A Sadness Within

PARANORMAL:  Julia has been through a lot. In just a few short years, she’s lost her entire family. She feels no passion, no joy for life; instead she just feels disconnected from everyone and everything. Only music helps her express herself. Will is an immortal being, something like a vampire (except not really) and he too finds himself struggling to feel anything, and disconnected from the world around him. But hearing Julia’s music brings pieces of him back to life, pieces he thought he lost forever. 

The book relies heavily on character building, and it definitely succeeds there. Julia and Will have complex, rich personalities. They suffered through loss, they’re afraid of opening up their hearts again, and they’re afraid of living, of enjoying life. When they meet, that changes; and more than about love, author Sara Fiorenzo has written a beautiful story about hope, about second chances, about picking up the pieces and moving on. 

With a plot that has several twists and unexpected surprises, “A Sadness Within” manages to tell a story about sorrow without sounding depressing, and in the same breath, it also tells a story of hope. Neither characters nor plot are typical of what you’d expect in a book featuring an immortal, and are unique in their own way. Certainly worth reading!

Majanka Verstraete