Review: The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon

The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon
Release Date: November 2014
Age: Mature YA, New Adult
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Supernatural, Paranormal, Fiction, Mystery, Romance
Format: ebook
Source: Purchased
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

If I tell you right up front, right in the beginning that I lost him, it will be easier for you to bear. You will know it’s coming, and it will hurt. But you’ll be able to prepare.

Someone found him in a laundry basket at the Quick Wash, wrapped in a towel, a few hours old and close to death. They called him Baby Moses when they shared his story on the ten o’clock news – the little baby left in a basket at a dingy Laundromat, born to a crack addict and expected to have all sorts of problems. I imagined the crack baby, Moses, having a giant crack that ran down his body, like he’d been broken at birth. I knew that wasn’t what the term meant, but the image stuck in my mind. Maybe the fact that he was broken drew me to him from the start.

It all happened before I was born, and by the time I met Moses and my mom told me all about him, the story was old news and nobody wanted anything to do with him. People love babies, even sick babies. Even crack babies. But babies grow up to be kids, and kids grow up to be teenagers. Nobody wants a messed up teenager.

And Moses was messed up. Moses was a law unto himself. But he was also strange and exotic and beautiful. To be with him would change my life in ways I could never have imagined. Maybe I should have stayed away. Maybe I should have listened. My mother warned me. Even Moses warned me. But I didn’t stay away.

And so begins a story of pain and promise, of heartache and healing, of life and death. A story of before and after, of new beginnings and never-endings. But most of all...a love story.

I needed this book. And when I read this book I couldn't breathe, then I didn't need it. I didn't want it. I hated it because it made me cry. And then I loved it because it made me cry. I was lost in Moses' story, in Georgia's story, in their story. This book is raw and it packs a heady punch, a sucker punch that I saw coming but didn't believe and then it came and I cried, it's raw and awful and beautiful and broken and fixed and torn. It's real and it's not real because there's this paranormal element that I didn't realize was coming but Amy somehow made this seem real. Like it happens all the time and while I read her story it did, it did happen and I won't listen to anyone that tells me it didn't because fiction like this is real. Amy's writing is real and it's soft and crinkly and that may not make sense to you but it does to me.

I liked that it was told in alternating points of view between Georgia and Moses in the before and after over a large span of time. The characters begin the story as teenagers and end the story as adults. I was very connected to all of the characters in the book, except maybe Georgia's parents. It's a dark read full of tears and heartbreaks but the book neatly folds together.

Moses is my favorite character. He's just. He's someone you want to help but you can't reach. He's hurt and in pain but has to get through things himself. He's funny and serious and doesn't know how to love himself. I love him, don't tell my husband. But really, I do.

For such a seriously toned book, I was uplifted and inspired. No matter the story you're looking to read, read this one. Because it's not at all what you're expecting and even through all of the tears I can still smile about it. You need this book in your life, You need Amy's writing in your life.

Other books by Amy:  A Different Blue, Infinity + One, Making Faces