“Live Without You” – Blog Tour

Soooo… where to start. 

The Author

“Sarah Grace Grzy is a voracious reader, and if it weren’t for this crazy thing called ‘Life,’ she’d be tempted to spend all her days in front of a wood stove, book in one hand, coffee mug in the other.”
A lover of learning, she finds enjoyment in many things and has more hobbies than she knows what to do with. Sarah Grace is a freelance web and graphic designer, and when not working, spending time with her ever-growing family, or reading, she can be found painting, playing the piano, or fangirling with her sisters and friends. She inhabits the State of Great Lakes, and wouldn’t want to live anywhere else—unless it meant she could have a baby penguin, in which case, she’d gladly move to the South Pole.
Goodreads Instagram

That’s the kind of person I can relate to XD. I’ve been keeping an eye on Sarah Grace from back when I just got into the blogosphere and into Goodreads. She’s so sweet and kind, so talented, so bold and pursues her passions. Sarah Grace’s can do ANYTHING she puts her sights on. And her faith is infectious. All around, this girl is one to watch.

Her Writing Style

I’m shocked. Sarah Grace is like the mature and practiced version of the writing style I’m going for. I’m so excited to see the way she took her style and made it so very beautiful! I can’t even believe it! It’s so perfect and unique. I’m just shocked to see the very thing that I try to do come to life in her work! It’s so encouraging and inspiring to see! 

Onto the Book

Piper Redding is a loner, but lonely. Everyone she loves has abandoned her and opening her heart to others is just asking for more pain. She can’t help but blame herself for her brother’s tragic death six years ago, and in her guilt, she shuts herself off from the world. No one could love her—not even the God who promised to be there for her but wasn’t.
For paramedic Ezra Bryant, failure is not an option. He’s had enough of it, and only by God’s grace is he able to put it behind him. But when a traumatic event brings Piper’s greatest fear and Ezra’s failures to light, can they use that event to allow God to mend their broken pieces? Can love triumph over fear, and grace over guilt?

First first first. The COVER y’all! Talk about UMazing. I love the color scheme and OMGOODNESS how the name came together at the END of the book was like wow. Also way to start the book! I was hooked from the first chapter. It tugged and tugged and tugged until I was pulled in completely.

Y’all I don’t like digital copies of books, and when I find myself wishing I could read a book even though I only have an eCopy I know it was a good book. And you should too. (Penny please don’t bring my pickiness into this. I’m talking about how GOOD the book was, not my format of choice X”D)

The Charies

Oh my the charies.

Piper… is beautiful. She’s an amazing MC and Sarah Grace was…. stunning with the way she portrayed the struggle Piper had with grief. It was oh. so. real and relatable and FEELable. Like her headaches and her tears and her nightmares and her pain, I FELT it all. It was realatable. The way each scene was described took me there. I was in the room, on the floor, weeping with Piper. And *removes spoilers* and then it was just *tries not to flail* 
*does it anyway* 
It was really good. 

Ezra. Oh my goodness gracious Ezra. Can I say he was my favorite? Because he was. I didn’t tie into him in the first chapter, but the second, and the third, and the forth. Y’all this guy deserves a lot of credit. His backstory? *gawks* he’s just too precious and amazing. Even as the secondary MC and “love interest,” Ezra brought a lot more to the table.

Tom Bryant. Ezra’s dad. Umm, yeah? Like best dad figure ever. I haven’t met a dad charie ever quite like Tom. His faith, devotion and love, and the humor and the dadness of him. He was awesome! One of the most unique characters of the book. I absolutely adored the fact that he had stayed strong in his faith and held Ezra up even after Mrs. Bryant passed away. It was just all too amazing. 

Side charies like Cecile and Tyler and others. (Guys Tyler was the name of the MC in I Don’t Dance by Jesseca Wheaton *facepalm*) 

Oh right. Paul? He was… like… the most amazing dead character you’ll ever meet! I love him!!!! He was a big brother and best friend and his dealing with Ezra was just *jawdrops* He’s so well described and explained and taken care of and the way he effected Piper as her older brother just tugged at my heart.
So yeah, Paul definitely deserved to be counted as an MC even if he was dead.  

The Plot

It really reminded me of I Don’t Dance. Don’t get me wrong, I adored that book and bought myself a copy the day it was released, however seeing the two together seemed like almost reading the same plot line written by two different people. That’s the ONLY thing that made me wonder for a second. Otherwise y’all. So beautiful! Smooth and one step to the next.

What else… the plot twist. *dies inside* I literally felt smashed in the face and had to re-read the sentence. I didn’t think there was enough book to bring my heart rate back down! (there was actually. It was so perfectly done)

And please let me bring in one of the most important parts of it. The faith aspect. Like, powerful, realistic, relatable faith. When I read the gospel in fiction, or answers to hard questions I’m just like “Ok ok. Mhmm. Grace! Yes!” And then it moved on. There’s never quite any passion. It gets vague and bland because Christian’s know it in their hearts and don’t tend to spend time on those topics.

It was not like that in this book. The faith aspect was NOT a thread in the story. It WAS the story. The questions that Sarah Grace first asked and then answered were like punch in the gut, convict in the heart, tears in your eyes. It was nothing cliche, nothing vague or boring or eyeroll. It was powerful, sincere faith. Not a moment of it felt forced or confused. It was pure on to the next amazingness. 

Genre

It’s labeled as a romance. But y’all it shouldn’t really be called a romance. The romance was an aspect, not the plot line. It was recovery from grief and guilt, discovering the powerful love of God, and laying “my all” in His hands. The romantic aspect (which btw was pure as a dove and sweet as a lollipop) was there to STRENGTHEN the plot line. Not to carry it along. 

Much much congratulations to Sarah Grace on her first every publication! And also I have to say I’m soooooooo impressed with Victoria Lynn’s work with the formatting and blog tour and everything. *all the heart eyes* As a future author and current writer you have to be on the lookout for these things and so far I’m verrry impressed with Victoria’s work. *coughs* 
*adds her to my future reference*

Last but not least of COURSE there is a Giveaway!

Giveaway!

Grand Prize ~ $20 Amazon gift card, Signed Paperback of Live Without You, Specialty designed mug.
Second Prize ~ $5 Amazon gift card, ebook copy of Live Without You
3 Third Prize Winners ~ Ebook copy of Live Without You

Grand prize open to US entrants only, 2nd and 3rd prizes available internationally. Giveaway runs from 12AM 1.21.19 – 12AM 1.23.19. Victoria Lynn Designs retains the right to disregard any entries that they deem bogus or spam. Good luck to the entrants!

Enter the giveaway here!

Thank you Sarah Grace for sharing the ARC with me so I could read this book (which I gobbled up in about hmm let me see… three hours) and review it for you. I’m so excited! And thank you to Victoria Lynn for your amazing organized process for this blog tour honestly it’s been one of the best easiest blog tours I’ve participated in.

You girls can get a copy on Amazon or add it to your TBR but definitely read it soon. It’s worth the time. You can head over to the main party hub on Victoria’s blog with all the schedule details and good stuff. See you there!

~Libby