Blog Tour : Back to Life by Danielle Allen
Sahara Lee is damaged by grief and guilt.
Ten years ago her world was turned upside down and she never recovered. One decision, one choice, one accident killed the person she was before.
The old Sahara had family, friends, and the love of her life. Now Sahara isolates herself from any and everything she once loved. Immersing herself in fashion, art, and music as a way to escape the pain of the past, she accepts her lonely existence as penance for the role she played in the accident. That is, until she meets Tyree Barker.
Back to Life reminds you that living and existing are two completely different ways to go through life. Grief will break you but guilt, guilt will destroy you. And once that happens, what can bring you back to life?
Back to Life Review
Well this book will throw you through the ringer and back again. I would re-summarize the book, but the synopsis does a very good job doing that for me, thank you Danielle 🙂
Man, where do I begin? First of all, no one should go that long living with all of that guilt that she’s dealing with post-“traumatic event”.
Well, Sahara lives a very dormant and busy life, she does what she can to stay engaged in her work, music (especially her playlist), to keep what’s haunting her at bay. It’s completely heartbreaking to see someone do this to herself, she is punishing herself. And no one should ever go through that kind of pain and nor should they punish themselves for something they didn’t do.
Thankfully, beautiful Tyree comes into her life and of course, lives pretty damn close to her; wakes up her life again. Sahara has suppressed a lot of things for nearly 10 years, and he slowly coax it out of her. And he helps her get through the guilt, it will definitely take time for her, but little by little, we start to see the light shine through.
Their relationship is rather amazing, I love them together so much. Ty is such a thoughtful and caring man and Danielle did such a great job showing that through her words. As much as my heart constantly broke for Sahara, I loved seeing her happy side, when it came out.
I’ll let you in on a little something, Sahara isn’t the only one with some baggage. Don’t mind me, I’m a little slow to figure things out, but man, you’ll be in for a treat … (and it’s not a good one). Advice to all you couples out there : ” Be honest and always communicate with one another. There’s no such thing as an inopportune moment to say something. “
As for the supporting characters, I love her best friend, Emily! She is definition of what a best friend should be. Even though Sahara kept her out for all of those years, Emily never game up and always stayed in touch. And we get to see more of Emily towards the end of the book.
And then there’s Emmanuel, Emily’s brother & Sahara’s first love, AND I’m not his biggest fan. Case closed.
So, I gave this book a 4.5 because I’m not a fan of cliffhanger endings … I know that’s a poor reason, but hey, that’s the only reason for the 4.5. Everything else was flawless, I love this book! And I’m so excited for her next one, Back to Reality, which comes out next month. I just have to know what happens.
Danielle, you’re an amazing writer and I can’t wait to read more of your work.
