I would classify this book as emotional NA. It is the personal story of a teenaged girl named Addison. She shares a very close bond with her mother who dies from cancer. Her father cannot cope after loosing his wife and becomes an alcoholic. At one point, Addison has a failed suicide attempt. Through most of the book, she is in the adult role while her father is in and out of rehab. She meets a special guy who helps her get past some of the heartache. The scenes switch from present to past, and there are some sweet surprises toward the end.









I have not felt the pain of loosing a parent, but I feel that this would be a helpful book for someone who has. Being able to relate to the story would make it more special, and if someone was stuck in a grief faze, I can see how this book could give the push needed to move past it. It’s a beautiful story of love.



toni 









My review http://divasdiscussions.blogspot.com/2013/10/watch-over-me-by-tara-sivec.html ( )

The first sentence in this book is, “Death changes everyone.” From the very beginning, we get a good glimpse of the feeling, depth, and truth of this story. As it continues, you feel the pain this family is in, and the struggles they go to overcome that pain.

Addison, the main character, grows up very quickly, in order to deal with a situation most people dread. She watches as her father allows his depression and grief to slowly eat away at him, as he drowns his sorrows in a bottle. As Fate would have it, she meets Zander, who quickly sparks life back into her. Together, they grow and overcome challenges and obstacles young adults sometimes have to deal with in life. I truly love this couple, how they grow together, and the relationship they have. It's not something that happens to a lot of people, but it's the kind of love that makes great stories.

While reading this book, I was touched in many different ways. I found myself sad, sympathetic, happy, nervous, and upset. Great books bring out emotions, and this one certainly did that. Tara Sivec is a very skilled writer, and I enjoyed reading her book very much. Overall, this is a wonderful, soul-touching story, and it's one I plan to read several times over. I would recommend this book to fans of YA/NA dramatic fiction, contemporary romance, and/or chick-lit.

*I was given an eCopy of this book, from the author, to read in exchange for an honest review.
( )

The first sentence in this book is, “Death changes everyone.” From the very beginning, we get a good glimpse of the feeling, depth, and truth of this story. As it continues, you feel the pain this family is in, and the struggles they go to overcome that pain.

Addison, the main character, grows up very quickly, in order to deal with a situation most people dread. She watches as her father allows his depression and grief to slowly eat away at him, as he drowns his sorrows in a bottle. As Fate would have it, she meets Zander, who quickly sparks life back into her. Together, they grow and overcome challenges and obstacles young adults sometimes have to deal with in life. I truly love this couple, how they grow together, and the relationship they have. It's not something that happens to a lot of people, but it's the kind of love that makes great stories.

While reading this book, I was touched in many different ways. I found myself sad, sympathetic, happy, nervous, and upset. Great books bring out emotions, and this one certainly did that. Tara Sivec is a very skilled writer, and I enjoyed reading her book very much. Overall, this is a wonderful, soul-touching story, and it's one I plan to read several times over. I would recommend this book to fans of YA/NA dramatic fiction, contemporary romance, and/or chick-lit.

*I was given an eCopy of this book, from the author, to read in exchange for an honest review.
( )

"Death changes everyone. It changes the way you think, the way you feel and the way you live your life. Sometimes it makes you thankful for what you have, but more often than not, it makes you regret the things you've lost." Addison’s mom died, her father was sent to rehab for the 5th time… and Addison struggles to live in a world without her mother, she cannot count on her dad, she had to put all of her own dreams on hold because her father cannot run her mum’s bakery and she feels alone in the world, unable to be happy, heaving under all the responsibility on her fragile shoulders. She regularly visits a therapist and support group but nothing seems to help her. She wasn’t really coping until she meets Zander. With his and the therapist’s help she learns to let people back in her life and heart again and to be the girl she once was. Zander is everything she needs but she hides her secrets from her past and he hides his. You know hers and you know that eventually they will all come out and cause some emotions with the other one. I really liked the poem (eulogy) on the first page of the book, it was beautiful and sad. And then the author’s dedication to her mum, and knowing early on that Addison lost her mum. A lot of it was a bit depressing, I really felt for her, reading about her straining relationship with her father because of his drinking, and her growing resentment for him, her disbelief that he would be able to break his habit this time like he promised... her fighting all that grief and how difficult it is and then slowly trying to be open again for happiness… ( )

It’s been quite a long time since a book has blown me away like Watch Over Me has done. I’m a big fan of Tara Sivec’s writing, but before now, I’ve only read her comedy and (meant in the nicest way) borderline obnoxious use of crude language. Last year I tackled her Chocolate Lovers series. They’re hilarious, light reads. Watch Over Me is not like them at all, aside from the fact that Sivec shows her ability to write a great book, yet again. Being the polar opposite of previous Sivec books, this novel packed an emotional punch with each new scene, and I may have underestimated it at first glance.

Some of the best things about this book were the well-developed characters, believable plot, and slow, non-forced romance. Addison is a broken young woman trying to get through each day. The way she is written makes the reader feel everything she feels, to sympathize with her, but also to realize when she’s being stupid. It’s all displayed and she doesn’t even deny that she has issues. It was great to see a character who wasn’t trying to hide, from the reader, behind a mask of anger or an act, to cover up what she was going through. It wasn’t at all hidden to build to a big reveal later in the book. This was also helpful in going through the story. She let’s us into each interaction, each milestone in her path to recovery.

I also liked how, while there’s a romance in this book, I didn’t see it coming for the first chunk of the book. And once Zander shows up, there’s no guarantee if he’ll be a permanent character or not. There’s no insta-love, there’s no predictable personality either. Zander is just Zander.

It’s all written in such an honest, no-nonsense way. I couldn’t help by to be drawn into the book. It gripped me early on and didn’t let me go…and still hasn’t. Seeing this type of serious writing from an author who (up until now) is normally trying to make the reader die laughing, gives me even more respect for what she writes. Some authors can write one type of book, and do so in great ways. Others can write many different types, but not really write an amazing book in any. Sivec has shown me her diversity in evoking the emotions of a reader, her diversity of genre, and an adaptive writing style. ( )