Forgiving Trinity by Liz Reinhardt

 

Author: Liz Reinhardt
Publisher: Self-Published
Published: December 23rd 2011
Pages: Unknown
Format: E-book
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Summary: (From Goodreads)

At seventeen, Trinity McCabe has already made enough mistakes to fill a lifetime. Especially the one where she got high, drove a car, and almost killed a dog. And then let her friend Aidan take the blame.
She’s clean now and desperate to fix the messes she’s made, but first she’s going to have to get out of her pajamas.
As Trinity struggles to stop sleepwalking through life, she faces the painful, tingling sensation of waking up. It’s sometimes embarrassing (she really didn’t want to have lunch with Aidan’s mom), sometimes terrifying (group therapy is beyond intimidating), and sometimes, amazingly enough, pretty romantic (who’d have though Aidan would be such a great kisser?)
Trin is lucky, though—luckier than she deserves, she’s sure—and she doesn’t travel this road alone. Her family, her therapist, and her new friends are all pulling for her. And it turns out, some of them have made pretty big mistakes, too.
But before she can embrace her new life completely, Trinity has to be forgiven by the one person who is holding out the hardest: herself. It’s not easy changing everything, especially when you don’t think you deserve a second chance. Trinity might make an even bigger mess of things before she figures that out.
When the smoke clears on her latest disaster, will anyone still be standing there?

FOUR OUT OF FIVE STARS ★★★★☆

I’ve been sitting in front of this word document trying to find the words to describe this book well for a bit of a while now. The problem I have is feeling like I’m not doing the book justice. It was so well-written and truly inspiring that I don’t want to under hype the book, but nor do I want to over-hype it either. I just want this to be perfect as this is what the book truly deserves. I think I will start out by saying that I have not read any other Liz Reinhardt book before but after reading this novel, I will be making sure I keep an eye out for her other books, especially if they’re going to be as good, or better, than Forgiving Trinity. This book took me on such a journey and I truly feel like it is one of the better books that I have read lately.

This novel deals with a very serious subject, and in my opinion, deals with it extremely well. It follows the life of an ex-addict and how she manages to pull her life back out from under her and I think it is such a great portrayal and can really be shown to reflect any teen with other problems, such as self-harming or over-eating, bulimia or anorexia. This novel awakens the eye to those around you, allows the reader to think about the effect they have on the people they love but it also shows how it’s always an individual journey and unless you’re ready to get help, and to change, you will never be able to change completely. I feel that this is an important message and I also feel that the idea it won’t happen overnight is incredibly supportive. Some people may find it too hard and want to escape back to their old ways but if they stick with it, they’ll find it will soon get so much better. I love that this novel truly addresses these things through Trinity’s story.

As for Trinity. I adored her. I admired her strength and will-power. I enjoyed watching as she battled with her pajamas, and how after everything she still had her sad moments and had to remind herself of everything that she has overcome before letting herself slip back into her old habits. I felt that she was a brilliant heroine and I truly loved her for it. She wasn’t perfect, she had her flaws, her worries and her insecurities and it just made her so much better because it made her feel real. I could imagine that this was actually happening, that similar situations to this do actually happen. And that is one thing that I always truly love in a story.

Aidan was my heartthrob. He made me ache and I wanted nothing more than want to wrap my arms around him and hug him most of the time. He was funny and caring and I could totally see how dealing with someone who constantly ran away was never going to be easy on someone. I loved his story and I also knew his story before Trinity ever figured it out and it broke my heart. I wanted to shoulder him, to give him the leading hand that he needed and so was extremely glad when Trinity was finally able to give him the help that he needed. I loved the pair of them together as well, it always fit so well and was just the cutest romantic story, as Ruth constantly reminded them both.

Ruth. Oh my god. Ruth was one girl who I wanted to cherish forever. As Trinity reminds us, Ruth is the reason why one should never judge a book, or a person, by the cover. Ruth dressed “conservative” and therefore, Trinity assumed things about her but it turned out all of her assumptions were wrong and Ruth had a legitimate reason for dressing the way she did. And did that break my heart. Oh my! I just love that this whole novel really shows that everyone has something deeper within themselves. That we can never judge people on first impressions for we never know what is actually going on beneath the surface, and I really think that finding this message in a Young Adult book is truly inspiring.

One of the few things I disliked about this story was Christian. I loved his character, don’t get me wrong, and I enjoyed his relationship with his sister but it took me a long time to work out how old he was. At first I thought he was a younger brother, then I opted for a twin until eventually it was revealed that he was the older brother and it just irked me that it took so long for this to be admitted to the reader. I also felt like a little more back story to some of the characters would have been more interesting, especially to explain more about why relationships were being built the way they were. But, all in all, these things didn’t take away from the overall greatness of this story.

I truly loved this novel. I loved the storyline and every little thing that came from it. I loved the characters and the way they interacted with each other. I felt like I was witnessing something amazing as I rooted for certain people to do certain things and I honestly felt like I had lost a friend when I came to the end of the book. It was a powerful and emotional read and one that had me tearing up too many times to count. It was strong, and moving and really got down to the nitty gritty in life while still maintaining a distance from it all and I truly loved that about it all. It is not a story for the light-hearted, but it was one that will teach you about your own life and your own ways and will fill you with a strength that you may not have had before.

Faye