When You Look at Me (Pleasant Gap Romance, #2)

by Pepper D Basham

[phyllish]

A deeply moving story is full of hope, of faith and love.

Julia had been crushed by a man she had trusted and struggled to put the pieces of her life together again. With the help of her counselor and through the love of her family she had made progress. Yet she figured she was damaged goods and that no man would ever want her. After all, even her friends had deserted her.

Julia was so special in the way she put people at ease and nurtured them, despite her natural shyness. She seemed to always be watching out for others to make sure they were cared for. This came out so clearly as she recognized Henry’s need to get away from her boisterous family and made a way for him to be able to do that gracefully so neither he nor they were embarrassed.

While I can’t say that I have experienced the kind of discomfort Henry did around people, I did find that it made him quite endearing. He was more comfortable with music than he was with words. As a person who feels that if people aren’t talking they must not be comfortable, it was good for me to see how silence was actually a situation that he was very much at home in. I think that this will impact my interactions with some of the shyer people I come into contact with.

I loved the way Henry and Julia bonded so strongly over music and even spoke music to one another. I cracked up at their music pun session. So cute! One of the sweetest, kindest things I think I have read in a book the way he . . . Sorry – that would have been a spoiler. Let me just say that he found a way to reach Julia and help her through her fears using music in a manner that was so personal and so perfect.

In the midst of their love story is a mystery about Julia’s deceased Aunt Millie. As Henry helps Julia clean out her aunt’s house, they discover clues that point to things being not quite what they appeared. I love the way that music and composing tied so strongly into that story as well.

There are so many “favorite” moments in this story. The fun way Julia and Henry meet was so funny, especially because one accident seemed to happen after another. Their bonding over music. Henry with Eisley’s kids. Julia when she is sleep deprived and goes to the store. The mouse. When they are on the hill behind her aunt’s house and Henry rescues her from the “water fall”. I could go on and on.

I don’t remember being so strongly drawn to Julia’s father when I read Eisley’s story, Just the Way You Are, but Nate was hard to miss in this one! He is one of those down-home country boys who is rough on the exterior and soft as a marshmallow on the interior when it comes to love for his family. His protectiveness towards Julia was almost as touching as Henry’s care for her – and that is saying a lot! His nicknames for Henry and Wes were pretty funny, as was the way he kept trying to encourage them to do “real” manly work.

This deeply moving story is full of hope, of faith and love. Even now, at least a half-hour after I finished reading, I am still a little teary – in a good way. I appreciate so much that despite the fact that it is known that Julia was date-raped, no other details about the event were really given. And they didn’t need to be to make it clear what had happened. The fact she was seven months pregnant was really enough to make that abundantly clear. The story is not depressing or dark by any stretch of the imagination. The focus was not on Julia’s brokenness but on her healing. She and Henry both had strong faith in the Lord and he saw a strength in her that she needed to realize was there and encouraged her through music, words, and Scripture.


This review was originally posted on Among the Reads


I was given a free copy of this item. This gift did not influence my opinion or review.