an empathy that was quite simply exquisite, he knew straight off the bat that Claire was in pain and his heart was desperate to reach out and help her heal but her reticence was his stumbling block and I say that with  a smile on my face because this was a man not to be deterred, he set about his task, his quest to show her that no matter the severity of her loss, everything she had isn’t gone forever, she has memories and those are what she needs keep with her because it is those memories that will give her back her life…but was his plan about to fall on deaf ears or would he be able to slowly piece by piece , lovingly put this emotionally broken woman back together?
With just enough angst to take the edge off being too romantic, this was a beautiful read.
It encouraged my participation, it gave me guidance and offered an enlightening insight into a world of pain that no parent should ever have to face. It showed that life as a parent isn’t easy but that changing it for something else is unfathomable.
I spent a lot of the book feeling almost distraught for Claire but I couldn’t help but hope that in the depth of her despair her heart would see what Aikon was offering as a step towards remembering and through that learning to live again.
Superb book, with every superlative at my disposal I still couldn’t do it justice…