Title:  Drawn to Life
Series:
Author:  Elisabeth Wagner
Genre:  Romance, Women’s Fiction
Published:  April 28, 2015
Publisher:  Amazon Publishing
My Rating:  3 outta 5
Source:  NetGalley

Story Blurb:

Mia Lang always thought she could brave any storm, until a frightening turn of fate caused her to lose everything she once held dear—her best friend, her boyfriend, her career, and even her desire to live.

Hoping to heal her scars and find the will to face the world again, Mia embarks on an adventure across Europe by train. But when she meets Samuel Winter—on the run from his own troubled past—her whole world is turned upside down again. Perhaps this time, though, the pieces will fall where they’re meant to. Armed with the sort of courage that only comes from having nothing to lose, Mia is about to find out, in this beautiful story of resilience and discovery.

Read on for my thoughts on Drawn to Life.  No true spoilers, promise.

Up to her 23rd year of life, Mia’s life had been pretty much as usual.  She was beautiful, smart, just graduated college, had a good job, her own apartment and a guy who loved her, even if he wasn’t ready to move in with her.  Life was good.

…until it wasn’t.

Within a very short time Mia’s life would change drastically.  She would be diagnosed with a frightening, life altering disease.  She would lose her job, her apartment, her life as she once knew it.  Those that she always thought would be beside her no matter what… weren’t.  The young man she loved with all her heart couldn’t take what was happening to Mia and turned to her best friend for “comfort”.

Even though she had been told time after nauseating time that eventually everything would be “OK” – it wasn’t and never would be in the same way again.  Her attempt at ending the pain, only brought more of it to herself and her family.

A year after the worst year of Mia’s life she needed to get away.  To leave the crushing weight of her family’s comfort and be alone to sort out what her future would be on her own terms.

So she set out on a train ride across Europe – toward an uncertain future.  But it would be her future, by her own choices.

Sam had a good life, even a great life.  The son of a successful businessman, he was the “face” of their company plastered in every print advertisement possible.  He expected to move up through the ranks in his father’s firm and was finally given his own project.

It was then that he finally realized exactly what his father’s company did to people.  What he had promoted all these years, and it sickened him.  He renounced his father’s company and his wealth, never looking back.

Sam hopped a train out of town, destination unknown – as long as it was far away from the life he had just given up.

Mia and Sam would meet on that train.  And it would either be a curse or a blessing as each moved toward an uncertain future that hopefully would include each other.

I cannot say that I “enjoyed” this novel for that word gives a different spin on this story.  I was touched by this novel, I was moved by it – in the end it was a good story.  The moving back and forth between before the diagnosis and during and even after took a bit of time to fall into.  I don’t know if that was the translation or not, but I got into the habit of glancing at the time on new chapters to be sure where I was in the story.  Not a bad or a good thing, just something that took me a bit out of the flow of the story.

This is certainly not a typical love story.  It is a story of pain, conviction and growth.  It gets a 3 outta 5 on my rating system.  It was a good story and I’d recommend it.  Just know that this is not a quick love story, you will get involved emotionally.

*I received an e-ARC of Drawn to Life from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*