Brenna's Reviews > God-Shaped Hole

"Sometimes the most consequential moments in my life originate from a state of completely witless human autopilot."

And... that is how the story of Beatrice & Jacob begins. On a whim, Beatrice, for a reason she herself can't even understand, decides to respond to a personal ad. "If your intentions are pure I am seeking a friend for the end of the world."

Beatrice, or "Trixie" as Jacob affectionately calls her, is the voice of this story. She is sick of the LA lifestyle and is always let down by men. She has a witty, but cynical charm about her, that I loved (most of the time).

"I didn't know how to act like a normal person and be in love at the same time."

What really made the book for me though, was Jacob *sigh* he is one of the most interesting characters I've encountered in a book. There are too many adjectives to describe him. He is "raggedly, poetically handsome," a dreamer, a romantic, spontaneous, eccentric, intense, passionate, sweet, soulful, deep. I could go on and on. Jacob's best friend, Pete describes him perfectly...

"He wants someone to obsess over, someone to possess his soul, and those are his corny words, by the way, not mine. It's what he lives for. It's what he thinks life's all about. Do you get what I'm saying?"

Immediately, Trixie and Jacob have an extremely intense connection. They just get each other. This wasn't a simple case of "insta-love" (that can drive me nuts) though. I could literally feel their connection from the first meet all the way to the last page of the book, it was INTENSE. I have loved a lot of couples in books before and have obsessed over characters and rooted for them and wanted so badly for them to be together. But this was a new and different experience for me. The couple IS together for pretty much the entire time. It's their love story and daily life over years. We get to enjoy them, get to know them, and go through many ups and downs. I can honestly say that I haven't ever felt the love between two characters like I did with Trixie and Jacob. I can't even explain it properly, I just felt it.

"A search. We're all searching to fill up what I like to call that big, God-shaped hole in our souls."

I wish I could have read this through my kindle app, because I literally would have highlighted half the book. I have a notebook for when I read print versions of books, and I have pages and pages full of quotes. I was hooked and completely intrigued from the very beginning.This book had me feeling every emotion imaginable. I was laughing (and laughing a lot) one second and sobbing the next. I don't know how she does it, but Tiffanie DeBartolo can bring emotion out of me like no other. She is an incredibly brilliant writer. Her voice is so distinct and unique. I found alot of similarites between this and her other novel, How to Kill a Rock Star (top 5 book for me & this REALLY made me want to re-read immediately) with the atypical hero of the stories, the music references, and the soulfulness. I sincerely hope she comes back to writing and publishes another novel. She is too amazing not to.

I highly recommend this book to people who enjoy a great, realistic, very emotional love story. It is a beautiful story that I am so grateful I read. It made me think differently about life in a lot of ways. That's a pretty big deal, I think.

"We had pathetically simple dreams: to do meaningful work that we could be proud of, to be together, and to be happy. That wasn't too much to ask. Or was it?"