Audacity Book Club: May Read

By Celeste Daniels

Hello, audacious readers!

Summer is around the corner and things are heating up. We’re less than a month away from Audacity’s 7th Anniversary Community Market, our biggest event of the year and we are keeping the books rolling! Last month, we experienced the epic tale of stealing your own destiny in She Who Became the Sun by Shelley Parker-Chan. This month, we’re exploring how love defies time in Only You by Celeste Daniels (yes, that is me).

All her life Dani grew up dreaming of different lives of doomed lovers every time she went to sleep. Although odd, Dani doesn’t have time to dwell on it as she focuses on getting her music degree at Howard University. However, her life turns upside down when she means a studio guitarist named Stephen Jones. Dani quickly discovers two world-shifting truths: 1) her ‘dreams’ are actually past memories of her and Jones and 2) she’s falling for him again.

Suddenly, the memories come into full focus as she remembers each reincarnation of her and Jones. They first meet in 1880s Paris as the daughter of a wealthy landowner and a lieutenant ordered to protect her; then, in 1910’s London as strangers trapped together in the Great War; and soon after in 1940’s Detroit as an underground boxer and doctor.

Every time they fall in love and every time, they die tragically. Now that the cycle is starting again, Dani and Jones don’t want history to repeat itself, but they can’t deny the connection between them. As the memories get more intense and the stakes get higher, Dani and Jones are forced to ask themselves the ultimate question: Is it better to have loved and lost than to not have loved at all?

Sweeping and timeless, Only You is a romance that pulls you in and makes you never want to let go. This book is available online, at your local bookstore, on Bookshop.org and you can request it at your local library. Don’t forget to RSVP for Audacity’s 7th anniversary party, where you can shop, drink, eat, dance, and pitch your small business! You can also check out the book club merch there as well.

As always, make sure to read audaciously!

Audacity Magazine & Events is an affiliate partner of Bookshop.org. If you click the link and make a purchase, we receive a small commission at no additional cost to you. All books are selections of the Audacity Book Club curator.