A beautiful love story. I'm torn on rating this book. The emotive part of me wants to rate it 5, the rational part of me is more like 3, so I guess I end with a 4. I know that if I wasn't in the mood for an emotional story that purposely plucks at the heartstrings I would have been less sympathetic in my rating. Usually, I feel resentment when an author is manipulative, but the way it was done--the care, the subtlety of the angst made me less angry. The story itself is both sad and wondrous, sorta like life itself. Some amazing moments, some black, and a whole lot of carrying on in between. I suppose the thing I took away from this more than anything else is remembering the importance of demonstrating love to the important people in my life rather than giving it lip service.