Reviewed by Sid Love

TITLE: Lenny for your thoughts
AUTHOR: Anyta Sunday
BLURB: Lenny’s life in the small village of Waldau hasn’t changed in years. While friends grew up and moved on, Lenny and his oma remain in the same place. Now Lenny’s going to make things different: a new life, in a new city, and a chance to forget his cousin Julien–the boy he loved, and who left him behind. But just as Lenny’s future looks like it’s becoming reality, Julien returns, bringing with him all the sweet, wonderful, and painful memories of their past.

What does his cousin want? And is it something Lenny can give him?

REVIEW:

Anyta Sunday has managed to easily charm me with her previous works – “Shane and Trey” was the first of her books that I read and it was a fun read. Then, I came across her “St-St-Stuffed” and it was even better. But, while reading Lenny for your thoughts, I found myself literally spell-bound.

The story is set in Germany and it gives us snippets from past and present of Leonard (Lenny) Krause’s life. It begins with Lenny planning to move to Berlin and is looking for a perfect house where he and his Oma (grandmother) can live. He wishes to get out of his sad, old life back in Waldau where he has been stuck with memories he can’t bear. However, just as he is about to move on and get on with his life to try and make new memories, someone from his past returns to make it all impossible to forget the old memories. Someone who was important. Someone who he loved beyond reasons – and someone who he still loves – that someone who also happens to be his cousin…

Yes, this is a tale of a forbidden love that blossoms between Lenny and his cousin, Julien. Both of their mothers (Lenny’s late-mother) were sisters, which made them blood-related. Incestuous – so icky. Except, Lenny didn’t care. He has drown so deep into his temptation that suppressing his feelings becomes difficult for him. Julien is the one who has a problem with it and he goes to indefinite ends to prove that he has no feelings for Lenny. But where is the essence of true love if the heart keeps allowing you to hurt someone you care so deeply?

Julien makes a return after his absence from Waldau and is determined to make amends with Lenny. He wishes for his best friend to be back in his life and he is saying and doing all the right things to get Lenny’s heart melt. They both know there are unresolved issues that need working on but would it be enough to only consider the past, when Lenny has had some different plans for his future? Is he ready to picture Julien in his future again? And more than that… was there ever going to be a happy ending in his love story?

Throughout the book, we get glimpses of their past and the story switches from the present to past. We see live the moments shared by the boys when they were kids, as they grow up in each others’ company. These moments are truly memorable and I can see why Lenny would treasure them. The transformation of a childhood friendship into a deep, meaningful affection between them was shown through these memories and I absolutely loved these parts.

There is a parallel storyline that runs along with Lenny and Julien’s love story and it is just as romantic as theirs. Lenny’s sister Carolyn and his & Julien’s best friend Ben stand out as secondary characters. In fact, all the secondary characters actually stand out at some point of time in this story. Oma – the grandmother – is an unusual old lady who can see into the future and has a weird way of punishing people. Herr Koch – who is the landlord of Lenny’s new house in Berlin – is a fun guy who loves to play mischievous games with people to keep himself entertained. Even Julien’s mother – who is the main antagonist in this story – was someone who truly gave me reasons to hate her. So yes, the author has sketched her characters well.

Something I like about this author’s writing is that she never uses flowery descriptions to make her books look good. In fact, her simple, to the point remarks about the scenes are enough to give you a picture of what is happening. A warning though, and something which I had a problem personally as well, in this book the author uses a few German words and phrases here and there. I know enough basic German to catch on those, but I am afraid not many would be able to understand them. As far as I remember from reading, she only once clarifies a certain phrase but other than that it is assumed that the readers would be German-literate. A few words that I didn’t know created confusion and that ended up breaking my link to the story. Also that wasn’t all of it. The switching from present to past wasn’t a pleasant ride after a while. It was more annoying that we don’t get the “Toe” story that Mr. Koch promises to tell Lenny later because, honestly I was looking forward to that. (that could be just me though)

Flaws be ignored, this story does have the power to keep you awake through the whole night. That it did to me and I would recommend it to all those who are suckers for romance stories, especially the ones who take pleasure in forbidden ones (like me!) because this is a beautiful story about love, friendship and family that has been penned by a very talented author.

So I dare ask… Lenny for your thoughts?

Sid’s Rating:

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