Title: A Song For Julia
Author: Charles Sheehan-Miles
Publication Date: December 5, 2012
Publisher: Cincinnatus Press
ISBN: 0988273632
ISBN13: 9780988273634
Rating: 
Everyone should have something to rebel against.
Crank Wilson left his South Boston home at sixteen to start a punk band and burn out his rage at the world. Six years later, he’s still at odds with his father, a Boston cop, and doesn’t ever speak to his mother. The only relationship that really matters is with his younger brother, but watching out for Sean can be a full-time job. The one thing Crank wants in life is to be left the hell alone to write his music and drive his band to success.
Julia Thompson left a secret behind in Beijing that exploded into scandal in Washington, DC, threatening her father's career and dominating her family's life. Now, in her senior year at Harvard, she's haunted by a voice from her past and refuses to ever lose control of her emotions again, especially when it comes to a guy.
When Julia and Crank meet at an anti-war protest in Washington in the fall of 2002, the connection between them is so powerful it threatens to tear everything apart.
Wow! I must say that Charles Sheehan-Miles is proving himself to the world of fiction writing. I sort of became one of his fans when I read Just Remember To Breathe. So when this book was added in Goodreads, I pretty much looked forward for its release.
If you remember it well, the first book focused on Alexa Thompson, Julia and Carrie's younger sibling. its of information about Julia was included in that book and I sort of gotten curious with Julia's character. I wonder why she ditched her enrollment for graduate school and managed Crank Wilson's band Morbid Obesity after graduating from Harvard University at the top of her class. Well it's time for you to stop wondering because this book contains her story and I must warn you to be prepared because she's got more baggage than Alex and Dylan combined.
Julia Thompson. She's an straight A student who has a thing for music and who has a very dark secret that may have ruined her for life. She's the eldest among the Thompson sisters. I sympathized with her because she doesn't have anyone to lean on to with what she went through in Beijing, China. Being a daughter to a diplomat has its perks but more often than not it shoves you into spotlight where you have to act as a person you're really not. She considered their family perfect but that is before his father got assigned to a different place for every three years after he became a diplomat. She spent her time with her bodyguard when they were at Belgium. She was a very lonely child and she doesn't have anyone to talk to. It only got worst when her dad was assigned to China. She was fourteen then, young and naive. She fell in love. She was manipulated and abuse by her boyfriend and in the end her actions almost dissolved her father's appointment as an Ambassador to Russia. She struggled to rebuild herself without the help of her parents who were absorbed in their own marital problems. Since then, she built a wall around herself to keep her from making the same mistakes again.
Crank Wilson.
Fact: As a rule, an often stated and confirmed rule, I don't chase girls. They chase me.
Fact: I don't get involved. You want a quick lay, well, I'm your guy. But only for the night.
Fact: I've got a brother to watch out for, a band to drive forward to success, a job flipping burgers, and I don't have time to get emotionally tied up in some girl.
Fact: Six nights running, I'd dreamed about Julia, and that hot retro dress she wore Saturday night for her date.
Crank doesn't do the girlfriend thing but when Julia stipulated that she just wanted a one-night stand, he suddenly wanted more. He's a very dedicated man. He strives hard to get what he wants. He's a very caring brother to Sean who has an Asperger's Syndrome. He's the vocalist of Morbid Obesity. He didn't give up on Julia that's why I love him. He freed Julia from her past and loved her for who she is.
Sean Wilson. He's Crank's brother. He tries to express is emotions towards people. He tries to have eye contact even though he finds it difficult to concentrate. Julia instantly became his friend and he instantly connected with her.
I love Jack because he sees right through a person. I love him for accepting Julia and opening his home for her. Margot is so lucky to have him.
Carrie is here again. I love this girl and I'm waiting for her own happy ending. I honestly thought her story would be published first after Alex.
The story was told in an alternating point of view between Julia and Crank which is good because I got to see what's going on inside the heads of the two main leads. Their story is a bittersweet romance and I'm glad I got to read it. This is one of those books that will make you smile but at the same time it will also make you cry. There were moments that were very heartbreaking and you'll just be surprised that a tear has already fallen from your eyes.
Charless Sheehan Miles is really a brilliant author. I'm excited for Carrie's story and of course the there younger Thompson siblings especially the twins.
"Sometimes you go looking and don't find anything, and sometimes it slaps you upside the head like a good Irish Catholic mother."
"Sometimes...I think parents work so hard to keep us from making their mistakes, they won't allow us to make our own."
"Before you go," I said, "you need to know - I'd do anything for you." I stepped closed, so close we were almost touching. "Even kiss you goodbye and watch you go."
"Home's where the people you love are. It's about finding the things that matter to you, and holding on to them and taking care of them."
"Why?" She looked in my eyes as she asked the question. "Why would you risk that? Why would you risk me hurting you?" I put my hands on either side of her face. "Because you make me better. You make me - you make me feel like I matter. Like my life matters. I feel like, with you, I can do anything in the world. That we can do anything in the world. And we will."
Labels: Book Review, Charles Sheehan-Miles
