Overall Grade: A
“It’s okay that love is messy and complicated. If loving too much or too many people is my biggest offense, I’ll die with no regrets.”
“We have a beautiful life. I don’t know how long it will last. We lie a day at a time, grateful for each miraculous moment.”
Since 2020, I have lost three important people in my life, one of those being my dad. Each of them left this world in a different way, but they left it nonetheless. I also serve as a director of Guest Services at my large church of over 5000 people, and I’m surrounded by life, love, and loss on any given weekend. I have a volunteer staff of 160 people, and my current prayer request list is filled with 20 people needing prayer, most of them for situations closely related to death and dying. What I know, what is promised in our time, is that our lives are but a vapor. And how we live our lives between birth and death falls on us.
Jewel E. Ann’s I Thought of You transcends the labels of romance or love story or women’s fiction or fiction. It’s a beautifully written, emotionally evocative manifesto on the fragility of life and the need to be present in it. It’s full of big emotions, deftly written prose (my highlights number 107), and a story that scores your heart and soul.
Usually, I write longer reviews, but I won’t for Scottie and Price and Koen. They are purely types inhabiting the three-act structure of Jewel E. Ann’s story. What bleeds between her words, sentences, and pages is about life. It made me sob because it reminded me of some harsh truths of my own life that I’ve been wrestling with, and it challenged me to consider being brave amid my fear. To do so might bring bigger dividends than the comfortable, controlled, but sadly lonely life I lead today.
This book has left an indelible mark on my soul, resonating with my personal journey and experiences.
In love and romance,
Professor A
Professor Romance 