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“In here,” he said, pushing on the skin above my heart, “you're ten below zero. And you’re closer to death than I am.”
My name is Parker. My body is marked with scars from an attack I don’t remember. I don’t want to remember. I choose to live my life by observation, not through experience. While people are laughing and kissing and connecting, I’m in the corner. Watching them live. I’m indifferent to everything, everyone. The only emotion I feel with any kind of depth is annoyance, and I feel it often.
A text message sent to the wrong number proves to be my undoing.
His name is Everett, but I call him rude. He’s pushy, he’s arrogant, he crowds my personal space, and worst of all: he makes me feel.
He chooses to wear all black, all the time, as if he’s waiting to attend a funeral. Probably because he is.
Everett is dying. And he’s spending his final days living, truly living. In doing so, he’s forcing me to feel, to heal. To come face to face with the demons I suppressed in my memory.
He hurts me, he fulfills me, he completes me. And still, he's dying.
My name is Parker. My body is marked with scars from an attack I don’t remember. I don’t want to remember. I choose to live my life by observation, not through experience. While people are laughing and kissing and connecting, I’m in the corner. Watching them live. I’m indifferent to everything, everyone. The only emotion I feel with any kind of depth is annoyance, and I feel it often.
A text message sent to the wrong number proves to be my undoing.
His name is Everett, but I call him rude. He’s pushy, he’s arrogant, he crowds my personal space, and worst of all: he makes me feel.
He chooses to wear all black, all the time, as if he’s waiting to attend a funeral. Probably because he is.
Everett is dying. And he’s spending his final days living, truly living. In doing so, he’s forcing me to feel, to heal. To come face to face with the demons I suppressed in my memory.
He hurts me, he fulfills me, he completes me. And still, he's dying.
*A copy of the book was graciously given by the author in exchange for an honest review*
There are books that sear deep into a reader’s heart.
But there are exceptional books that would dive into a reader’s soul.
There are books that could change the way a reader thinks.
But there are books that could change how a reader views life.
Ten Below Zero did the two Buts to me. Do you think a couple of hundred pages could go that deep? Well, with me, it did.
“Be broken and be okay with it.”
Parker Sloane was a living dead. With a near encounter with it years ago, she started doing the only thing possible to avoid it—detach. And even if she survived that night and was very much alive, it’s as if she stopped living and she just existed. Parker represented our comfort zones and our safe places where we are secured and far from anything or anyone who could bring us pain. Parker was so real that at times I could relate to her fears and dilemmas. I learned with her, and loved every speck of her brokenness.
“I don’t want to dwell on my death. I want life. I want to put my hands into all the life there is and let it flood my senses, all of them, all at once.”
Everett O’Callaghan was a dying life. All the pain he went through has opened his eyes to his own reality, and how wasting every bit left of it was stupid. Everett was self-assured, honest, intelligent, and perceptive. If Parker was the comfort zone, he was the drive. He inspired strength, risks, and the beauty of being alive. He is a force that inspires people to go out of their rotten shells and seek anything that will prove life. There is nothing more sexy than a man with a mind such as his. I love all of his words.
“You confuse me. I don’t particularly like you, but I’m drawn to you.”
Parker and Everett were opposing poles that showed a poignant and insightful message in life and death. They argue a lot but their connection is immediately felt. It was hot, passionate, and real. With the plot and characters being both unpredictably real, I revelled upon every beautiful bit of this book. Every scene, gesture, and response spoke with certain gravity. Even their silence had a story.
The author’s prose was so outstandingly felt that I could clearly picture out and feel every speck of beauty this story possessed. Each scene enflamed my heart bit by bit until it was no longer just an emotion driven by a book but a lesson from two people’s lives. This book clawed into me until it was no longer just a book but a hard-lived realization. Her words were clear, poignant, and driven by emotions so real that you can actually relate to them. She flawlessly delivered her message with a masterful plot and characters that will stay in my heart forever.
Whitney Barbetti is a rare gem in this genre. I mean, come on! Who could write about cheeseburgers as poignantly as she did in this book?
There are books that sear deep into a reader’s heart.
But there are exceptional books that would dive into a reader’s soul.
There are books that could change the way a reader thinks.
But there are books that could change how a reader views life.
Ten Below Zero did the two Buts to me. Do you think a couple of hundred pages could go that deep? Well, with me, it did.
“Be broken and be okay with it.”
Parker Sloane was a living dead. With a near encounter with it years ago, she started doing the only thing possible to avoid it—detach. And even if she survived that night and was very much alive, it’s as if she stopped living and she just existed. Parker represented our comfort zones and our safe places where we are secured and far from anything or anyone who could bring us pain. Parker was so real that at times I could relate to her fears and dilemmas. I learned with her, and loved every speck of her brokenness.
“I don’t want to dwell on my death. I want life. I want to put my hands into all the life there is and let it flood my senses, all of them, all at once.”
Everett O’Callaghan was a dying life. All the pain he went through has opened his eyes to his own reality, and how wasting every bit left of it was stupid. Everett was self-assured, honest, intelligent, and perceptive. If Parker was the comfort zone, he was the drive. He inspired strength, risks, and the beauty of being alive. He is a force that inspires people to go out of their rotten shells and seek anything that will prove life. There is nothing more sexy than a man with a mind such as his. I love all of his words.
“You confuse me. I don’t particularly like you, but I’m drawn to you.”
Parker and Everett were opposing poles that showed a poignant and insightful message in life and death. They argue a lot but their connection is immediately felt. It was hot, passionate, and real. With the plot and characters being both unpredictably real, I revelled upon every beautiful bit of this book. Every scene, gesture, and response spoke with certain gravity. Even their silence had a story.
The author’s prose was so outstandingly felt that I could clearly picture out and feel every speck of beauty this story possessed. Each scene enflamed my heart bit by bit until it was no longer just an emotion driven by a book but a lesson from two people’s lives. This book clawed into me until it was no longer just a book but a hard-lived realization. Her words were clear, poignant, and driven by emotions so real that you can actually relate to them. She flawlessly delivered her message with a masterful plot and characters that will stay in my heart forever.
Whitney Barbetti is a rare gem in this genre. I mean, come on! Who could write about cheeseburgers as poignantly as she did in this book?
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