Love Thy Neighbor

"Moses had been weird. 
And weird was easily suspect. 
Weird was frightening and unforgivable. 
But I found I missed that too—he was weird and wonderful and different from anyone I knew. 
From anyone I would ever know."

--Amy Harmon, The Law of Moses

Genre: NA Contemporary, Paranormal

Publisher: Amy Harmon

Pages: 298

Publication Date: November 27th, 2014

Source: Bought

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Previous Books in Series: Standalone
Previous Books by this Author: Making Faces & Infinity + One

Goodreads Description

Someone found him in a laundry basket at the Quick Wash, wrapped in a towel, a few hours old and close to death. They called him Baby Moses when they shared his story on the ten o’clock news – the little baby left in a basket at a dingy Laundromat, born to a crack addict and expected to have all sorts of problems. I imagined the crack baby, Moses, having a giant crack that ran down his body, like he’d been broken at birth. I knew that wasn’t what the term meant, but the image stuck in my mind. Maybe the fact that he was broken drew me to him from the start.

It all happened before I was born, and by the time I met Moses and my mom told me all about him, the story was old news and nobody wanted anything to do with him. People love babies, even sick babies. Even crack babies. But babies grow up to be kids, and kids grow up to be teenagers. Nobody wants a messed up teenager.

And Moses was messed up. Moses was a law unto himself. But he was also strange and exotic and beautiful. To be with him would change my life in ways I could never have imagined. Maybe I should have stayed away. Maybe I should have listened. My mother warned me. Even Moses warned me. But I didn’t stay away.

And so begins a story of pain and promise, of heartache and healing, of life and death. A story of before and after, of new beginnings and never-endings. But most of all...a love story.

This is a difficult review to write because the story is so unique. What I thought was a contemporary romance quickly evolved into a paranormal story. This is not a bad thing, just not what I was expecting. While I wasn’t sure what to think of this twist of plot plan at first quickly became clear just how much more beautiful it made this story. Without giving plot points away, the overall arc of this story is difficult to read at points but absolutely amazing in its overall execution. The emotions of these characters, Moses and Georgia, are deeply rooted into their very being and leak off of the page, even if it took me just a little while to get there. See farther below.

This is the story of Moses, a teenager who was abandoned by his mother as a newborn, and has had quite the rough and inconsistent upbringing before finally settling with his great grandmother. Georgia has lived and worked on her family’s equine therapy farm for her whole life. She has felt a pull towards Moses since she met him as a child and as a teenager this attractions has not diminished. Moses and Georgia start a fragile friendship to say the least. Moses is like a frightened animal and Georgia must always proceed with caution. Moses refuses all attempts at friendship and love and Georgia just does not give up. I have to hand it to this little lady because damn, is she tenacious. I loved her fire and her non-conformist attitude to not care what other people think. Same with Moses. Their relationship is not easy and it is never confirmed…and then all hell breaks loose.

The conflict and journey that Moses and Georgia go through, both separately and together, is agonizingly beautiful. I can’t really say more as to not give away major parts of the plot but just know that the emotions of this story run so deep. These characters feel so completely, even when they try to deny it *coughMosescough*. I felt with these characters, cried with these characters, my heart bled for these characters. It took me a while to connect with them but once I got there, I was there with my whole heart.

As I said before, the plot arc of this story is beautiful and poignant and had me crying in public because I just could not handle the feels! There are parts in this book especially towards the end that had tears just leaking down my face. It is so…heartfelt and raw and agonizing! If I had to use one word for my emotional turmoil it has to be agonizing. The trauma these characters face throughout their story is heart-wrenching and terrible. They fight tooth and nail to be okay and whether or not they get there…well, you’ll just have to read to find out.

But seriously, once it’s all said and done the way this story unfolds and the reasons behind everything they go through is so perfect and fits together so seamlessly that you just breath this sigh of relief like, OH this is why this happened. It’s just beautiful! There is no other way to describe everything that happens in this book. The overall progression of the story is intricate and complex and everything fits together at the end in just an amazing way.

While my overall experience with The Law of Moses was beautiful, I did struggle in the beginning to fully appreciate Georgia and Moses’ feelings for one another. I felt like we didn’t get to see enough of their interactions to merit their emotions, declarations of love, and physical actions towards one another. Part II of the story jived with me way more than Part I. We get a few more flashbacks in Part II to everyday interactions the two of them shared and I would have loved to see more of this in the beginning so I could really feel with them in order to form a deeper emotional connection to them earlier on. I did feel this connection and the ending portion of this book basically ripped my heart out but in a perfect world I would have wanted to feel this sooner.

Reserved Seating

If you like paranormal elements, deeply emotional storylines, and beautiful writing…this one is for you.