Let me start this review by saying I don’t think I’ve ever read a book like this, and that’s what made all the difference.

Sometimes you start reading a book and at some point you realize this book is going to change you. It’s going to move you. It’s going to make you think, and feel, and breathe it all in. It’s going to envelop you in fully with all its glory, and by the time you’re done there’s no way you could possibly be the same. Books like that change you, and that is probably the biggest reason I read: to find books like that.

Bright Side by Kim Holden is a book that changes you.

I can’t say enough good things about this book and the utterly emotional story encapsulated within its pages. This book made me feel the gamut of emotions. It made me think and feel and experience with everything it had. This was a full bodied reading experience that was nothing short of phenomenal.

I felt it all. I experienced it all. I loved it all.

Bright Side tells the story of Kate. She’s Bright Side. That’s her nickname and let me tell you, it fits her to a T. She’s living her life to the fullest, no regrets, no guilt, and no time for sadness. She is a bonafied gem of a female character. She is sunshine, she is light, she is happiness, and there’s no way you won’t love her immensely.

Reading her character was like experiencing real magic. She was exhilarating and never failed to make me smile. It warmed my heart to read her character. It kind of broke my heart too, but it was so real and so magnificent that I was nothing short of blown away by her and her story.

Bright Side is also about how Kate touches so many lives. First, there’s Gus. He’s kind of the best. So much spunk, so much charisma and charm, and so much else that just made me love his rocker self. He’s Bright Side’s best friend, and by the end of this book you’ll want him for your best friend too. He’s a surfer, a rocker, a friend, a bandmate, and he feels. He feels so damn much.

Then there’s Keller Banks. He had me head over heels in love with his character about 5 words into the first time I met him. True story. Keller is just something more. He feels more. He loves more. He is more. There are so many intricate layers to Keller, so much to understand about him. There’s also a bit of mystery to Keller, but when Kate and him meet things start happening. Big things.  Those things lead to big things and small things and more monumental things, but ultimately they lead you to Kate and Keller.

This book is also about Duncan, and Shelly, and Clayton and Morris too. Then there’s Maggie and Gracie and Audrey and Stella, and those fabulous men from Rook. You can’t forget about Pete or Romero or even Star, or practically anyone else you’ll meet in this book because honestly, they’re all pretty unforgettable. You’ll meet them. Most you’ll love instantly, some you’ll want to slap silly, but mostly you’ll just love what you get to experience and feel with all of them.

You’ll also just love what Bright Side brings out in them. Or what she doesn’t.

You see, Bright Side is a story about Kate and all that encompasses her breathtaking self. It’s about the people in her life, and just the amazingness that is Kate.

If you think I’m being super vague about this book, you’re correct. I can’t really explain to you what this book is about because that would ruin the reading experience it’ll give you. Experiencing this book is something that I’ll never forget, and you deserve to feel the same way. So I’m not telling you what all goes down, or really any of the many events that will just leave you in awe of this book and this magnificent author’s writing.

What I will tell you is this is by far one of the best books I’ve ever read. It made me feel every single thing it had. It had me in love with Kate and all her friends in about 2 seconds flat. It had me thinking about the story, and where it would go and how it would all end. It had me crying like a mother effing baby, and I loved every outstanding second of it.

Bright Side is beautiful. It’s emotional. It’s visceral at times with how much you feel and hurt, and how vulnerable it makes the characters and in turn you as the reader. It is nothing short of amazing. It will heal you, break you, and put you back together again. It will make you see the best of things, and want to scream at the top of your lungs at the same time. It’ll make you want to jump into the book and experience Bright Side in all her and its glory.

This book will do it all and then some, because it has it all and then some.

It is bounding with epicness. It’s amazing to say the least. It left me with a book hangover I’ll never recover from.

Bright Side is a book about a lot of things. It’s about a girl named Kate who lives in the Bright Side. It’s about her best friend Gus who takes you on a wild ride. It’s about the man she doesn’t want to fall in love with, but soon realizes that saying no to Keller Banks is like saying no to the sun.

This book is about living. This book is about loving. This book is about seeing the best in things no matter how dark and dismal it may seem. This book is about feeling and experiencing those emotions. All of the emotions.

It’s about learning to let loose and live, and dance, and laugh. It’s about fight and surrender, and the power of it all. This book is about so many wonderful things. It’s about so many heartbreaking things. This book is about life and love and all that happens in between, but most of all…

This book is about living.

Kim Holden gave me an exceptional reading experience with Bright Side. She is golden in my eyes after this book. Even after making me cry my eyes out, I couldn’t be in more gratitude to her for what she wrote. Her book changed me. I don’t even know how yet, but like I said, you don’t read a phenomenal book like Bright Side without it changing you a little.

Maybe you’ll laugh a little more. Maybe you’ll live a lot more. Maybe you’ll dance around like a fool every once and awhile now. Maybe you’ll do it all.

You might even be a bit more epic after reading Bright Side.

But just don’t be epic, do epic.

If there’s one thing I’ll take from this book, it’s that. I’m going to take a hell of a lot more than that with me, but that’s the one thing that’s going to stay with me forever.

So this review has told you very little of the plot of Bright Side, but I hope it gave you a small glimpse into what it’s like to feel like you’re reading literal magic. I don’t have the right words to describe what that feels like, but if you read Bright Side by Kim Holden, you’ll get to experience that for yourself.

And experiencing that literal magic is nothing short of every positive adjective you can think of.

Experiencing that is the best part of living, so get to doing it.

Get to living.

Get to doing epic.

Get to reading Bright Side.

Check out more on Kim Holden and her books at the following links:

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