"As long as you continue to travel through life in this darkness, you will never know how beautiful your light truly shines when you let yourself love and be loved. Trust me when I say, it's a breathtaking sight to see. You burn as bright as the sun."
When Aubrey Miller begins her education at Titan University, she is no longer the beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl of her youth. In fact, she's no longer even Aubrey Miller.
Overcome with guilt and unable to cope with the loss of her beloved family, she has long since buried eight-year old Aubrey along with them and transformed herself into Raven Miller. Now with jet-black hair, multiple sets of eccentric contact lenses, and several facial piercings, she's veiled herself in complete darkness as a form of protection for herself, as well as others.
As she enters her first year of college, her goal is simple: Earn a degree with the least amount of social interaction as possible. What she never anticipates is the formation of very unlikely relationships with two people who will change her life in ways she never believed possible: Quinn Matthews, the overtly cheerful pageant queen, and Kaeleb McMadden, a childhood friend who never really let her go.
Over the years, as their connections intertwine and strengthen, a seemingly indestructible bond is formed between the three. And eventually, the ties of friendship and discovery of first love begin to coax her from her darkened path as they slowly bring Aubrey back to life.
But when faced with the possibility of yet another death, one from which she may never recover, Aubrey finds herself lost again, burying herself deeper than ever before beneath the familiar abyss of her fears.
Spanning the course of four years, this is the story of a young woman's plight to finally reemerge, finding strength within unbreakable bonds as she delivers herself from her own manufactured darkness and safely back . . .
Into the Light.
****WARNING - Due to the graphic nature of some scenes, this book is not recommended for those who are particularly sensitive to the death of a child and/or suicide and is intended for mature audiences only. Contains adult language and themes.****
Type. Delete. Repeat.
That’s what I’ve been doing for the last half an hour or so.
Type. Delete… Repeat.
I want to come up with something witty. An opening worthy of The Resurrection of Aubrey Miller. The honest to God truth is that this book is good. It’s more than good. It’s great, superb, fantastic… Shall I go on? L.B. Simmons didn’t just write a story, oh no, she taught important life lessons. The meaning and message behind this book completely blew me away…
You can change the course of someone’s life by just a kind word, a hateful one, or even by simply choosing not to say anything at all. Every choice you make has the potential to create a ripple effect, trickling into and affecting the lives of others.
1. Never judge a book by its cover.
How many of us are guilty of this? We like pretty, shiny…new. Same goes for people. Aubrey Miller, or Raven, has used her looks to push people away. No one wants to get close to the extremely pale girl with extreme facial piercings and crazy colored hair. She does it purposely. Somewhere along the way Aubrey started to believe that she was linked to death. Yes, as in the grim reaper. She thinks that those who get close to her are in danger of kicking the bucket. I have to admit that the girl has a point. She lost her entire family, a couple animals… So she’s decided to make herself unapproachable, to hide behind caked on black eye make-up, metal and hair dye. And her snarky sarcastic attitude – while it was intended to keep people out, it made me love her even more.
If they don’t get close, they can’t get hurt.
On the other side of the spectrum is Quinn, Aubrey’s new college roommate. She always appears to be happy, bubbly and full of life. She’s obsessed with the color pink… You know the type. She’s everything Aubrey is not. But she’s also hiding a world of hurt.
Don’t judge a book, or person, by its cover… there’s more than you realize lying just beneath it.
2. There’s more than one way to live… And more than one way to die.
You can either choose to live your life in fear or embrace each day, and every person in it, with open arms.
It’s so easy to fall victim to fear. Obviously Aubrey is afraid to get close to people so she does her absolute best to push them away – using any means possible. Living your life without love, friendship, companionship… That’s not living it is simply existing. Giving up on life is much different than fighting to live and losing the battle.
3. You are enough.
You don’t need to be the smartest person to grace the face of the earth, fit into size zero jeans or cure cancer. You just need to be… you. You. Are. Enough. Just the way you are.
Let yourself shine. :)
“As long as you continue to travel through life in this darkness, you will never know how beautiful your light truly shines when you let yourself love and be loved. Trust me when I say, it’s a breathtaking sight to see. You burn as bright as the sun.”
4. Talking it out helps.
During her first semester of college (the story spans all four years) Aubrey finds herself in an Elements of Trust course. Ironic, I know. She has the coolest professor – Palmer. He eventually helps her work through a lot of her fears. His ability to delve into her issues and gently help her pick them apart was simply perfect. Everyone needs a Palmer.
5. Let love in – it helps heal and in some cases, resurrects what you once thought dead.
Kaeleb, Kaeleb, Kaeleb. How do I get my hands on a guy like him? This guy… My favorite part is that he too is broken.
When he finds himself face to face with Aubrey, or at that time Raven, he must have had one of those WTF moments. Here he is looking at an emo-death-to-the-world version of the little girl he was once best friends with. Still, through all the make-up, metal and dye he sees Aubrey. He loves Aubrey. *sigh*
Yeah, totally swoon worthy.
“I wanted to be enough for you. Strong enough. Man enough. Enough for you to find a reason to live again. To give you that courage and strength. But I know now, you’re the only one who can do that, Sunshine.”
Gah… I could go on and on. Aubrey Miller was a broken, dull version of herself before she stepped onto the Titan campus. With the help of Kaeleb, Quinn, Linda, and Palmer she learns to let herself shine. She learns to let go. She learns to accept her past and look forward to her future. She learns to LIVE.
On a side note… Linda, Aubrey’s legal guardian, is AH-MAZING. Her love for Aubrey is so fierce. She never, ever gives up on her. It’s intensely beautiful and she’s by far one of my absolute favorite characters. It’s nearly impossible not to fall in love with her. Kaeleb, too. Okay, and Quinn. Ugh… Palmer as well. Truth? I loved them all; each and every character.
L.B. Simmons never disappoints. Her writing is impeccable, her characters pop off the page, and she’s never afraid to take on the tough stuff. This book alone covers a wide variety of touchy subject matter. If you have a hard time with dark content and death, this may not be the book for you. If you can handle it, this book will knock your socks off.
After graduating from Texas A&M University, L.B. Simmons did what any biomedical science major could do. She entered the workforce as a full-time chemist. Years later, never in her wildest dreams would she have imagined herself a USA Today Bestselling contemporary romance author as well.
L.B. Simmons doesn’t just write books. With each new work, she attempts to compose journeys of love and self-discovery so she may impart life lessons to readers. Several novels later, she’s tackled suicide, depression, bullying, eating disorders, as well as physical and sexual abuse, all the while weaving elements of humor into the storylines in effort to balance the difficult topics. Often described as roller coaster rides, her novels are known for eliciting a wide range of emotions in each story she tells.
Website: www.lbsimmons.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/lbsimmonsauthor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/lbsimmons33
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Emmalyn and Kodah being set free meant living in the real world away from the
clutches of her step-father. It meant living a life they always dreamed about
together.
M.R. Leahy was born in Amarillo, TX, where she was briefly raised before moving to a small Island in the middle of the Puget Sound called Whidbey Island. Growing up she lived with her mom and younger sister and a few cousins scattered close by. 
