The Inconsistent Blogger: Forever Layla

Yes, that’s me, and probably many others out there, the blog without a blogger. But free stuff is always a motivator and because of Story Cartel’s generosity, I got to read a fabulous book for free in exchange for my honest review.

Forever Layla – Written by Melissa Turner Lee

I must say, this book had me skeptical at first. Just picking up a book and reading with no prior history regarding the author always puts me on edge because I never know what I’m getting into. However, the teaser for the book was all too enticing and I simply could not resist giving it a try. To my delight, I discovered this Forever Layla to be Christian Fiction and clean. My biggest fear in trying new books is that they will 1. Be riddled with foul words and graphic sexual description and 2. Have no substance to the story: it’s all physical attraction. Boy was I in for a surprise!

Forever Layla begins in 1994 with David meeting a mysterious girl at a beach concert for which he is the sound guy. She refuses to tell David her name and who utterly abandoned her on the beach with no means of returning back to her home. David, being the chivalrous guy that you see him to be throughout the entire book, takes it upon himself to help the lost beauty in front of him. They soon discover that she can’t return home because she’s been abandoned without any money or identification. To the woman’s dismay, David, in his need for a name for her calls her “Layla”. Mysterious Layla knows more about David than any normal person should. She knows about his favourite drink, she knows where he keeps his puffer, and most odd is her knowledge of his secret journals in which he keeps records of his visions of time travel. She knows all this about him because she is from the future and she has been abandoned in 1994. You sit enraptured as the journey unravels between the two with both of their perspectives. David plots out their “long”, lovely lives together and Layla sees it for how it really is; a beautiful love story that ends inevitably in tragedy.

Melissa Turner Lee weaves together an artful story filled with suspense and foreshadowing. I can’t actually get over just how well the skill of foreshadowing is employed.  This specific type of writing is rather difficult to do well and even more difficult to do again and again throughout a book. But, somehow, Melissa manages to weave a common thread throughout the entire story, from the very first snippets of interaction between Layla and David to the ending with Layla’s final words. I would probably have to go back and reread the novel a second time to pick up on all of the subtleties. Well done!

At times I found the plot to move a bit too quickly without having the blanks filled in, however, to fill in the blanks would make her 215 page book far longer and I can’t actually say that the blanks needed to be filled in. I enjoy all of the details and not having any missing pieces, but to fill in those blanks, in this case, would have bogged down the story. The only other critique I have would be a few minor type-o errors. There is one instance of missing quotations and at least one other of a miscellaneous letter tacked onto the end of another word.

As one with rather conservative morals, I was delighted to read David’s pure view of relationships and Layla’s steadfast convictions. Though the two ended up in a few situations where their purity was on the verge of complete compromise, they realized the peril they were headed toward and were able to take a few steps back. I would have liked to see a bit more development of David and Layla’s relationship with God as a personal God. He seemed kind of distant throughout the majority of the novel. Though, to Melissa’s credit, as the novel progresses and the relationship between David and Layla becomes more solid, God is introduced as a more important factor of their lives.

Alright, I have a wee bit of a confession to make… I may or may not have leaked wet stuff from my eyes as Forever Layla kept me firmly within its grasp with Melissa Turner Lee transporting me through time to follow a magnificent love story that transcends time.

The Scary First Step of Writing a (Book) Review...

What is the scary first step of writing a review? Getting started.

Where does one start with a review? There are many aspects of reviews that are to be addressed, but which does one address first? Which last? Do I include negative aspects? How much negative? These are questions which I have had to battle through, but, alas, I had no one to answer my questions, so I just began at the beginning...

  (Aside: I would like to thank Story Cartel for their generosity in giving this book to me for free in exchange for a review!)

K.M. Weiland is a very eloquent and beautiful writer who knows how to weave together a story that keeps the reader interested and Dreamlander is no exception. This multifaceted story brings together the world that we view as reality and the world of our dreams as Chris Redston gradually slips into this dream realm and finds he is “the Gifted”. The Gifted is one special person, selected by God, who can travel, in their sleep, between both earth and the world we consider to be our dreams. The Gifted is one who brings about change in the dream realm, for that is their destiny in entering the “other side”. K.M. Weiland explores the land of our dreams along with Chris as she leads in a tale which leaves you, the reader, considering the possibility that your dreams may be reality in another dimension… Chris, upon his entry into the land of his dreams, encounters trouble in the form of a war in which he was a catalyst in starting, love in the King’s beautiful, headstrong daughter, and loss as he struggles to reconcile the his families from both worlds, especially his mother who is alive in this dream world but has long since passed away on earth. The story is so provoking that I found myself balling as I read the last few pages (it certainly didn’t help that I was listening to some instrumental music that suited the scene almost too well).

Now, a review isn’t much of a review without critique, I should suppose. I was thrilled with the language which Ms. Weiland employed because it grew my vocabulary on a few occasions. However, I must add that there were more than a few typos. I found at least half a dozen, which, for someone like me who has long been considered the spelling/grammar police by friends and family, this was a little trying. Also, I was really glad that God was incorporated into the story because I haven’t found too many Christian authors who can write a tale as wonderful as this. But, I was disappointed that God appeared so incredibly distant. He was mentioned as being sovereign and in control of all, but I found myself wondering, “Why does He not appear more within their lives? Does no one have a relationship with God? Is He merely cold and aloof, giving gifts and abilities and leaving the recipients alone to figure the rest out on their own?” I would have liked to see God written in on a more personal level because I have found God to be the opposite of detached, withdrawn, and vague.

To say much about the ending would leave no suspense for readers who have not yet indulged upon Dreamlander, but, I can say that after reading such an intense, adventuresome book, I wanted more. In summation, this novel BEGS a sequel. (Or perhaps it is the readers who beg for the sequel... perhaps one shall never know.)