New Indie Love with Sara Furlong-Burr's When Time Stands Still

Let me start off with the fact that I cannot do this story justice with my review. But I will, however, tell you about how much I loved the story of Elle and Luke.

Elle is a young woman attending a prestigious college for creative writing on a scholarship she strived to earn. She also has a lot of baggage from her past including a neglectful and alcoholic mother. When she meets the gaze of the kind hearted, nurse-to-be Luke at a local student hotspot, she feels she needs to run because of the instant emotions he invokes in her. Soon after, Luke’s charm and heart wins her over and so their relationship begins.

The story has a dual time narrative, which was done so well. Elle receives a call from Luke’s mother 10 years later letting her know Luke was in a car accident and after coming out of a coma, he’s suffering amnesia and believes it’s 2007- a year that Luke and Elle were still together. Dropping everything, including her husband for a week to go see her ex, she makes the trip back to her former college hometown to support Luke. She’s asked to do so by pretending she is still in his life until his family is ready to break the news that he’s forgetting a decade worth of memories.

Elle’s previous history is a sad one and broke my heart to hear about the neglect that she endured. I loved that Luke always saw the strength within Elle that she couldn’t see and especially made her recognize her worth.

I also loved Elle’s best friend Mena’s character. She provided the right amount of comic relief in this emotional rollercoaster of a story with her brash mannerism and witty comments.

Going in, I knew Sara was a great writer. But after reading When Time Stands Still, I now know she is a superb writer. She pulled off a second chance romance that was hard to put down and was captivating. As an added bonus, she’s also a wonderful friend. I’m very much looking forward to reading about Mena’s story in When Stars Collide.

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Book Description

It’s been nearly a decade since Elle Sloan last saw Luke Hutchins. Close to ten years since she broke up with him over a single phone call, providing him with little explanation. Since the end of their relationship, Elle has done everything she could do to move on, marrying, proceeding forward with her life, almost allowing herself to completely forget about Luke.

Almost.

Out of nowhere, Elle receives a phone call from Luke’s mother. Luke has been in a horrific car accident and, a month later, has just awoken from a coma. However, instead of celebrating, his family is stunned to learn that Luke is suffering from amnesia and only remembers his life as it was before his breakup with Elle. Not wanting to tell Luke that he and Elle aren’t together anymore for fear it may compromise his recovery, Elle is asked by Luke’s family to come to the hospital to see him. Their hope is that she will slowly be able to jog his memory and cushion the blow.

Guilt-ridden over how their relationship ended, Elle readily agrees, finding herself transported back in time with Luke to the life they once shared and the future they could have had together