#THREE5BlushReviews The Other Side by Kim Holden
Synopsis:
Denver, Colorado
1987
There are two sides to every story.
The surface reality that’s presented to the world.
And then there’s the other side.
The real one.
The one that matters.
Seventeen-year-old, self-proclaimed asshole, Toby Page, is alone.
No friends.
No family.
He trades maintenance work in exchange for room and board.
Every day he fights demons no one else can see.
Every day he wants to give up.
But he can’t.
Not yet.
When Alice Eliot moves in downstairs, she offers Toby some light in his dark world.
At a crossroads and barely hanging on, it’s hard to have perspective.
It’s difficult to see your own worth when you’re the villain in your story.
Luckily for Toby, Alice brings things out in him that no one else ever has.
As the two sides of Toby’s story are revealed, and the full reality comes into view, truth is gained.
Improbable alliances prove that kindness is fundamentally human.
Unlikely heroes emerge.
The question is, Will it all be enough to save him?
Louisa’s 5 Blush Review
Why do I read? I like to read escape into the life of a billionaire who falls in love with his secretary. Sometimes to observe a girl as she falls in love with her best friends brother, these books take me into a world that isn’t my reality (no billionaire husband here!), but every once in a while I read a book that changes me, makes me a better person. Kim Holden is now someone who’s done that twice, lightning strikes twice with The Other Side. I finished Bright Side with a renewed sense of living life to the fullest, being a better person and to #DoEpic, and again I finished this book a better person, a person who will be looking at people with a fresh set of eyes and thinking to myself at moments of insecurity that #IAm.
“Release the guilt. Forgive yourself.”
As I read this book, a book about a boy named Toby who spent his junior and senior years of high school counting down the days and I was brought back to 1987, the year I graduated high school. The class of 1987 – a class of students that is turning 50 this year and think how many of those people I graduated with may have looked as though all was good in the world, how many of them didn’t make it to fifty. However, now see “The Other Side,” and it gives me pause, makes me think again about many things that I may not even notice every day going on around me. It made me THINK..a book that made me cry with sadness and a book that made me cry tears of happiness.
This book is a gift to the universe that I wish I could put in everyone’s hands, once again if people could read a Kim Holden book, they would be better people. The same feeling that I was left with when I read Bright Side. Kim Holden has brought #DoEpic to life with this book.
“There are people we meet in this world who anchor us. They reassure us with their presence. They bring us comfort simply by being. They love us by osmosis, radiating it out and diffusing it in effortlessly. Quietly they walk among us, treading lightly but providing stability and influence because it’s second nature. The thing that’s so special about these people is that they don’t know they are doing it.”
I read this passage and wondered if Kim Holden knew this passage resonated with me (and I am sure with others) that SHE herself is one of those people. She’s genuine to her core and wonderful writer, hugger, and human being. I am a better person to have her in my life.
Christina’s 5 Blush Review
The following is very much a non-review for The Other Side by master story-teller Kim Holden. Why is it a non-review? Because no amount of poetic or flowery, raw or impassioned words I string together to “review” this book will even come close to doing it justice. Even if I had all the perfect words and all the perfect ways to express how incredible this work of art is, I still don’t feel like I should be the one reviewing it.
Simply put- The Other Side is the result of when someone pours their heart and soul and deepest darkest secrets out onto a page and allows the world to witness them in all their naked truths. The result is undeniably and painfully magnificent. How can one review that in a meaningful way? I certainly can’t.
There are people out there waiting for a voice like Toby’s in The Other Side. There are people who need to hear it and people who didn’t realize they needed all it has to offer. It’s powerful beyond comprehension and it will without a doubt save lives. Can you read that again? This book will save.lives. I’ve never ever written that truth in one of my reviews before. Ever. Because I’ve never read a book like The Other Side. I wish I could personally deliver it into the hands of every person in this world who needs to hear Toby. To feel him. To watch the transformation and to experience the hope. Please read this book and then spread the word. Ask the questions. Be kind to one another.
Tera’s 5 “Don’t Give Up On Yourself” Stars Review
Most likely the words I put together for this review are not going to do this book justice. One thing I can say is that I trust Kim Holden as an author. She doesn’t just half-ass anything she puts out. The Other Side is no exception. You can tell that every word was meticulously placed within the pages of this story. Every sentence intentional. Every thought brought full circle.
“…depression isn’t about weakness, it’s about battling and wanting to deaden the pain, not the person.”
Toby is a tough character. Watching the monotony of what appeared to be his life was so self-deprecating. It was even a little hard to push through. The way the book was written in three parts is what really did it for me. The “other side” of the story is the side that every person who struggles with mental illness needs to see or hear about. Kim gives us that. Although this story is fictional, you can tell it touches close to home for Kim because it is so incredibly real. Heart-wrenching. Inspiring.
“Sometimes in life, there are moments of clarity so blinding in their revelation that they change everything.”
Bravo, Kim. I can easily give this book 5 stars, and truly hope anyone would give it a chance.
Some of my favorite things: reading, writing, the two coolest guys on the planet (my husband and son), my bicycle (my husband built it for me), Facebook (I’m fairly certain it’s an addiction at this point), iced coffee (hazelnut), and music (LOVE Sunset Sons, the 1975, Dredg, the xx, Balance and Composure, Teenage Bottlerocket, and 30 Seconds to Mars). I also love dreaming, which brings me to my next point. I have one bit of advice for anyone reading this … follow your dreams. It’s never too late. Get started today … heck get started RIGHT NOW! I wanted to write a book 20 years ago. Instead I waited. And waited. I should’ve been writing. But I didn’t. I don’t do regrets, because the past is just that, the past. But let me tell you there’s nothing in the world like achieving something you’ve dreamt about for years and years. So, get started. Make your dreams reality.
