“…love isn’t about who bought who the better birthday gift or how many carats her diamond ring is. It’s that you can look at this woman on a regular ole Tuesday night and know you’d make the same decision to be with her as the day you asked her to marry you.”
When we picked up Time Stamps by K.L. Kreig we had no idea about the journey we were about to embark on. The synopsis grabbed us the moment we read it, but in no way did it prepare us for the utter devastation and emotional heartbreak we’d feel. Pulling at our heartstrings yet making us melt into deep swoons, it became a rollercoaster of before and now, divided into unrestrained joy then overwhelming sadness.
‘Grief is the souvenir of a great love, and I hope you are as fortunate as I have been to have the greatest of the great in your life too…Make every day a Tuesday. Dance under the moonlight. Stargaze. Watch fireflies. Learn a new hobby. Recite your favorite movie. Mourn your losses. Mend broken fences.’
It was a ride we didn’t necessarily want to be on, but one that we could not let go of, nor get off. The title of this love story is so incredibly significant and as readers, we found it truly beautiful and meaningful. It made us stop and think of our own, be they happy, sad, seemingly irrelevant yet anything but. Truly magnificent and deeply tragic. They all serve a purpose, and they all mark us unbeknownst or knowingly so. The cliché of the tapestry of life is made up of these and the do you remember when…yes I’ll remember, always.
“The day I met you I felt like I was dropped inside a kaleidoscope, and no matter what angle I view life through now, all I see is beautiful brilliance. Even through all of this.”
“You’re the shards of glass,” I tell her, my voice hoarse. “You are what creates the beauty, Laurel. You are the beauty.”
“You’re the mirrors. And the light. You are what allows me to see it, Roth. Thank you.”
This love story is written in such a brilliant way that ensures the reader experiences pure joy whilst knowing about the tragic circumstances to come. Told in dual pov’s, Laurel tells us about the beginning of a beautiful love story set in the past, whilst Roth tells us of this love story set in the devastating now. Until two become one. We highlighted page after page of stunning quotes that literally had us in floods of tears or flying high on the beauty of inspiration. A love story so pure it stood the test of a lifetime…
“All these years, Laurel, and I haven’t been able to catch my breath yet. I will always choose you. I will always love you. Always.”
…A lifetime that has no guarantees. It was beautiful, quirky, wonderful, romantic, and funny. It was so tragically heartbreaking, cruel, and unfair. It was life. How often are we reminded that life is fragile? That we must grab it by the scruff of the neck and run with it, making sure we greet every single day as a blessing! Living our lives to the full because the next day is not a certainty. It’s not a given. But memories last forever. They live on in our hearts.
‘Did you do enough? Give enough? Live enough? Love enough? Laugh enough? Dare enough? Dance enough? Play enough?’
Laurel and Roth’s love story was intense, it was filled with realism and unguarded honesty. It was adorably awkward and at times hilariously eccentric. It was incredibly poignant and inspirational too. If it wasn’t slow trickle tears, it was full-on ugly cry tears, all the way through! Time Stamps has left such a deep long-lasting impression on our hearts through the magnificent story of love told by K.L. Kreig. It embodied what romance is all about, though some may argue it’s not a romance per se. Because, you know…rules! We will fiercely disagree and say this is pure romance. This is real love.
“I think I will love you until the end of forever.”
