Book Review: Love Always, Damian (Love Always #2) by D. Nichole King

Love Always, Damian by D. Nichole King

Rating:/5

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Read also: Review of Love Always, Kate (Love Always #1)!

After Ms. King innocently ripped my heart out on Love Always, Kate, she finally stitched it back neatly on Love Always, Damian.

There are times when I so hate myself for reading a few reviews before I read the book. This time is one of them. I made a huge stupid mistake by doing so that I ended up getting spoiled by bit and pieces of the plot. Thankfully it didn’t quite ruin my emotion for the whole book (though the twist became not that surprising).

‘Because it’s easier to be broken and feel nothing than allow the guilt and hurt to overtake me.’

(Chapter 14; Love Always, Damian)

I have this love/hate relationship with Damian. After Kate, Damian seemed to get it together but apparently he’s not that strong to move on with his life. Four years had passed yet Damian still got on such dull go-with-the-flow kind of life. Memories of Kate still became his personal torture day by day. He dealt it by stay drunk most of the time and not to forget his meaningless intercourse with countless women. It’s sad and disappointing at the same time. This behavior of his reminded me on Gus from Gus. I read that book not long before I started this Love Always series so I couldn’t help comparing both characters. Damian and Gus lost their beloved ones to cancer and it’s obvious that both of them had it so hard.

‘Becoming attached to someone isn’t worth the pain you suffer when they’re gone.’

(Chapter 23; Love Always, Damian)

It’s the thing when you love someone too much, you will most probably lost yourself too when you lost them one day. Just like Damian, Gus went straight to self-destructive path. Gus’ was way darker than Damian’s even though later Gus’ recovery was considered fast than Damian’s. Damian was still going back and forth to his ‘way to numb the pain’ when another blow hit his face again and again. When I hoped he would stop, he did it again. It’s not until around 80% when he finally stopped the immature move.

With all that, it should’ve been easy for me to dislike Damian. But the fact is I fell in love with him throughout the book, too. It’s as if I fell in love with flawed Damian because during that time Damian didn’t entirely lose himself to his bad side. There was one person that anchored him to the steady ground under his feet. It was such poignant moments seeing him working so hard to do things better ever since that person appeared on his doorstep. It felt so good, really, seeing Damian grew his good side and became more and more responsible time to time.

If Gus was saved by a new love, Damian was saved by a new life.

I really didn’t expect that kind of twist to appear in this second book (I think I’d be much more surprised if I didn’t read those reviews before starting this book!). I didn’t remember how many times I cried, how much tears I shed while reading. I just remembered I had to hide my face lest people around me noticed my swollen eyes. The twist was over the top! After I finished Love Always, Kate I actually had no idea how things would turn into on the sequel. I sincerely wished for Damian to get his own happiness eventually but again, I didn’t know what kind happiness would fit him best. Ms. King answered it for me through a non-cliché plot in this book. How she chose those people to be Damian’s turning point of letting Kate go was beyond my imagination but turned out it perfectly suited them. The person that I kind of disliked in the past turned out not as bad as I had thought. In fact, the characterization in this book changed all my perspective upon characters on book one. Isn’t it amazing when reading the sequel makes you love book one even more? That’s what I feel exactly about Love Always, Damian.

In the end, Damian finally understood what Kate actually meant about him granting her five wishes. The last wish became the hardest one but Kate believed that Damian could do it. And he did, he did it with help from amazing people around him. Damian finally realized what letting someone go really meant…

“Letting someone go doesn’t mean you forget them. It means you love them from here and move on with your life like they would have wanted.”

(Chapter 25; Love Always, Damian)

I had little expectation for this series when I first started it. Ms. King was a new author for me back then, and with catchy and cute title like Love Always, Kate, I could only imagine that that book would be another cute teenager –kind of cliché- romance story. It feels amazing when you don’t expect anything from something then it gives you such astonishment, it feels like getting a diamond ring inside your cereal box.

I recommend this series for everyone who’s in searching for great emotional reads about losing someone and finding a new hope. Kate and Damian would take you to journeys of finding a real meaning of life through this awe-inspiring series!

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: Love Always, Kate (Love Always #1) by D. Nichole King

Love Always, Kate by D. Nichole King

Rating:  (4.5)/5

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AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

I dove into this book without any information beforehand about what this book would be about. It’s not the first time I did this, though, but this time this book surprised me because it went so far away with what I imagined. I picked up the kindle of this book on Amazon only because of the cover and the intriguing title. I just thought it’d be some YA contemporary romance ―which generally my favorite kind of genre with light sweet story and nice HEA. What I didn’t expect was to find a tear-jerking story of a girl in the mid of fighting her deadly illness who met a boy with emotional issue from big loss in the past. Two broken souls trying mend each other. One of them taught that life is worth fighting for even if it’s for such a selfish reason. The other taught that death is not the end of one’s connection with someone that gone away, definitely not the end of every chemistry built between them.

“I wanna see the sun rise with you every morning for the rest of my life.”
(Chapter XXVII; Love Always, Kate)

Kate Browdy, cancer survivor, had been diagnosed again with new round of cancer for the third time. After the same-old reaction from her and both parents, Kate was back to the same-old cycle with same-old routine: chemo and the whole treatments. This time she was way more prepared, though, she went out to buy a blank journal that would soon be filled with entries of her long long way going through this despicable journey of hers. Apparently, this time was also different. This time a boy appeared on her war zone, waving a flag. Not the white one, but the red one that ignited a fire within her soul. Or it seemed so.

‘Is it too much to hope that maybe, just maybe he could look past the cancer and see me?’ 
(Chapter II; Love Always, Kate)

Damian Lowell lost his mom and big brother to a tragic accident which left him broken and undone. His dad was on the same state that it’s kind of hard to present wholly, emotionally for him. Damian and his dad often got into arguments which lead to drunken Damian and frustrated Dr. Lowell. This circumstance left him to deal with his own way of grieving involving alcohol. He often got drunk and when things got too worse, he even did a lot of unpleasant thing that got him expelled twice for his irresponsible behaviors. He lived such a reckless life, until the day he stumbled into that door by fate. The door that led a way to a girl called Kate.

‘“I admire you. You’re strong.”
I was strong because cancer is resolute, and I didn’t want the beast to win.’

(Chapter III; Love Always, Kate)

On the first encounter, Kate felt like Damian had shown a light to her hopeless life. In return, Damian felt attracted to Kate for her spirit of fighting cancer and her calmness in facing such tragic and cruel fate. They hung out together and soon, with all their lacks and matches, they fell in love with each other. Slowly and deeply.

‘Pain, even though it hurt, made us stronger― if it didn’t destroy us first.’ 
(Chapter V; Love Always, Kate)

It was not a fairy tale story, the path that lay in front of Damian and Kate. It’s not simply a girl and a boy fall in love, together conquer every barrier with the power of their love, and live happily ever after. Kate’s cancer was getting worse day by day. And Damian’s emotional was sometimes still gone bad. But after all, the cliché about power of love might not a fiction to sugarcoat a romance story. It might happen to them.

‘Pain has a purpose, it makes us stronger. More compassionate. Able to love more deeply than we thought possible. If we let it, it makes us better people.’
(Chapter XXXII; Love Always, Kate)

Together, Kate and Damian healed each other. Kate showed Damian different way to deal with grief. Damian made Kate realized that for once in her life, she might not want to hesitate fighting for her life; that she wanted so badly to be a normal teenager with normal life.

‘There’s never enough time to see good-bye. Never enough time to say, “I love you.” Never enough time to let go. I could have been given a thousand years with Damian, and still not be able to do this.’
(Chapter XXV; Love Always, Kate)

When for the first time in their life, they thought they finally found a healing to their long wound. The lost feeling of Damian. The hopeless feeling of Kate. But fate chose this moment to give them one last important lesson of loving someone for real: you don’t always need a happy end to feel the best kind of love, because what’s best isn’t how it ends, it’s how you feel in the moment, how you feel for each other during the time you spend together. How you grow up together, change each other to better ways, and learn just what exactly being in love is: it’s a mixture of hectic and calmness, happiness and sadness, start and end, found and lost.

‘Being strong means allowing yourself to cry over the things you can’t change; laugh when things are funny; smile when you’re happy. It means understanding where your breaking point is, and yet, going further and still remaining whole. Strong people push themselves to the limits of pain and joy. They fall to their knees in agony, then they lift up their faces to find the beautiful morning rays shining down on them, and they rise to their feet. Being strong means never giving up, no matter how crushed you are, and finding happiness in the smallest parts of life.’
(Chapter XXXII; Love Always, Kate)

It was like a roller coaster ride with this book. I don’t remember how many times I cried nor do I remember on which chapter it happened exactly. I think I read it in one sitting and became a blubbering mess after I close the last page.

I read a lot of books before which main character diagnosed with cancer. The feeling is always different on each book. With a fast-paced plot, Love Always, Kate goes in YA genre with hero/heroine around 17 years old. I personally think that Ms. King succeeded in presenting the plot through 17 years old teenager’s eyes. Both main characters’ behaviors show exactly how teenagers would act like in real life. They don’t necessarily go all ‘old-soul’ in words just to strengthen the emotional of the story. I like it that Kate, being a 17 years old girl still think of things like crushing on a boy and worrying about her look as real problems aside her terminal illness. Kate is funny, so high-spirited, care so much for everyone around her, but what I love the most is her determination to make Damian a better person. I love how her parents deal with Kate. Unlike most fictional parents with cancer kids who sometimes choose to detach or even go all too protective which might come out annoying, Kate’s parents treat Kate very well. They’re protective but not too much; they fall apart but hold on strongly to each other for her. It’s always a relief to see parents who do their jobs perfectly.

In other side, I feel a little frustrated for Damian’s character. I understand where he comes from; I feel so so bad for him. But when he projects his frustration to the wrong person, it’s disappointing, really. I could partly blame Damian’s dad for his condition. He might be a good doctor but he’s not a good father apparently. But Damian also takes the blame for the rest of it. When Damian falls for Kate, it’s so good to see him changes. I feel like crying all day when seeing how far he wants to go for her. I feel so touched by his love for her. I just dislike it when his moment comes out.

The ending is heartbreaking. Somehow I know just how it would end but along the way I built up hopes… Ms. King wraps the story up in a way so the readers could accept it well. I love how she creates Kate’s character so good until the end. I think I cried harder on the last chapter…

I’m going to read the second book for I am so damn curious on how Damian’s life goes on. I read bit and pieces of reviews about the sequel and well… I kind of regret it, though, lol. Hopefully I could find something that would make me fall in love with Damian the way I fall in love with Kate.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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