This review is so long overdue...I think I was promising to have it up a week after it released and now it's March...

When Amy Harmon announced that she was releasing a new novel, I was excited before even knowing what it was about. It wasn't until reading that I realized The Smallest Part was connected to two of her other books The Law of Moses and The Song of David which was really exciting cause I didn't even piece together the characters until a particular moment.

"We are more than just a collection of bones, cobbled together by God or by eons of evolution. We have souls. We have purpose. We're more."

As you can tell from the synopsis, we have an interesting love triangle situation going on and I wasn't sure how Amy Harmon would address this. We understand from the get-go that Mercedes and Cora both love Noah but Mercedes lies so that Cora can have her shot at happily ever after. 

"It may be the smallest part, but you'll kill it. Sometimes it's the smallest part that steals the show."

I really want to avoid spoilers but I'm just going to assume generically that we know who the main character is and who her love interest is...because there are things I just need to discuss. Starting off: the way the love triangle was treated...well that was just heartbreaking and cruel because we were literally only like 50 (not even) pages through when tragedy strikes.

"Words are like souls. Soundless, even shapeless. But full of substance."

From then on, it's just a whirlwind of emotions that only Amy Harmon is capable to creating. While I didn't love Mercedes and Noah as much as I have the author's previous couples (there's a spoiler folks), I did like how the "second chance at love" was portrayed. Despite that, there are moments that felt almost unfair to Cora's memory (spoiler again) that I didn't really know how to react to.

"They moved silently in each other's orbits, solitary planets in a lonely galaxy."

At the same time, I wanted Mercedes to end up single. We get the whole punchline of "This is the story about the girl who didn't get the guy" but she does in the end? It would have been a good girl power statement but nonetheless my heart is saying that as long as the characters are happy - it's all that matters.

This was definitely a whirlwind to read about from the unexpected confessions, random reunions, watching the adorable baby Gia grow up, to being reunited with old friends (Moses in particular). I think my biggest takeaway despite some conflicting thoughts on the story is always the same - I loved the writing. Each book I read by this author always leaves my heart full and my mind enriched.