I’ll Be Seeing You by Beth Rinyu: Review of an Uber sweet star crossed lovers story

3,5 Uber sweet star crossed lovers stars

I read “When Autumn Ends” by Beth Rinyu some months ago and was really enchanted by her writing and that story. It was intense, nostalgic, sweet yet passionate. When I read the synopsis of “I’ll Be Seeing You” I requested the copy and crossed my fingers.

I read this book in two days and would have read it in one day if I did not have to work. It was sweet, easy to read and I liked it.

I liked it but did not love it like I hoped.

Is it Beth’s fault? Not at all! This is simply a case of “this is not you, it’s me”.

Let’s focus on who could love this story first!

You could really love it if:

–you are looking for a very sweet read with a hint of nostalgia. Olivia and August’s love story was cute and even if they had to overcome some ordeals I would not call this read angsty.

– you love the idea of “death is not the end of love”. Clearly this is the main topic of the book, people finding each other again. This is THE romantic idea at its best;

– you love stories with a hint of mystery and some thrill. We get to discover what all the dreams mean, what mystery and past tragedy they are hiding. You also have some danger as a villain is lurking in the shadow. I must admit that I guessed pretty early on who was the villain in the story. Maybe it’s all the crime and suspense reviews I’ve read from my blogger friends and I get better at guessing “who did it”?

– you love a warm and caring heroine. Olivia is really a good and nurturing person. I loved how she interacted with Becky. On a side note Beth Rinyu did a great job writing about Alzheimer and I confess that my favorite scenes are those where Olivia cares for Becky so lovingly.

Olivia is also someone who does not “fit” anywhere. Being of mixed origins, she often felt too black or too white, depending on the circumstances. Lucky for her she was born at a better time than Grace and raised by an adoptive mom who convinced her not to let others trample her. Yet there is often a hint of vulnerability as she did not think she was good enough for August. Don’t worry she came back to her senses and walked chin high as she was no doormat. But I think Beth captured the mixed feelings and insecurities people being “different” than the norm often are plagued with.

–you love a male hero who, once he opens his eyes (and I wanted to shake some sense in August in the beginning) will root for his girl and stand by her side. I just did not like is “temporary insanity” and his outburst at some point in the book but, hey, nobody’s perfect and he’d had a hard work day.

–you love stories going back and forth between past and present. Past as in WWII past. Usually it does not work really well for me but Beth intertwined short passages about the past in present chapters and it flowed really well. These were not whole past chapters and whole present chapters. It worked best for me.

As you can see this story has honestly a lot of qualities and it just was not a good fit for me or at least not at that moment. I love my reads a little bit more angsty, a little bit more intense.

Recommend it? Certainly if you are looking for what I highlighted here above!