Broken Clocks By Danielle Allen
A Review By: VJJ
According to my grandma, a broken clock being right twice a day meant that in any given situation, perfect timing only happens twice.
I fell for William Grayson in a matter of minutes. The connection between us was undeniable, but our timing was off. I was dating someone and by the time I was single again, he was taken. And a year later, when we finally got together, it was clear that we were soulmates. But circumstances out of our control cut our time short.
We were a little older, a little wiser, when our paths crossed again. I was entering a new phase of independence in both my career and my life. He was growing professionally and moving to a new city. And even though our timing was off, it was still clear that we were soulmates. But for the second time, circumstances out of our control cut our time short.
My grandma was a wise woman, but my love life taught me that there’s no such thing as perfect timing.
There’s just timing… Because nothing is perfect.
There’s just right now… Because tomorrow isn’t promised.
For as long as we’d known each other, William and I just wanted to be together. It was as simple and as complicated as that.
Review Notes:
Audio Book Publication Year: 2021
An installment in a Series? No
Narrator (s): Wesleigh Siobhan
Story: We as readers connect with stories because there’s always a semblance of familiarity or truth in what we read as we look to escape that very thing. It pulls us in and we love the author for it. We’ve endured tragedies eye blink and it hurts, we understand and relate to pain and again, it hurts, even to love hurts, so this story had me holding my breath in anticipation for a ball, any ball to drop, and as I read the beginning pages which set the tone that had me ready, but unprepared in my feelings early. I knew this story was going to command my full attention and it did just that.
Danielle Allen understands a writer’s assignment, she encapsulates an author’s challenging ability to methodically portray, formulate and shape a stori’s propensity to flow without pause, allowing you to experience the character’s raw emotions, thoughts, and movements. She writes like an urgent message I couldn’t wait to read, allowing this story to emanate like a thunderous cloud ready to rain down, wetting everything it touches, soaking me with her words while becoming immersed and vested in lives where there’s no escaping the need to know how this ends.
Layla and William were both successful in their own right, determined to live life apart while drowning in their desires, neither knowing how to rise above, only to discover a series of events life continuously threw at them testing boundaries and limits of friendship, love, and a connected pull that would not dissipate or die.
Layla made choices, did what she felt was best to protect William and herself while sacrificing her own desires and happiness so he could find the joy in life she felt he, deserved. Her sacrifice has to be both one of the most selfless and selfish things one can do for love. The decisions Layla made, chose for William, not affording him the opportunity to do so himself and although she was gallant in her efforts with honorable intentions, she held all the cards that would dictate their relationship. Blinded by her need to protect William, but not considering the torment she would put herself through thus setting off a series of heartache, pain, and confusion for them both.
Time was lost while a determined William never gave up and did the only thing he could, he waited. He patiently waited until the time was right. William was a man of determination, a man who knew his purpose and what he wanted in life. He was driven professionally and in his personal life, making careful decisions to try to be everything for Layla.
Their love for one another is the strength and tragedy of this story. Love is the most difficult thing to explain and articulate, but reading how these characters orchestrate the happiness and sadness of it tells me it’s what broken clocks do and that allows patience of time to figure out what was, what is and what can be.
Narration/Performance: An incredibly written story of moments in time that defined the lives of a beautiful tragedy only to be enhanced by the narration of Wesleigh Siobhan. The compassion, emotion, and feeling she put into her performance was impressive. Listening, I felt the events transpiring through their endurance to overcome so much to find and accept completion in the complexity of the cards that life dealt them was orchestrated with such passion and depth by Ms. Siobhan. She truly did a fabulous performance and when an author and narrator can invoke emotions so profound, it’s a testament to what I believe is creative brilliance and if this story has taught me anything, it is that time is one of the most important things we have.
Reading Recommendation? Yes!
Rating: 5 (I need another one!)
Content Warnings? No
