Steady as the Snow Falls

I wanted to read this thinking it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling. I'm sure a lot of people will think that by reading the synopsis and in a way it is. Beth is a big-hearted woman that wants to live her dreams and she falls in love with a man who spends his time locked away from the world because he has a condition.

We don't know what the condition is that Harrison has at first. It goes on and on for pages about this awful illness, but it doesn't say what it is right away. I was frustrated with that at the time. I just wanted to know. I wanted answers. I wanted to put a word a label to what was going on, I wanted to see that word and make it into what I know about it. It's fairly easy to guess what he has, but not saying it was aggravating at first. I'm glad the characters held off for a couple of chapters on saying out loud what the condition is. It forces you to feel what the characters do, to see what they go through, to understand a little more, and not force it into that word, to not force it into something that you can kind of grasp then push it away out of sight. No, holding off made this story into something so much more eerie and beautiful and intense.

Lindy Zart's writing bleeds emotions. The story isn't your typical light romance, it's deep and painful and you'll read it with a knot in your stomach. The characters have their own humor and it's welcomed, but that knot never goes away. Not until the end. Not until it feels like everything is going to be okay. Then you read that epilogue and that knot comes back deeper.
You will ugly cry.
This story doesn't have a terrible heart-aching ending, but it also doesn't have the typical happy ever after, either.
This story isn't a fairytale.
This story is real.
It's beautiful and tragic.

While Beth has lived in Crystal Lake for twenty-six years she still doesn't know the man who hired her to write his story. Crystal Lake is home to about thousand people. Gossip is widespread in this town. Yet, Harrison is a man able to hide his identity. Beth signed a contract obligating her to his privacy.
Harrison had secrets to share yet he withheld them revealing a little at a time. Beth was given assignments along the way to help her learn the common things about Harrison. The assignments were designed to aid in her understanding of the person she was writing about.
Story is told in the third person perspective.
Characters are: Beth and Harrison. Sometimes Ozzy.
Harrison was mysterious and intriguing which helped set the tone for the story.

Lindy's words illustrated the emotion from both characters. I felt present. I loved the way Lindy used the house as an analogy to describe the secrets of Harrison's life. "The house was a coffin and he was the corpse within". This quote indicated that Harrison was a recluse. Hence the reason for anonymity. Harrison chose Beth to see inside his walls. Harrison wanted to share his story but he wanted Beth to write it.
Harrison drove Beth to create, to be something better. They found inspiration in each other.
Beth has become more than a writer. Beth was wisdom and knowledge. They were strength and bravery. They learned how to moved away from the past that defined them.
Ozzy brought a sense of fear to the story with his temper and stalker like qualities. Ozzy was unpredictable. Ozzy kept me questioning the storyline and the direction it was headed. I was nervous and scared with uncertainty while reading about Ozzy's character.

A book such as this one is waiting for its story to be shared. I will help share Lindy's story with my reviews and with my recommendation to friends. Living in her words.
A tale of unconquerable spirit.

Lindy Zart was able to weave an emotional story that is about true love and selflessness. This was not a happy go lucky story about love that was all rainbows and unicorns. It is real, and raw and emotional and deals with some tough stuff but it is beautiful at the same time!

The story really took off for me after the 50% mark.. That's when the magic happened. I fell deeper in love with the characters and their relationship.
When the story was not focusing on Beth and Harrison I hurriedly read those to get back to them and I wished for more time spent with Harrison as I felt like it was his story and life that needed to be told.

4.5 stars for Steady as the Snow Falls!

Emotional read with a bitterly sweet ending!