Nova & Quinton: No Regrets
(Nova, #3)
Jessica Sorensen
Published: April 15, 2015
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Age Demographic: New Adult Contemporary
Pages: 384
Today is the first day of Quinton Carter's new life. The toxic guilt of his past left him in pieces-but one girl unexpectedly put him back together. Thanks to Nova Reed, Quinton can finally see the world with clear eyes. She's the reason his heart is still kicking behind the jagged scar on his chest. And he would love to have her in his arms every minute of the day . . . but he's not ready yet.
Playing drums in a band and living with her best friends are just some of the highlights of Nova's life. But the best new development? Talking to Quinton on the phone each night. She wishes she could touch him, kiss him, though she knows he needs time to heal. Yet shocking news is on the way-a reminder of life's dark side-and Nova will need Quinton like he once needed her. Is he strong enough to take the final leap out of his broken past . . . and into Nova's heart?
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(Note: I received a copy of this book via the publisher, in exchange for an honest review which I have posted here on the blog and on Goodreads.)
I am truly amazed with how brilliantly poignant and gorgeously compelling, Jessica Sorensen is able to realistically portray the open brokenness and painful lives of these beautiful characters that she so lovingly writes about in her Nova series. With every single book, including the novellas, I find myself becoming more and more entranced with these stories and wrapped up in these characters lives as if they are my own. They are stunningly gripping and full of misplaced trust, life altering situations, and the harsh realities of dealing with substance abuse, death, and both physical and emotional abuse at the hands of so many others that it's unreal. The Nova series has drug my emotions through the gamut and yet, I still keep coming back for more because I simply can't get enough. I absolutely love it, when a book is able to bring me to my knees, only to pull me up higher than anything else with just that one flicker of hope illuminating the darkness. It's a gorgeous and painful illustration of what life is like, in that messy, unguarded, and complicated way that it affects all of us on a day to day basis.
The happiness that Jessica Sorensen writes about within these novels and the way that she drags these stories out over a span of two to three books, is hard won, full of painful personal tragedy, and all the more real and sustainable in the end. They are simply more tangible than anything else I've read and it's so incredibly easy for me to just dive into the murky depths of these complicated books and dissect them from the inside out, because they are so freaking amazing. They've literally turned my reading world upside down and placed it on its head. I just can't seem to see my life without her writing or her books in it and that's say a great deal, because it takes A LOT to make me feel this way about any one particular author. There are only three and I can count them on all one hand, now Jessica Sorensen has taken up another slot on that list and I wouldn't have it any other way.
After seeing how Saving Quinton ended, I was excited to delve into Nova & Quinton: No Regrets, so see how Quinton was going to deal with living life sober, instead of continuing to numb himself to the tremendous pain and guilt he felt over the losses he suffered and constantly using drugs and aching for death to over-take him once more and get it right this time. His character didn't disappoint me in the least, if anything, he inspired me to want to never run away from or use any other life altering means to numb myself to the world, to life, or to anyone around me who could possibly care about me. He's broken, messy, and all over the place, but he is trying his best to hold on. It's not always a pretty picture, it never is where drug and verbal abuse and overwhelming guilt are concerned. He has his ups and downs, but through it all he manages to make the best of it and realizes in the end that what he wants, what he needs, is okay to have. It doesn't mean that he has to forget, but in order to fully heal and move forward with his life, he does need to let go of some of the things that he lets constantly hammer away at his heart.
Nova is a wonderful force in his life, she is there always and she never judges him. Though, I would argue, that her putting her own mental health on the line to always be there for him is definitely a bit more unhealthy than I'd like to see her. It's one of those things that I also love and dislike about her, but it works when it needs to and I can be okay with it to a point. She is just as fragile as he is and her heart and life has been shattered beyond almost recognition as well. She's managed to pull herself back from the brink of that over-powering darkness that threatened to take her down with it and now, all she wants to do is help to pull Quinton back from the ledge as well. She would do anything to make him see just how important he is, just how much he deserves to let himself be happy, and to let go of some of the guilt and pain that's weighing him down.
Book quote © 2014 Jessica Sorensen. From Nova&Quinton: No Regrets by Jessica Sorensen, published by Grand Central Publishing. All rights reserved.
These two beautiful tortured souls have had their emotions and their lives put through the gamut and while it took A HELL OF A LOT to get them on their way to healing and letting go, to believing in that flickering little light of hope - they were finally able to embrace it and each other as well. Nova and Quinton are gorgeous and they tear my heart to little bitty bits and leave the pieces lying all over the floor in a scattered mess over and over again. And yet, I wouldn't change anything about these two for the world, because I've loved every single minute of their epic and emotionally painful yet healing inspired story.
I tip my hat to Jessica Sorensen and what she's been able to do with these characters and their story, but not just their story either. All of the characters stories. I loved more than anything how both Quinton and Nova were able to work through their issues and let down the walls so completely built up around them, by letting the other all the way in finally. This book put them each through so much hell while they were apart from one another and finding their way back to being fully let in, that it was unreal.
I'm glad that I was there to see it all happen the way that it did, because it was gorgeous to finally see Nova realizing that she can't always control the force of life and save everything. That sometimes, you have to just accept how things are and learn to deal with it without letting affect you mentally. My heart definitely ached for Tristan a little bit more, being so close to the woman he thought he was in love with, and then realizing that she was so completely wrapped up and in love with another totally different guy. I found myself wanting to see him find someone to love him for everything he is, without holding his past against, and to also find that little bit of strength and that flicker of hope buried deep inside of himself that I knew was always there waiting to be let out.
And, then I found myself incredibly sad for the loss of Delilah, even though I had seen it coming after having read and loved Delilah: The Making of Red. It was such an incredibly tragic glimpse into who she was, had been, and who she always wanted to be. There were things about her, that you just wouldn't know if you hadn't read it and it was heartbreaking to see her story end that way and yet, it made all the more sense to illustrate the harsh ugliness of the world around us and the choices that we make everyday. I think, in this one sense, Jessica Sorensen hit on something more powerful and real that even she could possibly imagine. Although, I don't presume to speak for her, it's just a feeling that I have.
This book broke me and put me back together in so many ways, that I can't begin to tell you how amazing this journey has been. If you're looking for a book or a series, that will share with you the harsh realities of this world and the decaying affect that drugs, abuse, and violence can have on your life - then this is the book/series that you want to read. All of the happy-ever-afters come with a price and they don't come easily. I think, this is what I love so much about them so much so, that I'm reminded of something another character that I loved with every big of my being said on a distant show that will forever remain a special part of my life.
"They don't write songs about the ones that come easy." -- Logan Echolls; Veronica Mars. © 2004-2007 Rob Thomas. All rights reserved.
Jessica Sorensen is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author from the snowy mountains of Wyoming. When she's not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.
She has written several YA and New Adult series, among them the Nova series, The Coincidence, Shattered Promises, Fallen Star, The Secret, etc.
Please stop by and visit her on her Goodreads page and don't forget to fan her as well!
