Book Review: Where the River Meets the Skye by Felicity Snow
Find Felicity Snow's website here: https://felsnowauthor.com/
Before I start, let me just say that this book features the single best depiction of contracting and living with chronic illness that I have ever come across.* It is also a beautiful love story between two best friends who realise they’ve always been crazy for each other. The book concentrates on the relationship between the two characters and how that changes, develops and survives as life throws everything it can at them. It’s an emotional roller coaster of a book, and if you’re a crier, be sure to have the tissues on hand. The book has an HEA, although some might consider it a HFN, as not everything gets tied up in a perfect bow. However, that is the nature of chronic illness, and so I find it perfectly fitting for the novel. I cannot recommend this book enough as a gorgeous love story and a poignant piece of prose.
The book begins with the familiar tropes of the sweet gay guy pining for his apparently straight best friend. Felicity Snow handles this with humour and wit, and allows us to sympathise for Skye as he creates his “ice wall” behind which he intends to hide his romantic love for River. River is equally adorable, as Skye’s quiet and kind companion of ten years.
This story is far more than a simple BFFs-to-lovers one however. (Though there’s absolutely nothing wrong with BFFs-to-lovers books; I adore and devour them!) Rather, it is a journey between these two men who know they would do anything for each other, and are sadly tested on that knowledge time after time.
Snow caveats the book with an understanding that the time frame, volume and severity of these health crises that befall River may seem unrealistic to some, but that they are in fact not. She is absolutely correct; sufferers of chronic illness can sometimes feel that it is simply one thing after another, and there will never be any respite. This is the reason that chronic illness and mental health issues such as depression and anxiety often go hand in hand. Snow deals with the premise thoughtfully and shows us the strain that pain and illness can put on a person, and also their relationships. I found it fascinating the way the author presented River’s struggle with his religious beliefs, and how his atheist partner supported him through this.
Felicity Snow really captures what it is to feel like your body is giving up on you. She also truly understands, and puts on the page, the frustration of constant medical appointments, tests and treatments, without getting any definitive answers. At one point, River laments that the doctors don’t understand why he isn’t improving and he deadpans “they say I’m complicated. Yay.” I laughed out loud when I read that, because I’m pretty certain I’ve said those exact same words.
There was another part to River and Skye’s story that I have not had to face due to the luck of being born in Britain, and not the US. That is all the financial struggles that accompany long term illness due to lack of employment law and public healthcare. I won’t go into detail, as I feel that it is an important part of the story and should be experienced as Snow wrote it, but let me just tell you that I was appalled at how people can be treated when they get sick.
All in all, this was a remarkable novel that I truly enjoyed reading, and I would strongly recommend it. If you’re a mood reader, this is a “I want to love these characters so much that I cry when they cry and laugh when they laugh” kind of mood, enjoy.
*I don’t want to go into my personal life too much, but I have been dealing with chronic illness for pretty much my entire adult life, so we are looking at at least two and a half decades of experience. I am also the kind of person who seeks out representation on my own issues in fiction, be that TV, film, theatre, music or literature. I’m telling you this so you know that when I say this is the absolute finest portrayal of chronic illness I’ve ever experienced, you can have confidence that I know what I’m talking about.
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