*Content warning for this book*

The book featured in this review is intended for readers 18+ and it does contain mature content including domestic violence, drug use, self-harm, talks of suicide, and marital rape.

*End content warning*

It’s my first review for Wickedcoolflight and y’all I was and am nervous. I may have procrastinated this review a bunch. I also may have been raised by a perfectionist mother leaving me with a crippling sense of self-doubt when my lilies do not look like Monet’s. Alas, our brains optimal conditions to create wait for no human to catch up, and even though I currently feel like a giant banana slug lives in my skull we’re going to give this a go!

I’m going, to be honest with you all and say that I am still developing my review style and vibe, so it is bound to change a lot over the next while. One thing you’ll find I won’t do in my reviews is craft my own synopsis. I have never liked doing that therefore I don’t. I prefer to tell you why I enjoyed a book or how I experienced it as I read it instead of rehashing the cover copy. For today I’m going to give you the author and the book’s information along with a write-up of what I thought, liked, and my rating.

My Only Sunshine: A Story for Domestic Abuse Survivors by Shannon Jump.

About the book:

“My story is like that of many before me. I am a victim of domestic abuse and marital rape, a battered woman. I fell in love with a tall, dark, and handsome man, a self-proclaimed bad boy with an unexpected and worsening drug problem. I was blind to his true colors when I said my vows and I feared there was no turning back.”

Set in a small town in Minnesota and spanning over twenty years, Brynn Reeves navigates through an abusive marriage, motherhood, and friendship while coming to terms with the unexpected path her life has taken. Based loosely on true events, My Only Sunshine is a story of love, determination, and strength, filled with raw emotion and kick-you-in-the-gut heartbreak.

They said until death do them part; will Brynn find the strength to get out before it’s too late?

Amazon |  Paperback

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—Wickedcoolflight Crew

Nerdy.Moxie’s Review

From the first moment I discovered My Only Sunshine, I was intrigued and grateful for so many reasons. Shannon and I connected through work (I’m an assistant) where I was arranging a giveaway. When I reached out, I told her to thank you for writing about a subject that is so incredibly prevalent but still kept locked away in dark shadowy corners. Domestic violence has personally affected my life and I’m a believer that it is a topic that should be discussed more openly when possible and if possible.

My Only Sunshine is Shannon Jump’s indie author debut, and she was gracious enough to gift me my own copy. I knew it would make a great first review book the moment I read the first page of the author’s note. I particularly enjoyed that the timeline in this book moves between past and present and at times it feels like you’re reading a collection of Brynn’s personal essays interspersed with journal entries and beautiful fiction. Shannon invokes the emotions of what it’s like to be Brynn in situations in a poetically astute way that doesn’t feel overinflated or detached from emotional depth. There were many pages where I had to stop and reflect on the situations and the similarities of how real it felt in the book compared to what I’ve experienced in real life. As a mood reader and a person who’s rather in touch with their emotions, I appreciated Shannon’s ability to convey those emotions through the page in an eloquent way.

P.S. y’all don’t know it yet but you’ll come to find out that this is so on-brand for me. Picking a lovely emotional drama that comes with a big bundle of heartfelt and heart-wrenching feelings. Oh yeah, your girl is here for this.

This book is an engrossing tale based loosely on true events that discuss how love can both harm and heal at the same time. It’s a story that is focused not only on what happened but also how and it’s a story that if domestic violence is something that has touched your life you may find small bits of yourself or your experience reflected inside.

It’s also a story that at its core is about friendship too. How friendships heal us. How friendships reflect us to ourselves through the people we love and those we are only just beginning to wonder if we could love. A story about the ways we sabotage or avoid friendships when we feel too monstrous for the love, they pour into us. The support system Shannon wrote into this book using the bonds of female friendship that span 20 years sometimes ending, sometimes pausing, and starting anew is so well done that those of us who struggle in this arena may find this theme in the book the most emotion-provoking of all. I for one am grateful that this author has a support system in her personal life she was able to use as a model for this story.

My Only Sunshine, while not being a typical romance book, does have a beautiful happily ever after that made this girl cry a river. *JT’s Cry Me A River plays softly in the background; millennials everywhere start softly swaying and imagining an alternate universe where B and JT are still together. Oh millennials, so idyllic. *

Though the subject matter is what some could consider heavy this book is an absolute precious gem and it is worth the read! I hope you’ll give it a read and share some of the love with the author.

5/5 propellers from this nerdy girl.

Xo,

NerdyMoxie

 *imagine this said in a breathy Gossip Girl voice and if you don’t know what GG is maybe we should discuss reviews on whole ass television series huh? *

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