Wednesday 20 November 2013

J.A Redmerski's "The Edge of Always."

Review: J.A Redmerski's "The Edge of Always."

~ 4 Hearts Review ~

Amazon UK:    http://amzn.to/1cuV5vc
Amazon.com:   http://amzn.to/186gwA7

Synopsis:

He was taking the long road. She was taking the road to nowhere. It just so happened that they led to the same place…

When everything falls apart, love remains . . .

THE EDGE OF ALWAYS

Camryn Bennett has never been happier. Five months after meeting on a Greyhound bus, she and her soul mate Andrew Parrish are engaged—and a wedding isn’t the only special event in their future. Nervous but excited, Camryn can’t wait to begin the rest of her life with Andrew – a man she knows in her heart will love her always. They have so much to look forward to—until tragedy blindsides them.

Andrew doesn’t understand how this could happen to them. He’s trying to move on, and thought Camryn was doing the same. But when Andrew discovers Camryn is secretly harboring a mountain of pain and attempting to numb it in damaging ways, there is nothing he won’t do to bring her back to life. Determined to prove that their love can survive anything, Andrew decides to take Camryn on a new journey filled with hope and passion. If only he can convince her to come along for the ride…

Review: Surj Harvey

(ARC received for a honest review)

I have to say, this review wasn't an easy one to write. Why I hear you ask? Well, I think mainly because I went against the grain in terms of how I felt about this story. Maybe I was reading too much into it, I don't know, but for the most part, I just felt this overwhelming sense of sadness that just wouldn't go away. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying this was a bad book, on the contrary. It was really good. It just didn't give me that nervous excitement, that high I experienced when reading the first book. 

Even the characters seemed so different at times. Camryn and Andrew were like two lost souls searching for something... what? I couldn't even begin to say. Was it their fit in the world? Maybe a place to call home? Or were they chasing the dragon in terms of trying to experience those emotions, those feelings they felt on their first road trip? So many questions swirled around in my head and each time I thought i had the answer, I was left with a sinking feeling because I was so wrong. This wasn't how it was supposed to be for this couple and so it broke my heart just reading.


"I guess we're like two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl," I say.
"You think we're lost?"
"In society maybe. But together, no. I think we're right where we need to be."

Even the first 12% of the book showed me a different side to Camryn and Andrew. They were unbelievably happy and in love... but they were.... comfortable. Yes you read right... I said comfortable... like an old married couple!!!


What Andrew and I have been slowly doing without realising it is what shatters dreams: 
we've been getting too comfortable. The kinda comfortable that sneaks up on you years later, 
hits you on the back of the head and says: 
Hey dumbass! Do you realise you've doing this shit every day for the past ten years? 

Even when tragedy struck, I wondered whether I'd known this couple at all. As Camryn's past resurfaced and events from the present took their toll,  I came to the realisation that this girl was just so broken. Her downward spiral was like watching a car crash in slow motion and it was just so heart breaking because it was affecting those that loved her... It was affecting Andrew.


My girl was broken. It was scarin' the shit outta me more every day, 
the person she was becoming. 

My beautiful Andrew... So selfless, so caring ... This man had all the qualities I look for in a book boyfriend but he was as lost as I felt. The woman he had grown to love all them months back was falling apart and everything they had worked so hard to build was starting to crumble. Queue the lump in my throat!!!! I didn't want my Andrew to walk on egg shells and I definitely didn't want him to be cautious but for a short time, that's exactly what I got. 

So what would be the turning point?  A Chevelle and a road trip?  I really hoped so. And as they began their journey, things really did start to look up. I was starting to get glimpses of the old characters coming through and my heart honestly started to feel a little lighter. But it didn't last. That feeling in the pit of my stomach remained and although I got to share some wonderful, life changing moments with this couple, there was still something missing. When doubts started creeping in and the pair began questioning what they were doing and where they were going, it just reinforced everything I was feeling.


...and for the next several years we were happy, but there was always a part of us that felt empty. 

I loved Camryn and Andrew's characters and felt every emotion they went through. When they were content I felt it and when life through them a really crappy hand, I cried with them. I couldn't even begin to question the depth of love they shared, it was something that was just beautiful and so unconditional. These two were in it for the long hall and nothing would ever tear them apart:


"Camryn, you are the other half of my soul, and I will love you 
today and every day for the rest of our lives."

"The edge of always" spanned approximately twenty years with such a beautiful epilogue. The writing was flawless as always and although this book didn't give me those euphoric moments I got in "The Edge of Never," the story line (although a bit slow to begin with) kept me reading. 

Camryn and Andrew's journey really did tug at the heart strings. It wasn't  perfect and it wasn't always happy but I take my hat of to them because they stuck to their guns by not taking the conventional route. Do I think they got the ending they deserve? Yes and no. Even right up until the end, I don't know whether they found what they were looking for although they seemed to have lived a very fulfilling life. 
I rated "The Edge of Always" 4 Hearts

1 comment:

  1. I completely agree. I so looked forward to this book but I felt like they were completely different characters at times. I found myself saying wanting to scream at them. Camryn especially. I still loved this book but I was left with a feeling that they were always searching for something and never found it, right up to the end.

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