Love Is Strength

 

TRIGGER WARNING: MOLESTATION/SEXUAL ABUSE.

 Susan Fox is an author I haven't read before.  This was my first one of hers and it's a doozy.  It's hard hitting, beautiful and rips you to shreds all at the same time.  Again, I understand that like the contents/review of The Night Swim by Megan Goldin this will be a hard subject for some to read about.  If that's the case for you, please feel free to skip this.

Characters: Julian Blake, Iris Yakimura

Premise: Premise: A bookstore owner and a musician open themselves up to love and healing.

Oof. That's the only way I can describe this.  Like The Night Swim by Megan Goldin, I was wrecked. I knew right away that this dealt with molestation as it was implied on the back cover, but I wasn't expecting to be drawn in the way that I was.  When we start, Iris Yakimura is at a concert with her friends and she finds herself drawn to the lead vocalist, Julian Blake. Iris---along with the rest of her family---has always stayed in her comfort zone and rarely challenged herself to leave it even though she's a closet romantic.  However, as she spends time with Julian, she starts to blossom even as he continually pulls away from her, convinced that he's not good enough.

Julian.  Wow.  The look into his mindset as he struggles to come to grips with his abuse is heartbreaking and I was practically crying at some points.  Molestation is a tough subject to write about and most authors only write about female victims as even in today's society (2018-2024), people don't think much of male victims of molestation/abuse.  You hear the old cliches of "You're a guy" "You probably liked it" (if it's a female abuser), which shames/guilts the boy into staying quiet or not pursuing his revelation.

Watching Iris and Julian working to overcome their struggles is both heartbreaking and beautiful.  From Iris stepping outside of her comfort zone and shyness to start a book club for senior citizens, to Julian forgiving himself for not telling anyone about his abuser---a respected local named Bart Jelinek---to him gathering the courage to tell his family about the abuse, and then to come clean about what Jelinek did to him to the world and then standing tall against those who didn't believe him and relying on those who did.

While Sail Away With Me is not what some would call a love story in the traditional sense, it is a love story.  Iris and Julian learn to love themselves despite their flaws, and Julian comes to realize that he is worthy of love and that he's not dirty and tainted as he previously thought.  Unlike most romance novels, the author doesn't tie her story up in a neat pretty little bow, but instead ends with some loose ends but also a sense of hope.  While I don't know if I'd read other books by this author, I immensely enjoyed this story and give it a 7.