˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗ 5 𝔽𝕒𝕟𝕥𝕒𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕔 𝕊𝕥𝕒𝕣𝕤 ˗ˏˋ ★ ˎˊ˗“𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓪𝓷’𝓽 𝓽𝓾𝓻𝓷 𝓵𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓯𝓯 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮 𝓪 𝓵𝓲𝓰𝓱𝓽 𝓼𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓬𝓱, 𝓷𝓸 𝓶𝓪𝓽𝓽𝓮𝓻 𝓱𝓸𝔀 𝓱𝓪𝓻𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓻𝔂. 𝓐𝓵𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓭𝓸 𝓲𝓼 𝔀𝓪𝓵𝓵 𝓲𝓽 𝓸𝓯𝓯, 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓫𝓻𝓲𝓬𝓴 𝓪𝓽 𝓪 𝓽𝓲𝓶𝓮, 𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓵 𝔂𝓸𝓾’𝓿𝓮 𝓬𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓪𝓷 𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓮𝓷𝓮𝓽𝓻𝓪𝓫𝓵𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓮𝓶𝓸𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓼. 𝓐𝓷𝓭 𝓸𝓷𝓬𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓽𝓻𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝓲𝓼 𝓫𝓾𝓲𝓵𝓽, 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓬𝓪𝓶𝓸𝓾𝓯𝓵𝓪𝓰𝓮 𝓲𝓽 𝓼...

A bittersweet story of love and loss with unbelievably selfless and stupid characters!. As much as I loved Katherine's mind-blowing writing, I couldn't stand the tangles of responsibilities and relationships every character wove around themselves. Or the half truths and whole lies. It was like they all wanted to be miserable. And it was ridiculous how Jenna got away with sleeping with Alix's husband with a pat on her back after a mere sob story. Not counting his hundred other affairs. Saintly Al...

5 Stars (Originally Read 3/25/2015) 4.5 Stars (Re-Read 8/1/2017)Overall Opinion: This will definitely be staying on my favorites shelf after this re-read! I ate this book right up the second time just like I remember doing the first! I was actually worried that I would not feel the emotions that I did the first time I read it, because I knew what was going to happen. While I didn't blubber cry (like I remember doing the first time), I did shed quite a bit of tears still! That tells me that it'...

3.75 starsI liked this one. Didn't make the five star mark for me. The misunderstanding was a bit too much for me. The fact that Nick felt no compulsion to stay irritated me a bit. Saying that, it was quite a good read. “You can’t turn love on and off like a light switch, no matter how hard you try. All you can do is wall it off, one brick at a time, until you’ve created an impenetrable fortress around your emotions. And once that fortress is built, you camouflage it so well that even you ca...

Re-read 11/23/14...Still powerful...still pissed off...5 Pissed Me the F&$k Off StarsThis book actually made me create a whole new shelf: my pissed me the fuck off shelf. And yet, I'm giving it 5 stars. Believe me, I am as confused as you. I knew immediately after reading this that I was either gonna rate this 1 star or 5 stars, because I had a love/hate relationship going on with this thing. The whole time I'm reading this. And yet, I couldn't put the damn thing down. I stayed up late and a...

5 Beautiful Stars! If you are like me, and have just had this book sitting on your e-reader for months and haven’t gotten around to it, do yourself a favor and bump it to the top of your TBR list! Such an amazing, beautiful, sweet, and at times- heartbreaking story.Alix and Nick (as adults) Alix French and Nick Anderson both grew up in the same small town. They meet when Alix is 8 and Nick is 10. Alix comes from a good family. She lives with her grandfather ‘Judge’, her mama and her two a...

The Sweet Gum Tree started out brilliantly. Expertly setting the scene of small town life in the deep south, I was hooked. Even more so when little Alix French befriends a boy from the wrong side of the tracks by introducing him to her favorite books. They become a fierce unit and it’s easy to see they are destined soul mates. I loved Nick and Alix. Together. Apart? Not so much, because they were stupid. Period. When things begin to happen to keep them apart, the book fell apart for me too. Here...

He brushed my hair back. “You’re the only one I’ve ever wanted, Alix, the only one I’ll ever want. That’s a promise.” “God, I can’t lose you again.” His whisper was harsh, filled with pain. “Not now, when I’ve waited so long to hold you. I think it would kill me. But I’m so damn scared you’ll hate me when you find out the truth.”This was both heartbreaking and sweet <3Amazing romance that spans decades, from childhood sweethearts to adult intense love.<3The story“I didn’t want to stop. It ...

BREATHTAKING!Books like The Sweet Gum Tree are why I love to read. Filled with beauty, symbolism, heartache, forgiveness, redemption, and an undying love all around—this ultimate love story turned out to be one of the greatest books I've ever read!Since the synopsis for this book is generous and intriguing enough, I don't feel a summation of the story here is necessary. But I will say that each and and every one of these characters had been broken and slowly redeemed and held a special place in ...

5.5 stars "You're the only one I've ever wanted, Alix, the only one I'll ever want. That's a promise." Oh WOW !!! What a BEAUTIFUL, AMAZING book!! Love! love! love!!I'm a mess - it was an intense, utterly riveting book that I literally could not put down, that kept my heart racing, kept me near tears for a good chunk of it, that had me hanging off of every word that I read, and the story just ripped my heart out but yet still had a very sweet ending.The writing was beautiful and flowed effor...