5 STARS ✮ KATE STEWART ✮ DRIVE

DRIVE

Kate Stewart

✮✮✮ 5 STARS ✮✮✮

Music . . . the heart’s greatest librarian. The average song is three and a half minutes long; those three and a half minutes could lead to a slow blink, a glimpse of the past, or catapult the soul into heart-shattering nostalgia. At the height of my career, I had the life I wanted, the life I’d always envisioned. I’d found my tempo, my rhythm. Then I received a phone call that left me off key. You see, my favorite songs had a way of playing simultaneously. I was in love with one man’s beats and another’s lyrics. But when it came to the soundtrack of a life, how could anyone choose a favorite song? So, to erase any doubt, I ditched my first-class ticket and decided to take a drive, fixed on the rearview. Two days. One playlist. And the long road home to the man who was waiting for me.

I’ve read several books by Kate Stewart this year—The Brave Line introduced me to her writing and she immediately leapt onto my must-read list. I have to say though, Drive is the best I’ve read from her and I absolutely adored this story and the feelings it pulled from me. It was indeed one hell of a ride.

Take any song from the Rolodex of your life and you can pin it to a memory. It translates, resonates, and there it will remain.”

I’ll be honest, love-triangles and I generally don’t mix so I was a wee bit nervous going in, but the way Kate plays this verged on perfect as it just doesn’t feel like one. This is a love-story that spans the years and it’s by no means an easy journey with build-up and moments which shredded my heart and frustrated me, yet at the same time the angstier content is counterbalanced with those lovely uplifting inserts that simply make you smile. And, with each chapter being interactively linked to a playlist, you experience Stella’s journey, past and present, through not only her words but her music choices and that added an even deeper, impactful layer to a story that I found myself lost in.

The slower burn start gives us a chance to really get to know the characters who are real, relatable, endearing people and Drive reminds us that not one of us is perfect, we make mistakes and our hearts were created to be battered, broken and pieced together again at some point in our lives, because life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. How they each grow, particularly Stella, is heart-achingly poignant and whilst her past tells the story, the moments when we’re brought back into the present keep you wondering just how her journey will play out, and whether the man waiting at home for her is Nate, or Reid.

He was my song, my soul, my everything, and his love had propelled me forward into the woman I wanted to be.”

My heart may have been bruised along the way, but was happy and sated when I turned the final page of this wonderful and unforgettable story which shares its name with one of my favourite songs of all time. This is a ride you don’t want to miss.