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.
