Review Tour ~~ The Trouble with Paper Airplanes by Amanda Dick
Title: The trouble With Paper Planes
Author: Amanda Dick
Genre: Contemporary Romance
I’ve always believed in what I can see, what I can hear and what I can touch. Surfing was my religion and destiny was just a fairy-tale. But one summer, over ten days during the hottest February on record, all that changed. I found hope – the kind of hope that sustains you, even when you don’t want to be sustained.
The night Emily disappeared, I was branded. She became the girl on the ‘missing’ posters, and I became the one trying to keep everyone from falling apart. I thought that somehow it would keep me from being devoured by the emptiness inside me. Five years later, I was beginning to appreciate how deluded I really was.
Then Maia showed up. New in town, with a past as mysterious as she was, she reminded me so much of Emily that I couldn’t stand to be anywhere near her. What I didn’t realise was that there were forces at play that neither of us could possibly understand.
It takes a determined soul to alter destiny. There is a loophole, a back door, and the events that unfolded during those ten days showed me how that loophole can change everything.
Do you believe in fate? If so, let me tell you my story. If not, what happened to me might change your mind.
LOUISA’S 4 STAR REVIEW
A new author to me! I love to grab a book by a new author and just dive it. I did read the synopsis which peaked my interest and I am so glad that I did.
Amanda Dick has no idea as to how this book surprised me and delighted me. I have read a few books lately that have done just that…wowed me!
Heath’s life has grounded to a halt, the love of his life Em has gone missing and he is incapable of moving forwards. Then one day in walks in Maia. She looks like Em, but that’s where the similarities end. She begins to become a part of Health’s daily life and soul. He doesn’t want to replace Em with Maia but his heart is saying otherwise.
This a beautiful story of what some might say is a second chance story. Just a second chance at love, not necessarily love with Em, but love again. I enjoyed watching the friendship blossom and the tearing down of Health’s walls around his heart. Maia is a game changer who will forever make a lasting impression on Health’s life. This book is so much more that I just explained it to be, take a chance and jump right in.
NICOLE’S 3.5 STAR REVIEW
Right off, I’m going to tell you that I read this book in one day. I could not put it down, even when my family was feeling unloved and near starving. They just had to wait until I got to a stopping place.
Heath’s story of love and loss was so poignant and understandable. He’d lost the love of his life, literally. His Em simply disappeared without a trace. Going through the motions was what Heath did best, and he was somewhat comfortable with how those motions worked. He was never going to love again, until he did. He wasn’t prepared for the way Maia threw his motions out of sync with her alarming physical similarities to Emily. He certainly wasn’t prepared for the feelings that Maia stirred in him. Did he feel this way because Maia was Maia, or because she looked exactly like Emily?
As I read this book, one thought kept running through my mind. How do you move on without closure? When Emily disappeared, no body was found. How do you mourn the loss of someone you love when there is still the chance that they are out there, somewhere? Do you find yourself holding back so that the other isn’t left behind? This thought has stayed with me for days now.
Amanda Dick writes a great story with completely relatable characters that stir compassion, frustration, grief and hope in the reader. My investment in the story was total. I knew how I wanted the story to end. I needed it to end the way I wanted it to. Then, I was thrown a HUGE curveball that left me surprised, confused and dissatisfied. That wasn’t supposed to happen!!!! Despite all of that, I can respect and admire the author for going there and giving us another way to have closure.
Amanda Dick is a night-owl, coffee addict, movie buff and music lover. She loves to do DIY (if it’s not bolted down, she’ll probably paint it, re-cover it or otherwise decorate it) and has tried almost every craft known to man/womankind. She has two sewing machines and an over-locker she can’t remember how to thread. She crochets (but can’t follow a pattern), knits (badly) and refrains from both as a public service.
She believes in love at first sight, in women’s intuition and in following your heart. She is rather partial to dark chocolate and believes in the power of a good vanilla latte.
What lights her fire is writing stories about real people in trying situations. Her passion is finding characters who are forced to test their boundaries. She is insanely curious about how we, as human beings, react when pushed to the edge. Most of all, she enjoys writing about human behaviour – love, loss, joy, grief, friendship and the complexity of relationships in general.
After living in Scotland for five years, she has now settled back home in New Zealand, where she lives with her husband and two children.
