The Man I Love

By: Suanne Laqueur

Narrated by: Vanessa DeSilvio

Length: 13 hrs and 51 mins

Publisher's summary

You never got over it. You just left it.

College freshman Erik Fiskare loves the theater, but he's more intrigued by the wizardry behind the red curtain than the spectacle center stage. That is until Daisy Bianco steps into the spotlight. The moment Erik lays eyes on this ballerina, his atoms rearrange, and the young stagehand will never be the same.

For two years the romance thrives within a tight-knit circle of artists and friends. Then a newcomer arrives - James, a brilliant but erratic dancer with a misguided infatuation and a burning desire to belong.

The consequences of an ill-fated love affair set a course for destruction, and Erik's world is torn apart. He clings to Daisy, but he soon discovers that in the face of heartache, grief, and betrayal, love is not always enough. And sometimes it's everything.

Suanne Laqueur's award-winning debut novel presents the dark side of devotion and the futility of running from the past. The Man I Love is an emotional journey of love and forgiveness that will linger long after the last minute.

©2014 Suanne Laqueur (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

CONSUMING <> SPIRALING <> PROCESSING

Erik & Daisy are college freshman who meet while working on a project together in the theater department. Their young love is ideal and all-consuming. They were each other's reason for breathing. It was cute watching them fall deeper in love with each other.

One fateful day this love story comes to a spiraling downturn that will forever change Erik & Daisy’s lives. The crash was one that made each of them do stuff that they would have never considered doing prior to this event took over their lives.

Many years have passed as they wrestle to come to terms with what happened to them. They spend a lot of processing that day and figuring out how it affected them and how they were going to move forward.

A little personal history now: I’ve been once removed twice for the event that happened in this book that caused Erik & Daisy to spiral downwards. I’ve seen the heartache and pain this kind of thing causes everyone around them.

The author did a great job recreating and taking the characters through what it was like to re-emerge from such a horrific event.

While this book is very emotional I didn’t cry. I credit my lack of tears to the fact that I’ve been through this twice in my life and each time I shed many tears and I still do today. I did find when Erik went to counseling I felt like I was right there with him getting the help I needed to make sense about how people navigate these type situations.

THE MAN I LOVE is book 1 in The Fish Tales series. I listened to the audio and found it to be wonderfully done. This is my second book by, Ms. Laqueur, and like the other book I read the storytelling is incredible. WELL DONE!

Thank you, Christy, for recommending it and Kara for buddy-listening to it with me. ♥ ♥ ♥

Complex story and characters

3.5 stars

I’m keeping this short-ish because I don’t know how to put into words my conflicted feelings and do justice to an author whose writing I adore and a book that took time to grab me. I struggled to make peace with the pacing of the book until 70% but the final 30% was superb. I feel like it took me till 70% to finally feel the emotion that I felt I should be feeling, but didn’t. The answer to ‘the why’ I struggled to connect, I think is down to the pacing issues and deep description, not characterisation, because I liked Erik, Daisy and Will immensely. I definitely felt periods of frustration with both Erik and Daisy but I accepted it and their story. The side characters were utterly superb, Miles, Will, Mel, David.

Suanne Laqueur tackled a specific challenging issue and a plethora of arising sensitive subjects in this book and handled them with care. The character development was deep and the prose was eloquent. The journey this couple made was vast and wide but it was a journey I hung in to see the destination. This book is definitely memorable.

“The blood blinked first.”

The Man I Love

This one had my emotions all over the place but since this is a Suanne Laqueur book I kind of knew to expect that. It started out with the perfect fairy tale romance of two college kids finding each other but then... the fairy tale was shattered and nothing and no one was the same. I felt so much for Erik and Daisy (and Will and Lucky and James). So now I'm off to read book two and I hope it doesn't crush me as bad (but it probably will.)

Amazing!

I read this book a few years ago and it stayed with me for a long time. Now listening to it through Audible was like reliving a beautiful, tragic, redemptive memory! Truly heart-breaking & beautiful!

I loved this book!

Oh my this is really a good book. Narrator Vanessa DeSilvio does a really fantastic job. The story is touching and you will experience all kinds of emotions. You will laugh, you will want to cry, you will get angry and wonder what was he/she thinking. #Tagsgiving, #Sweepstakes, #gotmeinmyfeelings, #funny, #sad, #lovedthisbook

Hauntingly beautiful

The book goes into too many details of all that aspired for 13-14 years, hits you with waves of emotions and is beautifully written.
I enjoyed the fact that it not only covered the romance and youth then suddenly jump few years into the future, the author took us year by year on how Fish’s life developed.

Fantastic in every aspect!

I originally read and reviewed this novel before it came out on audio. I decided to revisit this lovely story again several years later and must say that the narrator took an already amazing story to an outstanding one. I could not stop listening and was truly sad when the last word was read.

My 2014 review:
It’s very rare for me to read a debut novel that has that WOW factor. You know the one….the one you become completely engrossed in. The one where you really connect with the characters and feel what they are feeling. The one that causes you to have a vortex of emotions while reading – happiness, sadness, anger and major frustration - then back to happiness again. But in this case with The Man I Love, I have been 100% WOWED! It has been quite a while that a novel completely remained in my thoughts even when I had to step away for a bit. The characters are real people with real problems and real challenges and I found myself relating to them immediately.

Ms. Laqueur definitely has the magical touch when it comes to writing and her words come to life within the pages of this amazing book. This well written novel is a must read that I would recommend to just about anyone who wants to immerse themselves in a truly beautiful story of two people who fate has destined to be together only to face the challenges life throws at them. Well done Ms. Laqueur…..well done!

shocking

There was so much going on. I felt loke the story should have stopped after the first incident, but I understand why it continued. Overall good!!! Also, very descriptive sex scene

LOVED the book!!!

I really really enjoyed the book! Couldn’t stop listening!! He performance was great too, but I think, having a guy as the main character, it should have been narrated by a man... Vanessa DeSilvio did a great job, but I just think it should have been a man.

Love this Series

Really enjoyed the this story, was very well written and very different from any other love story I have ever heard