Review – AN EXALTATION OF LARKS by Suanne Laqueur

Synopsis

September 11, 1973: Eleven-year-old Alejandro Penda watches from his apartment window as Santiago, Chile falls to a military coup, destroying his family and his childhood. Arriving alone in America, he’s taken in by the Larks: a prominent family in the town of Guelisten. Though burdened by unresolved grief for his disappeared parents, he becomes fiercely loyal to the Larks, eventually marrying one of their daughters, Valerie.

September 11, 2001: Javier Landes watches from his apartment window as New York City falls to terrorism. As one of Manhattan’s top-paid male escorts, this professional lover has never lacked for company and is loyal only to himself. But in the wake of 9/11, Jav is named guardian for an orphaned nephew in Guelisten and must open his carefully-guarded heart to pain he’s long suppressed.

Alex, Valerie and Jav meet first in their twenties, with a sudden attraction each finds strange and compelling. When they meet again in their forties, they discover not only is their bond still strong, but their life experiences are strangely similar. All have been shaped by separate 9/11’s, and their unfinished business from the past will change everything they know about love, loyalty and friendship.

“Life has rules. You cannot come in the middle of the night and take what we agreed isn’t yours.”

Across three decades and two continents, Suanne Laqueur’s fifth novel explores the unpredictability of sexual attraction, how family ties are forged, torn and mended, and how love’s downfall can turn to exaltation.

Jen’s Review

ALL THE STARS!!!

You know how you have a premonition that you’re about to be taken on a magical ride to a place that only fiction can bring you? You stare at the cover, read the synopsis and you just KNOW. This will be it. This will be the book to ruin you for all the other books that come after.

THIS was the book of the year for me. There were a couple of others this year that gave me a similar feeling, but An Exaltation of Larks was the one that took hold of my heart and won’t let go.

I’ve read a little over 150 books this year. Mind you, I blog, have a family and work full time as a teacher so my day at work doesn’t end when I walk out the door.

Reading is my escape and I don’t know how I’d survive without it. I’ve said this about a handful of books, but this book is why I read. This is what I search for when I’m looking to fill the places in my heart that need filling.

Suanne Laqueur is brilliant. She penned a masterpiece filled with love, hate, family, forgiveness, acceptance and most of all, hope.

“I want to be your home.”

It’s a story that spans over decades and you will be lost in the pages falling in love with her prose and her magical ability to tell a tale that you won’t want to end.

“My heart beats with yours. Wake up to heat my heart one day. This day. Every day. Sobrepasario.”

I know sometimes it’s hard to trust the word of a blogger. We ooohhh and ahhh and say “Read this, you’ll love it”, and then it’s overhyped and you doubt whether the praise is truly genuine.

Trust me when I say that when I tell you I love a book, I love the book. And this book is the cream of the crop.

So buy the book, devour it and keep the words close to your heart. Books like these are few and far between. They are sparkly and shiny and a gift that you’ll cherish for years to come.

Susanne Laqueur “…writes so seamlessly, you forget you’re reading.”

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