{Release Day Review} I'm Still Here (Je Suis Là) By Clélie Avit & Lucy Foster (@GrandCentralPub)

A modern take on Sleeping Beauty, for fans of Jojo Moyes.
 
Elsa is spending her thirtieth birthday in the hospital bed where she's lain for months after a devastating mountain accident. Unable to speak, see, or move, she appears to be in an irreversible coma, but her friends and family don't know that she's regained the power of hearing.
 
That day, a stranger named Thibault enters the hospital to visit his brother, who's just been injured in an accident that killed two young girls. He instead seeks refuge in the room where Elsa lies, and quickly becomes intrigued by the young woman, returning day after day to sit beside her, convinced that his words are being heard.
 
As their connection grows, the doctors deliver a devastating blow to her family. Is it possible that Thibault knows something no one else does, and can he reach her before it's too late?

​Elsa Bilier has been in a coma for twenty weeks.  At the age of 29, she was most at home when she was navigating a dangerous mountain range with her friends.  She was a risk taker who lived her life to the fullest – until one day when the ground literally fell out from under her.
 
Her family and her doctors aren’t holding out much hope that she will ever awaken.  But they don’t know that Elsa can hear every single word or that she's instantly aware the minute that an unknown man accidently wanders into her room.
 
He speaks to her in a way that no one else does.  With every visit, he becomes more than a friend.  He’s now the inspiration for Elsa to fight her way back.

“Be careful.”

For a few seconds, the sound of Clara sucking on her bottle is the only thing audible in the room.

“Be careful about what?” I murmur, even though I know exactly what he means.
​
“You’re falling in love with a girl you know almost nothing about. If that was the only thing you had to worry about, it would probably just about be OK, but you’re also falling in love with a girl who might never wake up.”

Thibault Gramont was supposed to be in the hospital to visit his brother.  But he just couldn’t bring himself to look his sibling in the eye after committing an unspeakable crime.
 
He seeks refuge from his anger in a room down the hall where a beautiful girl lies silently in a place somewhere between life and death.  Every day that he visits her, he swears that her heart beats just a little faster.  And without every saying a word, she helps him find a way to love once again.

​“In these hours of solitude I’ve had plenty of time to think about which senses I miss the most.  At first, I was sure that sight was the most important one but being isolated with only my ears for all this time, I’ve come to the conclusion that to be able to hear is a very great gift. I would love to know what Thibault smells like though.  As I am thinking this, the little beep next to me jumps about for several seconds, so I return to my mental exercises. But no mental exercise is as effective as having him lie beside me.  And today, more than ever, I yearn to see his face, the color of his eyes, to see the hands that send me those electric shocks.”

​I’m Still Here is a poignant tale of love and never ending hope. With her poetic prose and heart wrenching realism, Clélie Avit had me balancing precariously on a thin line between elation and tears. 
 
From the beginning to the dramatic end, every single detail coalesced flawlessly to make this reading experience a dream that I wish could go on forever…

Get This Book!