Melina Marchetta, Cath Crowley and now Kirsty Eagar, these awesome Aussie authors I’ve come across this year never cease to amaze me with their writing. Eagar’s Raw Blue quite literally blew me away, the way her writing flows gently tugging you along, her aching words triggered so many emotions, they niggled under my skin, sneaking their way to my heart and remained there for days afterwards. Her writing had something magnetic about it, constantly making me want to re-read my favourite passages. “It’s like hearing a song for the first time and being struck by it, haunted by it, wanting to hunt it down and catch it, because the song sums up something you didn’t know you wanted to say, giving you chills and goose bumps. But even as you find out what it’s called, and you’re thinking you’ll download it, you’ve already lost. Because the feeling was right then and there and it’s already fading like a dream.”Carly’s life has been unbearable for the last year or so, she feels so ashamed and alone, occasionally she just wants to open up and let someone know. Her secret that she’s kept to herself for so long has changed her, she has a hard time trusting other people, she’s not good at talking with other people and she always has this thing that when she hears a new male voice, she tries to match it up with the voices strongly etched into her mind. The only thing that keeps Carly going is surfing; the anticipation of catching a great wave, the sheer thrill of ripping through the water. “I’m not interested in saving her or anybody else. I’m only interested in a beautiful saltwater skin; in the next time I’ll be thrumming across it. I have to surf every day, sometimes until I’m so physically tired I can feel muscles ripping in my upper back. That way I’m too tired to think or remember, too tired to hate myself, too tired to be angry.” I was immediately drawn to Carly’s character, she was so fragile and broken, and I just wanted to hug her, tell her everything would be okay. All she wanted was someone to show some concern, it was horrible how she couldn’t even tell anyone like her work colleagues about minor things like breaking Ryan’s board. Where can I start with Ryan? He was so patient and sweet, basically everything Carly needed and he was perfect for her to build her confidence and I loved how he never gave up on her when he found out the truth, I adored his version of a “tattoo” he made for her. I was extremely “enshooshiastic” about reading Raw Blue, as it was a book highly rated by my Goodreads friends, and it didn’t disappoint. I’m glad I was able to read such a thought evoking powerful little gem!