Burying Water (Burying Water #1) by K.A. Tucker

Summary: The top-selling, beloved indie author of Ten Tiny Breaths returns with a new romance about a young woman who loses her memory—and the man who knows that the only way to protect her is to stay away.

Left for dead in the fields of rural Oregon, a young woman defies all odds and survives—but she awakens with no idea who she is, or what happened to her. Refusing to answer to “Jane Doe” for another day, the woman renames herself “Water” for the tiny, hidden marking on her body—the only clue to her past. Taken in by old Ginny Fitzgerald, a crotchety but kind lady living on a nearby horse farm, Water slowly begins building a new life. But as she attempts to piece together the fleeting slivers of her memory, more questions emerge: Who is the next-door neighbor, quietly toiling under the hood of his Barracuda? Why won’t Ginny let him step foot on her property? And why does Water feel she recognizes him?

Twenty-four-year-old Jesse Welles doesn’t know how long it will be before Water gets her memory back. For her sake, Jesse hopes the answer is never. He knows that she’ll stay so much safer—and happier—that way. And that’s why, as hard as it is, he needs to keep his distance. Because getting too close could flood her with realities better left buried.

The trouble is, water always seems to find its way to the surface. (Via Goodreads.com)

Pages: 351

Release Date: October 7th, 2014

Rating: 5/5 Stars

Review:
 

I met K.A. Tucker briefly at BookCon 2015 when I went to a signing with her, Colleen Hoover and Abbi Glines. I mainly spoke with Colleen Hoover due to only having read her books. Later that day, at the bookstore they had set up at BookCon, I picked up a copy of Becoming Rain, the sequel to Burying Water. Over the next year, I slowly collected a few of K.A. Tucker's books. It was not until a few days ago, when I was struggling to stay out of a reading slump that I finally started my first K.A. Tucker book. To be technical, I have read the first few pages of He Will be My Ruin, K.A. Tucker's most recent release earlier this year. However, I do not count that because I read those few pages in my school's obnoxiously loud cafeteria, where you cannot hear yourself think.

Nonetheless, I absolutely loved Burying Water. The concept of Burying Water was rather unique and showed a lot of dedication on K.A. Tucker's part. The book flips between two points of view, one in the present and the other in past, weaving together such a beautiful story that made me cry on multiple occasions. K.A. Tucker was so attentive to details that the story seamlessly weaved itself together. While the concept of the book may seem slightly far fetched, K.A. Tucker added details to the story that made the plot believable. I have extremely high hopes for future K.A. Tucker books, she is on my radar for become one of my favorite authors in the near future. Burying Water made me fall in love with her writing and story telling. 

The setting of Burying Water is in the state of Oregon and I was really amazed to learn that the small town that the story is set in actually exists. I have yet to visit the Pacific North West, but whenever I do, I hope to pay a visit to Sisters, Oregon, along with Bend and Portland. If I could ever ask K.A. Tucker a question, I would ask her why Burying Water, and presumably the rest of the series, is based in the Pacific North West. I know that she lives in Canada, so I am curious if she grew up in America or if she loves the region. I am unaware where her other series take place, but she should write a book or series based in Canada. Although they are America's northern neighbor, we never really hear about what is happening in Canada. A book based in Canada would be refreshing in the piles of American based stories that I constantly read.

Burying Water is one of my favorite New Adult books to date and one of my absolute favorite books of 2016. I highly recommend checking out Burying Water if you are a fan of New Adult, or are new to the genre. The story has a beautiful romance and family dynamic along with a compelling plot that continues to hold your attention even after the book ends. If you avoided reading the book's synopsis, I recommend continuing to do so, going into the plot blind is for the best. I am excited to dive into the next book, a companion novel following the character Luke Boone in Becoming Rain. I could barely restrain myself from not starting Becoming Rain immediately after finishing Burying Water. I am a bit nervous that I will not love Becoming Rain as much as I loved Burying Water, but I have faith in K.A. Tucker.

I absolutely loved the parallels between the two stories. Throughout the entire book, I used about three-fourths of a package of sticky-note tabs, and many of those were to mark the parallels between the stories. Not that I do not usually pay attention during books, but Burying Water made me pay extremely close attention to detail because I loved seeing the brief mentions of what already happened or was yet to come. Although I only spent one book with these characters, it felt as though I had actually spent five more. I usually only fangirl over things said in books when it comes to spin-off series and they mention the characters of the original series. I really felt as though I was witnessing two different stories and the parallels were such precious moments. One of my favorites was when Water mentions that she sees Jesse as a guy who would drink coffee black and he comments that she looks like a girl who would take her coffee with two-and-a-half-milks and one sweetener. It made my heart melt and sink at the same time when she tried it for the first time, like with the blueberries, and loved them. My other favorite parallel is when Luke meets Water at the bar and after food is knocked on the ground, he comments to Water that Licks would love the spilled food. Although Alex had yet to meet Licks in Jesse's story, it broke my heart because I knew that Luke's comment meant that she and Licks grew attached to each other.

Although I predicted that Ginny would die before the book ended, I was sad to see her go. Her character development was one of the best ones I have ever witnessed. Her and Water grew together over the course of the book, and I know that without each other, they would never have become the person they became by the end. On a similar note, I love the theme of family that runs through the book. The idea of Ginny, Gabe, Water, Meredith, Amber, and Jesse altogether may seem rather dysfunctional, but they all worked great together. One of my favorite scenes was when they all had dinner together at Gabe and Meredith's. They may not seem like the perfect family, but they are all they ever need.

I could continue raving about Burying Water, but my fingers would not appreciate that at all. My love for this book is endless and I cannot wait to explore it's sequel, Becoming Rain, and all of K.A. Tucker's other books. I hope I love them just as much as I loved Burying Water. I can already predict that Burying Water will be on my list of favorite books of 2016 at the end of this year.