REVIEW: KYLAND by Mia Sheridan

Dirt poor. Hillbilly. Backwoods hick. Mountain folk.

Tenleigh Falyn struggles each day to survive in a small, poverty-stricken, coal mining town where she lives with her sister and mentally ill mother. Her dream of winning the college scholarship given to one student by the local coal company and escaping the harshness of her life, keeps her going.
Kyland Barrett lives in the hills, too, and has worked tirelessly—through near starvation, through deep loneliness, against all odds—to win the Tyton Coal Scholarship and leave the town that is full of so much pain.
They're both determined not to form any attachments, but one moment changes everything. What happens when only one person gets to win? When only one person gets to leave? And what happens to the one left behind?

Kyland is a story of desperation and hope, loss and sacrifice, pain and forgiveness, but ultimately, a story of deep and unending love.

Now that's how you write a book.
Refreshing, innovative, perfect.
“There are no interesting stories in these parts, just weary, never-ending tales of tragedy and woe. And toothlessness.”

I cared for each and every single one of the people mention in the book. I grieved, I laughed. I felt the pain, I felt the joy. It was incredible.

“Sometimes my life felt so small. And I had to wonder why those of us who were given small lives, still had to feel pain so big.”

 

She takes these simple poor people and makes you feel like you've known them your whole life. Like you've lived through every struggle with them. She touches important subjects with such delicacy that it makes you teary-eyed. Family, friendship, mental health, homosexuality, love, sacrifice, school. Everything is there, explored and explained.

“The colorful sky stretched before us—magnificent—as if it was trying to make up for the ugliness of our lives, our constant struggles. And for just the briefest, most fleeting of moments, maybe it did.” 

I was rooting for everyone's happy ending, they deserved it. I don't know how Mia Sheridan does it, but I'm in love with her work. Each and every single one of the books I've read by her were AMAZING.

“Someday, when I'm living my dreams, I'm going to think of all the things that broke my heart and I'm going to be thankful for them.”

The writing is exquisite, and the character development was great.

You just can't not sob like a baby when you feel how selfless Ten and Ky's love is. The only thing they want is to get the other person to achieve their dreams, and that's what love should be. To want to see the other person happy above it all.
“You drive me crazy,” he murmured. He brushed his lips across mine lightly and I shivered. “And you make the darkness go away. You bring me some kind of peace.” He let out a harsh exhale of breath and I drank it in. “I don’t know what to do with it.”
“Take it, Ky,” I whispered. “You deserve some peace. Let me give it to you.”

“I never expected…I never--”
His eyes flared as he seemed to recognise where I was going with my words. He advanced on me, his body moving into my space until he stood directly in front of me. “Don’t,” he said, almost pleadingly. “Don’t. Please don’t”
I lifted my gaze, gathering all my courage, refusing to back down. “I never expected to fall in love with you. And I thought maybe…”
…you could love me back. Even if you leave. You could leave loving me.”
“Tenleigh,” Kyland said, his voice gravelly. “Please don’t cry.” He stepped toward me. “Anything but that. Please.” He sounded desperate. “This is what I’ve been trying to avoid. This. I don’t want either of us to feel this way.
He’d been pulling away from me to make it easier. And yet pulling away only made it hurt more.
“Well, I do! And you don’t get to take that from me. I love you, and you don’t get to say anything about it. The love I feel for you is mine. And I’ll feel it if I want to.”
“Tenleigh,” he repeated, his voice cracking. “Don’t love me. Please don’t love me. I can’t stay here. Don’t love me.”

“It’s too late.” I shook my head back and forth in defiance. “It’s too late. I’m not asking you to stay, but it’s too late for me not to love you.”

“Half agony, half hope. Half pain, half ecstasy. Half grief, half joy. Half my downfall, half my savior.”

“Are they fighting or having a bookclub?”

"I'm unclear. Looks like foreplay to me."

“I do go to hell. Every day. For you.”

“When it came to you, I noticed everything. I fell halfway in love with you before we ever spoke a word.”

“I fell so damn hard, Tenleigh. Standing right at this bookshelf. I gave you my heart and you weren’t even in the room.”

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope. Tell me not that I am too late, that such precious feelings are gone forever…I have loved none but you” 

Read this book. You won't regret it.

I love it as much as I loved Archer's voice.(or even more, even though it pains me to say so because I adored Archer's voice)