Bright Side by Kim Holden

I think Colleen Hoover has described exactly how I feel about this book in her cover quote: “THIS BOOK! You. Must. Read. It. It’s beautiful. Heart-wrenching.”. Bright Side is a gem that deserves to be so much more talked about! It’s heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time, it’s adorable and cute, but also so sad and gripping, it has epic love and friendship and hilarious banter. Simply put, this book has all the feels and will break your heart but also inspire you to live life to the fullest!

The story follows college student Kate Sedgwick as she leaves San Diego to start a new life attending college in small town Grant, Minnesota, leaving grief and sorrow behind, as well as the best night of her life after sleeping with her best friend since childhood, and rock-star-in-the-making, Gus.

Kate was such a wonderful character! So badass, strong-willed, sassy and unbelievably optimistic despite all bad things happening to her. (Hence Gus’s nickname for her, ‘Bright Side’.) I immediately rooted for her, and read this story with a beating heart, wishing so much for her tragedies to be left behind and not come haunting her anymore. I also loved the new friends she made in Grant, with darling Clayton, sweet Pete, cool Shelley and the wonderful Keller Banks… This book has a really great representation and a lot of amazing character developments. But most of all, I loved Gus and the wonderful friendship between him and Kate, and the found family that Gus and his mother were to Kate and her sister.

This book was recommended to me by one of my favorite fellow book bloggers (Sophie at Sophie’s Reading Corner) so I already knew I was going to love it before even starting it, but it nevertheless managed to exceed all of my high expectations and completely blew me away! Given the title, I wasn’t prepared to have my heart scattered to pieces and ending up sobbing the way I did. But this book had it all; amazing characters to root for, secrets that came back haunting, epic friendships, found families, a swooning love story, heartache and loss, hope and faith and light in the darkness.

I don’t want to give anything away as it comes to the story and its twist, they deserve to be experienced first hand and with an open heart. All I have to say is, be prepared to cry! Some of the events were just so heartbreaking. But I wouldn’t call this a sad book. Not at all. There were so many happy moments, so many times this book made me laugh and warmed my heart. It was emotional for sure, but with all the feels, and a book that will make me look at life in a different light and made me want to ‘do epic’ the way Kate did.

All in all, Bright Side was an empowering book, so full of hope in all the darkness, and with so much love. It’s one of the most tender and warm, yet fierce, gripping and compelling stories I’ve ever read. I know for sure that its’s a book I will keep in my heart forever!

Rating:
5 epic stars

Get your own copy:
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Author info:
Kim Holden