★BOOK REVIEW★ Fisher’s Light by Tara Sivec

I feel so conflicted about this book! I loved the first half to death, thinking I had a 5 stars read in my hand and screaming ‘Genius!’ at Tara Sivec for the setting of this book. Unfortunately it didn’t end well for me, being a fan of HFN rather than sickly sweet HEAs, this one fell in the later category, providing all the clichés that you can expect. Too bad!

Publisher : Self Published
Series :

Pages : 400
Release date : March 22, 2015
Genre : Contemporary Romance.

The Story

81Mt8OOAAOL._SL1500_Fisher, I guess this is it, huh? After fourteen years together, starting a life of our own on this island, five deployments and countless letters I’ve written you through it all, I finally go out to the mailbox and see something I’ve always dreamed of: an envelope with your handwriting on it. For one moment, I actually thought you’d changed your mind, that all the awful things you said to me were just your way of coping after everything you’d been through. I was still here, Fisher. I was still here, holding my breath, waiting for you to come back even though you told me you never would. You always said you’d find your way back to me. Out of all the lies you’ve told me, this one hurts the most. Enclosed you will find the signed divorce papers, as requested.
I hope you find what you’re looking for. I’m sorry it wasn’t me.
Lucy
 

To get the ending they want, Lucy and Fisher will have to go back to the beginning. Through the good and the bad, they’ll be reminded of why they always made their way back to each other, and why this time, one way or another, it will be the last time.

My Review

I am so conflicted about this book!

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Fisher’s Light was one of my most expected book release this month because… Tara Sivec.

I loved her writing and completely goofy characters in Seduction and Snacks… The love story and comical situations complementing each other perfectly, making it a nice and feel good read. But I also enjoyed her writing in a less comical style, “A Beautiful Lie” was a great romantic suspense!

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So when I learned about Fisher’s Light, I was super excited. The blurb was just calling my name, I had to get to Fisher Island and meet Lucy and Fisher. Second chances at love is a trope that almost never fails to entertain me, and I kind of crave the resulting angst… Often it comes packed with a good groveling, and I never say no groveling. 

One warning before I start : This review will contain spoilers. If you don’t want to read them, I suggest you come back later! 🙂

“How do I get that back when the darkness is hell bent on taking over, holding me in its clutches and making sure I never see the sunshine again?”

Honestly up to 25%, I really thought this was going to be my “top shelf” selection this year, I LOVED the build up, the unraveling of this man, year after year, tour after tour, letting his insecurities and fears taking him away from his “light”, from Lucy. But somewhere in the middle, the story fell flat, and all my hope for a 5 stars read went down the drain.

“I don’t blame her for walking away; I shoved her out the door and told her to go. I should have realized that she was my light.”

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Fisher’s Light starts really hard in the emotional department, the story is told in 2 point of views, with some flashbacks from Fisher’s memories notebook. It’s a back and forth between the present where Lucy and Fisher are separated, and the past, right when things started to break between them.

Fisher and Lucy met in high school, Fisher is soon to sign his life over to the Marines, being the son of the wealthiest man of the island but his complete opposite, he has in his heart to help his country and seize the first opportunity to get out of his little town to do something that means a great deal to him.

He promises Lucy he’ll come back to her, no matter what.

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Fisher does come back to Lucy, only each time a little more eroded and tortured by the experience that is war. Each time a little more different. Each time shutting down the light that is Lucy.

Through the flashbacks, going over a 14 years time span, we assist to Fisher’s disheveling, his PTSD growing with each tour he’s enrolling to. Lucy doing what she can to help him, doing what she thinks is best. She supports and loves her husband, but she soon realizes she can’t help Fisher anymore by coddling him. 

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The scenes of their fights were really hard to take in emotionally wise, the author did such a great job, it really made my heart hurt, and I barely make it hoping, knowing, it would be better as the page turns… The scene that caused their separation was heartbreaking. At this point of the book I was just sitting in a corner picking up my heart’s little pieces from the floor.

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His PTSD growing and eating at him, making him angry at everyone,  Fisher is going to do what he thinks is the only way to keep his Lucy safe, it’s going to break your heart too. 

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I just loved this part. Tara Sivec did a magnificent job, drawing emotions and tears. PTSD is such a sensitive subject, it makes for a great challenge in a character. 

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Eventually we get back to the present, Fisher comes back to the island after 1 year of therapy, only to find his ex-wife moving on with her life, dating a man the complete opposite of what he is.

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“Of course she moved on. Of course she stopped loving me. I broke her and I hurt her in the worst imaginable way and then I walked out.”

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Ensues a pissing contest, I quite enjoyed it. At first. Don’t get me wrong, witnessing men going all alphas on their woman is hot and should be celebrated. But this was dragged throughout the entire book, only making annoyed and bored.

“This is straight up, alpha male, ‘I protect what’s mine’ shit going on and it’s the hottest thing I’ve ever heard.”

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To me, there was no need to keep Stan-Weasel-Ford in the picture for so long, it was obvious he wouldn’t last, it was obvious there was no chemistry, it was obvious he was there only so we could cheer up for Fisher to get his Lucy-in-the-sky-with-diamonds back, and fast.

I thought he would, they had plenty of sparks whenever they crossed path and it was even more obvious that Lucy still loved him, but Fisher decided to stay back despite his pissing contest with Stan-Fucker-Ford, because of… reasons.

This annoyed me. No. This enraged me.

Fisher was completely oblivious to what Lucy wanted and to the rather OBVIOUS “go ahead and make your move” signals Lucy was sending him. I mean, how letting him taking her against a wall in a dark alley was a sign that he should leave her alone? 

I for one, thought it couldn’t be more clearer that she wanted him back for good! 

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But not for Fisher, to him, it was only the sign of his uncontrollable anger, and he swore to never lose his temper near Lucy ever again. Gah!

So this part dragged, for me.

We eventually got rid of “Stan-it’s a school not a dude-Ford”, Lucy and Fisher got back together, and I could have be happy with the story ending there and then.

But it didn’t, the rest of the story felt completely unnecessary and the drama manufactured.
Lucy waiting for Fisher to admit she had changed as well, and that he shouldn’t treat her like the young and naive woman she was when they married.

They spent a good time not seeing each other over this fact. Complete was of time. Especially since they agreed they’d talk about their issues from now on. It was completely childish to not address this issue, and I thought we were dealing with teenagers.

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Something really not adding for me was the “he was meant for me” discovery. I mean, okay, I get how this could be a sweet addition but at this point I really thought the book was over filled with one too many clichés.

Then came a hurricane. And what do you do when a hurricane storms in?
You freaking go scuba diving, of course! Just because. (Huge near the end drama right there)

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So why only 3.5 stars and not 5? For all the reasons above. Even if 3.5 stars stays a good rating in my book, I can only say I liked this book. I loved parts of it, but it definitely wasn’t a perfect read for me. It left me unsatisfied and couldn’t shake off the feeling of conveniency the author chose to wrap her story with. I like sweet but maybe not that sweet. The epilogue was sugary sweet, and I know some crave this kind of sweet, so I’m pretty sure most of romance readers will be pleased. As i’m much a Happy For Now person, I thought it was a bit over the top.

In the end I would highly recommend Fisher’s Light to any fan of second chances romance, with a warning on an overload of clichés past half of the story.

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