From the moment they meet one December day there’s something between Charlotte Taylor and her brother’s best friend, Tom Farley. But Tom’s already taken and Charlie has to let him go…
It’s another five years before their paths cross again only a secret from the past forces Charlie to make a choice. She promises herself she’ll never look back…
The years pass and Charlie moves on with her life but she can never forget Tom. He’s always there whispering ‘What if?’.
Can Charlie leave the life she has built for one last chance with Tom? Or is the one that got away not really the one at all…?
Many thanks to Ciara from Harper Collins Ireland for my copy of Rewrite the Stars to review and to Sharon for having my review on the blog.
Wow, having finished this wonderful read, all I can say is what an absolutely incredible love story that Emma Heatherington has written in Rewrite the Stars. I haven't read anything by this author since some of her very early books many years ago and soon I was kicking myself that I had not done so. I'll use the much written cliché that I was instantly sucked into this book because simply it's true. Right from the opening chapter I was drawn into the story of Charlotte and Tom and before I knew it I was halfway through the book becoming completely unaware of my surroundings instead being very much caught up in the fantastic and moving story that was unfolding before my eyes.
You'd be forgiven for thinking this was the usual run of the mill love story where boy meets girl with a bit of Christmas thrown in for good measure. So truthfully I wasn't expecting too much from this story but to say I was pleased would be an understatement. Emma Heatherington has poured her heart and soul into writing a story with such brilliantly drawn characters whom you begin to feel are real. I became so deeply invested in Charlotte's story and I knew from fairly on what I wished the outcome to be but I loved how right until the very last four or five pages that the reader was kept in suspense and continually guessing what the eventual result would be. There is not an over abundance of Christmas featured throughout the story so really it can be read at any time of the year.
Dublin, December 2010, and Charlotte is sharing student accommodation with her brother Matthew when in walks Tom Farley, a fellow band member of her brother's. For Charlotte it is like the world has stopped, frozen and there is nothing else. The moment she set her eyes on Tom she knew her life was never going to be the same again and so sets in motion a change of events which alter how Charlotte lives her life for so many years and those of her family members too. This deep attraction, chemistry and connection she feels with Tom is like no other and through such emotive writing and very carefully chosen words the reader soon comes to feel this way about the pair too. They also share a connection with music which only intensifies the energy between them. But then Tom's girlfriend arrives to the house and Charlotte's dreams are crushed. All in one day she has fallen in love and had her heart broken.
I felt every bit of pain and joy that Charlotte experiences throughout the novel. It was as if the author went several layers deeper when discussing and exploring love and relationships than is normally covered in some of the lighter women's fiction books I have read and I am so glad she did. There were endless sentences and paragraphs that spoke to me and I found myself nodding along in agreement on more than one occasion. What was excellent is that the story jumped forward in time, normally I would find this confusing but instead here it felt very natural. It moved the story along at a nice pace and I was glad we weren't stuck in the same time period all the time. It also showed the real journey of Charlotte, how true love never runs smoothly. How we can be deeply affected by something which then in turn has consequences for us and it's how we cope with these emotions and feelings that will have a significant forbearing on the decisions we make and the way we live our lives. The decisions we make are so important whether we choose the right option or not dictates the course of our lives. I questioned endless times whether Charlotte could face up to her fears, whether she could overcome the guilt she feels and do what was best for her?
Fast forward 5 years to 2015 and Charlotte is now a primary school teacher. She enjoys her job but she never pursued her other love of music, instead she has pined for the one that got away. For the remainder of the book this longing deeply affects her and the life choices she makes. She can't seem to lay his ghost to rest having a deep gut instinct that things are destined to be. Charlotte longs to be someone different, to be the person that takes risks, to go with the flow and to be her true self no longer suppressing the real Charlotte. She believes Tom is the only one to recognise this. So a chance meeting on a cold Winter's night in the run up to Christmas in the back yard of a pub provides her with the chance to just go for it and she is ever so glad she did so. She can't let other people get in the way of the feelings both herself and Tom have for one another. Using this new found adopted attitude of doing what she is right for her she questions Tom as to why he never found her again. The answer is more than surprising to her and sets forth a whole other strand to the story. I did have a slight suspicion as to what this was and I was proven right. But again I felt it mixed so well with the overall themes of the story and it also helped me to make sense of a lot of other issues that had been niggling away at me.
When Charlotte brings confrontation into her life, it brings with it disastrous, life changing consequences and the decision to get things out in the open will eat away at her for a very long time as we move forward in years right up to 2018 stopping at various junctures along the way. I felt Charlotte was way too harsh on herself. Yes, I could accept the guilt she was feeling but did that have to totally overtake her long term life and love decisions. She had said she wanted to be true to herself but I really don't think she was being like that for the vast majority of the novel. To sum up the entire situation it was captivating yet frustrating and I think the author wanted the reader to feel this way, to go through the emotional wringer as much as Charlotte was. She shouldn't have to feel like she would spend her life living a lie consumed by guilt and regret. Things needed to come out into the open and she desperately needed to meet Tom again and get things out in the open because her personal life which had had significant developments was suffering and I hated to see that this was the case. She deserved happiness, honesty and love as did those around her but this deep connection established so many years ago was a constant niggle in her heart and mind and would not be sated until Charlotte took the bull by the horns and did something about it. Closure is a word that springs to mind but can she close the door on something that has dominated her mind for so long or does she want to actually the door that little bit wider and embrace what is right behind it?
I loved this sentiment which said 'Do you think that there is a parallel version of you existing, doing the things you could have done had you made different decisions in life?' This sums Charlotte up perfectly and really it is a very thought provoking question and one which Charlotte doesn't know the answer to but she feels it may help her with her ultimate and final decision. Charlotte needed to remember that being true to oneself was much more important rather than being dominated by others and steam rolled into a corner. Just because things could have worked out differently doesn't mean they could have worked out better. She punished herself for too long now was the time to take life into her own hands. Would she do it? Will she be with Tom? So many more questions arise that need answers but to find them out you certainly have to read this brilliant book. I wouldn't hesitate in recommending it.
Rewrite the Stars provides you with everything you could want from a book and much much more. I loved every minute of it and I will remember Charlotte's story for a long time to come. Such honesty, intensity and emotional fluency radiates from every page of this phenomenal book. Let's hope Emma Heatherington writes much more in this vein in the future.
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