Dreaming of Antigone by Robin Bridges

I was first drawn in by Dreaming of Antigone‘s beautiful, star-filled cover that seemed to promise a swoon-worthy romance that would be unforgettable and would make me weak in the knees.

While it was a good, contemporary read (that had some romance to it), it was much more than that.  It was a dark read – painful in some places, filled with drugs and sexual abuse – things that can be really difficult to write about.

When I got an ARC copy of this book from the publisher (thank you, Kensington!), I kind of sat and admired how gorgeous it is (okay, did I mention I love the cover?) for a while, and I thought of how blown away I was going to be after I read it.  Unfortunately, it kind of fell a little short for me in that department, and while I did enjoy it, I have to say that I found it a little lacking.  It wasn’t quite as pronounced as I had hoped – it didn’t offer quite as memorable of a story as I had expected.  But even though that, it was a great read, and I really found myself spending time getting absorbed into the story.

However, since it was a tough read (and I love contemporaries that deal with darker subject matter), it stuck with me, and it’s definitely something I’ll remember for a while (not to mention something I’ll probably pick up and read again). 

Iris and Andria are twin sisters.  Iris has a boyfriend, goes to parties, a nice car – everything she could want.  Andria, on the other hand, deals with seizures from her epilepsy, and she doesn’t have the luxury of living on the wild side like her sister.  However, Iris’s life is less than perfect – she and her boyfriend are into drugs pretty heavily – and it’s something that will end up costing Iris her life.

Left behind in the shadow of her sister’s passing, Andria copes by stargazing and trying to make the most of her life, including trying to go on without the person who knew her best.  When Iris’s old boyfriend comes back to town after a stint in rehab, he appears to be completely clean, and while at first Andria doesn’t even want to be near him, she soon finds herself interested in him – despite the fact that he had originally loved her twin sister.  As the two of them spend more time together, Andria begins to develop an almost forbidden love for him, and since he feels the same way, Andria has to decide to take that leap.

“I smile up into the darkness.  These are my stars.  And I am sharing them with you, Alex Hammond.”

When a scandal strikes town involving Adria’s step-father, a new secret comes to light – something that Iris had been hiding for years that may have caused her to take drastic measures.  Now Andria is left to try and figure out what had gone wrong in Iris’s otherwise perfect life – and in discovering Iris’s secret, Andria is left to confront demons of her

Dreaming of Antigone deals with a lot of heavy topics, and it does a number on your heart while reading.  There are happy moments as well, and I couldn’t help hoping against all odds that Andria and Alex would end up together.  The writing was almost poetic in how beautiful it was.  While at first it took me a bit to really get into this book, once I did, I found myself enjoying it quite a bit.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed this, and if there is another book written in this style by this author, I’ll definitely be reading it.  If you enjoy contemporary, especially on that deals with darker topics, give this one a go. 

Note: I received an ARC copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.