Review: Watch Over Me by Tara Sivec

Addison Snow is your typical teenager. She has a family that loves her, friends that make her laugh, and she's wrapped up in the excitement of graduating high school and going off to college to pursue her dream of becoming an author. When her mother, who also happens to be Addison's best friend, dies unexpectedly, her world comes to a crashing halt.

Death changes everyone...

To make the pain go away, Addison and her father travel down separate, dark paths. She chooses to end her grief forever, while he drowns his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle. How do you learn to live again when the most important person in your life is gone?

Addison struggles to pick up the pieces of her life. Instead of getting back to being the carefree teenager she once was, she's stuck handling all of the responsibilities that should have been her father's. She has no time to grieve, no time for emotions, and no time for happiness...until Zander Reinhardt walks in. All it takes is one little handwritten note on a napkin to kick-start her back to life and help her realize that maybe there's more to that life than pain.

But can it really be that simple? Can she really trust this man who makes her feel alive again for the first time in a year?

Addison and Zander both have secrets they aren't ready to share. When the truth finally comes out, is it enough to tear them apart or has something bigger than themselves always been watching over them, pushing them together, making sure they both get their happily ever after?

Christina says...

"Death changes everyone. It changes the way you feel, the way you live your life. Sometimes it makes you thankful for what you have, but more often than not, it makes you regret the things you've lost."

Watch over me not only pulls you in with that first sentence but grabs you by your soul chains itself to you and refuses to let go. Addison had a great childhood and her parents were almost perfect in not only her eyes but everyone who knew them. That is until life's bumps in the road slam reality into the picture with her mothers death. The life she had gone. New responsibilities, no one to lean on. Until Zander steps into the picture.

Zander and his notes start breaking down Addison's walls little by little. Between him and her therapist she might just be able to start living again. And let's not forget quirky Meg's sage advice (Addison's friend and coworker):

"You and I both know that life sucks. At any minute something crappy could happen, and the two of us just sit around just waiting for the crappy and expecting it. When something good happens, we have to reach out and grab it, otherwise our lives will turn into one giant run-on sentence of daily sucks. I'm tired of sucks, Addy. Come on, be tired of sucks with me."

Addison starts to open up more and more especially after my favorite scene in the book. I will NEVER look at Legos the same again. Brilliance true brilliance the way The author has Zander explain things via Legos!! I could copy that whole section for use in this review but I think I will refrain and let you enjoy it when reading. Trust me it's swoon worthy for sure. 

This book gutted me. I laughed, I cried, I cried some more. It is truly a work of art. I wish I could rate more than 5 Stars Because it's worth a heck of a lot more than 5. The ending had me smiling and in tears all at once. So much I want to say about this book but I just don't want to give anything away. This book has touched me deeply and I thank the author for writing such and amazing tale. 

Jennifer M. says...

I'm gonna pick up the pieces,

And build a Lego house

If things go wrong we can knock it down

My three words have two meanings,

There's one thing on my mind

It's all for you

Lego House – Ed Sheeran

Addison Snow is broken. Having lost her mother to leukemia and left with a father so buried in the bottle, she is all alone dealing with debilitating grief that has taken over her world. Grief is life consuming. You feel as if you are stuck, rooted in one spot, while the world continues to go on without you. You ache, you bleed, you scream, your heart hurts, and you are constantly wondering why the hell you were left behind.

“I’ve taught myself to shut everything off in the last year and a half. No memories, not emotions, just keep moving forward and pretend like she never existed. If I pretend like she never existed, I can breathe. If I pretend like she was never real, I can wake up each morning and not feel like my heart is being ripped out of my chest.”

Addison attends counseling sessions weekly with the most amazing therapist, one of my favorite characters in the book. Dr. Thompson listens and offers weekly “to-do’s” that encourage Addison to open up little by little.

“I want you to do one thing this week. One thing that is just for YOU. One thing that doesn’t benefit anyone else but yourself. One thing that doesn’t make anyone else happy but you. Do you think you can do that?

I found myself looking forward to their time together knowing that I would walk away with a piece of advice and a new rule to add to my “living life” list. Addison found herself comparing Dr. Thompson to her mom, and felt completely at ease with her.

One day, Addison meets Zander at her mother’s bakery that she runs. He seems to walk into her life when she is at her lowest point. He leaves her notes on napkins, encouraging her to smile and to live. OMG the napkins…he is the most perfect, beautiful person ever.  The legos, too. He made building a lego house beautiful and I will never forget his words.

“You can still pick up the pieces, Sugar. They fell apart for a little while, but it doesn’t mean anything is damaged. Everything can be fixed. And you don’t have to fix it alone. There’s always someone who will help you rebuild.” 

Zander, what can I say about Zander? He proves to her each and every day just how much he loves her. He breaks down her walls and teaches her how to love and live again.

The story continues with many twists and unexpected plot turns. I could not put it down and wanted to show up at Tara’s house and tell her she owed me a hot cup of tea and box of tissues. And a hug.

When I think of Tara Sivec’s books, I expect to laugh out loud, pee in my pants, and make a fool of myself by snorting in public with my kindle in hand. After reading Watch Over Me, I’m in awe, blown away…she is so incredibly talented. She is that good. You do not want to miss this book. It truly makes you stop and remember to live life to the fullest and always “move forward.” There is always someone watching over you and keeping you safe.

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Tara Sivec is a USA Today best-selling author, wife, mother, chauffeur, maid, short-order cook, baby-sitter, and sarcasm expert. She lives in Ohio with her husband and two children and looks forward to the day when they all three of them become adults and move out.

After working in the brokerage business for fourteen years, Tara decided to pick up a pen and write instead of shoving it in her eye out of boredom. She is the author of the Playing with Fire series and the Chocolate Lovers series. Her novel Seduction and Snacks won first place in the Indie Romance Convention Reader’s Choice Awards 2013 for Best Indie First Book.

In her spare time, Tara loves to dream about all of the baking she’ll do and naps she’ll take when she ever gets spare time.

Tara also writes under the pen name T.E. Sivec.