Review: The Edge of Always by J.A. Redmerski

Five months ago, Camryn and Andrew, both dealing with personal hardships, met on a Greyhound bus. They fell in love and proved that when two people are meant to be together, fate will find a way to make it happen.

Now, in the highly anticipated sequel to The Edge of Never, Camryn and Andrew are pursuing their love for music and living life to the fullest as they always swore to do. But when tragedy befalls them, their relationship is put to the ultimate test. As Camryn tries to numb her pain, Andrew makes a bold decision: To get their life back on track, they'll set out on another cross-country road trip. Together they find excitement, passion, adventure-and challenges they never could have anticipated.

I think I've started writing this review ten times, only to delete, delete, and delete again. I really don't know how to start.... I fell in love with Camryn and Andrew, their relationship, their passion and spontaneity, and their fearlessness. The Edge of Never blew my mind, but I'm not sure I can say the same about its sequel. 

**There are minor spoilers in this review.

Camryn has a moment in The Edge of Always in which she decides she doesn't want to try to relive great times because it might ruin the initial memory. That's kind of how I feel right now. Like I wish I hadn't revisited Camryn and Andrew and had just held on to the memory of reading a truly amazing book.

“It’s like, you know, it doesn’t matter what you do, even if you try to replicate an experience down to every last detail, it’ll never be the way it was when it happened naturally the first time.”

That's not to say The Edge of Always wasn't worth my time; it just wasn't what I hoped for. I felt like it dragged on, and while the message the book gives is one I can admire and hope to aspire to, it seemed redundant. 

The tragedy to which the blurb is referring was indeed that, but it didn't feel like it could have been the main event that put their relationship at risk. It was obvious what was going to happen, and the way it played out made this twist fall flat. I was pretty annoyed with Camryn for how she acted, and while everyone handles grief differently, I felt like Andrew's feelings were totally ignored. 

In true Andrew fashion - where all his worries lie with Camryn - he decided to "fix" things on the road where everything began. 

“Because this is our life. We met on the road; we grew to know and to love each other on the road. It's where we were meant to be for however long, and it's what we're going to do until it becomes clear that we're meant to do something else.”

This is where I got excited, because it is what I loved so much about the first book. It reminds me of my husband and I and how we took a road trip from Texas to Maine where we settled down. Totally spontaneous, totally the most amazing thing we've ever done. Enter nostalgia again... 

We experience some more epic scenes with Camryn and Andrew, but like I said, a lot of it felt redundant. Some of it even irrelevant. There are some major time gaps in which we skip over months, even years, and it made everything feel rushed. Like the author just wanted to get it over with. 

One aspect that irked me was how Camryn and Andrew are always saying how they don't want to end up like "those people," meaning people who settle in one spot, work to pay bills, and raise a family in a single location. Yes we all have a choice, but when you have a child, it's not just about what you want to do anymore. Your life isn't over, but money is important if you want to keep the heat on and your baby fed. I'd love to just up and go on a whim when my little man got a little older, but not all of us have a six figure trust fund to fall back on... I guess it just seemed unrealistic and accusatory. (I have a separate post about this topic - Bookish Rants.)

All that being said, I still felt the electricity between Camryn and Andrew and J.A. Redmerski's writing style always gets me hooked, no matter what. I'll always remain a huge fan, but I'm kind of wishing that The Edge of Never was a standalone novel. The Edge of Always is still a great read - the emotion is very real and if you were hooked by the first novel, you won't be able to help yourself - but...it just didn't live up to its predecessor. 

3/5 Stars.

Cheers!!

Review: The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski

Sometimes life takes you off course . . .

THE EDGE OF NEVER

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett thought she knew exactly where her life was going. But after a wild night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she shocks everyone-including herself-when she decides to leave the only life she's ever known and set out on her own. Grabbing her purse and her cell phone, Camryn boards a Greyhound bus ready to find herself. Instead, she finds Andrew Parrish.

Sexy and exciting, Andrew lives life like there is no tomorrow. He persuades Camryn to do things she never thought she would and shows her how to give in to her deepest, most forbidden desires. Soon he becomes the center of her daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But there is more to Andrew than Camryn realizes. Will his secret push them inseparably together-or destroy them forever?

I knew I loved J.A. Redmerski when she came out with The Mayfair Moon, but wow did she blow my mind with The Edge of Never. 

Camryn's life isn't exactly in shambles ~ because she doesn't let it fall apart ~ but the pain of what she's been through is enough to knock anyone flat on their ass. Instead of letting the hurt consume her, Camryn shuts it off, not allowing herself to feel anything except the oppressing lack of living, a trap that she's allowed herself to fall in to. 

Pain hurts, but pain that's so powerful that you can't feel anything anymore, that's when you start to feel like you're going crazy.

She's had this dream to travel, to see the world, but after everything, it feels impossible to even know where to start. Until one night, Camryn, in her long streak of bad luck, gets pushed over the edge.

That was when I realized that everything I did from that point on produced the same results: This is your life, Camryn Bennet. This is your life.

She jumps ship, pushing everything conventional to where it belongs: far away from anywhere she is. The bus station is her savior, and the next step to that life she thought she could never reach.

Andrew Parrish. Mm. Mm. Mm. He's got a dirty mouth and a special way of looking at the world. As much as she'd like to admit otherwise, Camryn is drawn to him, to his green eyes and pretty smile, to his spontaneity and mischievous ways.

I can't even believe I let myself get comfortable with him and as a result I'm no longer able to make fear my bitch.

He brings her out of herself, and for the first time, Camryn can see who she truly is.

This book is incredibly beautiful. It makes you want to live life, every moment, to the fullest. What I loved most was the truth of it, how real everything was. You know when you're watching a movie, and people wake up in the morning and immediately kiss like there's no such thing as morning breath? Or how the girl always wakes up with perfectly applied makeup and silky smooth hair? Psh. Not in this book. It is so refreshing to witness all the imperfections and the little embarrassing moments that make us all human. Redmerski builds real characters with traits that we can all relate to and that make the emotions we feel with the characters all the more beautiful.

Camryn and Andrew's relationship is unique. They surprise themselves, bringing out the best in each other and making each other face those things that pushed them to run in the first place. And Andrew... He broke my heart, made me cry, and had me praying that the little secret he'd been hiding never reached its full potential. That little tidbit made me feel like I'd been thrown against a wall, disorienting me to the point that I couldn't (or didn't want to) see or think straight.

Love, love, love the writing style. Redmerski creates hilarious and blunt dialogue between the two main characters, and the two voices of Camryn and Andrew are superbly written. I'm a huge fan of dual point-of-view, especially when the author can create two distinctly different voices, something I'm sure is extremely difficult, but Redmerski pulls it off with ease. And the story itself just flows, moving and gaining momentum that covers all the bases and leaves nothing to be desired.

The Edge of Never is real, raw, and genuine to the core. The journey that Redmerski leads you through is the reason why we all love reading in the first place. She makes us feel, effortlessly allows us to fall in love, pushes us over the edge until we cry, and gets us laughing out loud.

My absolute favorite book of this year. Highly, highly, highly recommend.

$0.99

J.A. Redmerski, New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of THE EDGE OF NEVER lives in North Little Rock, Arkansas with her three children and a Maltese. She is a lover of television and books that push boundaries and is a huge fan of AMC's The Walking Dead.

Visit J.A. Redmerski via

GoodReads ~ Twitter ~ Facebook ~ Website 

Happy Reading Everyone :)

Tuesday Prelude

Tuesday Prelude is a weekly meme inspired by Should Be Reading's Teaser Tuesday. Since I could never stick to just two lines, I decided to amp up this post to give you a little more of an in depth look into my current read.

This week's tease:

Sometimes life takes you off course . . .

THE EDGE OF NEVER

Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett thought she knew exactly where her life was going. But after a wild night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she shocks everyone-including herself-when she decides to leave the only life she's ever known and set out on her own. Grabbing her purse and her cell phone, Camryn boards a Greyhound bus ready to find herself. Instead, she finds Andrew Parrish.

Sexy and exciting, Andrew lives life like there is no tomorrow. He persuades Camryn to do things she never thought she would and shows her how to give in to her deepest, most forbidden desires. Soon he becomes the center of her daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But there is more to Andrew than Camryn realizes. Will his secret push them inseparably together-or destroy them forever?

Andrew Parrish. Holy wow. He's one of those characters that you wish, with all your might, truly existed. He's carefree, spontaneous, hilarious, and unpredictable.

"Live in the moment," he says as if making a serious point, "where everything is just right, take your time and limit your bad memories and you'll get wherever it is you're going a lot faster and with less bumps in the road along the way."

He's romantic, in his own way, and he sees things in the simplest and purest of ways, luring Camryn out of the hole she's hidden herself in.

"I don't think you ever really fall out of love with someone," I say and see a flicker of thought move through her eyes. "I think when you fall in love, like true love, it's love for life. All the rest is just experience and delusions."

But for all his laughs and mischievous grins, Andrew has this other, darker side to him that's just as afraid as Camryn.

"It's better to shun emotion than to fall for it and let it make you its bitch - and since nothing lasts forever, in the end everything that was once good, always hurts like hell."

What's happened to him to make him think as such? Camryn's told him her reasons, but she comes to realize that Andrew can be more closed off than she ever was.

$0.99

Happy Reading Everyone :)

Review: The Mayfair Moon by J.A. Redmerski

After a nightmarish encounter with a werewolf, seventeen-year-old Adria Dawson loses her sister, but gains the love of a mysterious young man and his legendary family.

Strange and tragic things begin to happen in the small town of Hallowell, Maine: residents come down with an unexplainable ‘illness’ and some disappear. In the midst of everything, Isaac Mayfair is adamant about keeping Adria safe, even from her sister whom he has warned her to stay away from.

As unspeakable secrets unfold all around Adria, impossible choices become hers to bear. Ultimately, no matter what path she takes, her life and the lives of those she loves will be in peril. As she learns about the werewolf world she also learns why her place in it will change the destinies of many.

Werewolves, in my opinion, don't get the attention and credit they deserve. Vampires usually steal the spotlight, get the girl, and have people begging to be one of them. Our lycanthropic friends, however, tend to be depicted as hairy, drooly, sometimes mindless, beasts. Doesn't sound very appealing, does it? In The Mayfair Moon, J.A. Redmerski goes deep into the heart of the werewolf culture, shining light on a society that spans centuries filled with war, secrets, betrayal, dire consequences, and forbidden love ~ all the core elements of a juicy page-turner. 

This book had me constantly chiming four little words: didn't see that coming. Just as soon as you get cozy with the way you think the story is going to go, it flips a switch and you're left reeling. 

Hallowell, Maine is a very different place from anything Adria has ever known. Not only is her scenery changed, but her once-loving, big sister is practically a catatonic witch. The odd and strange becomes Adria's everyday life, and she can't help but question why: Why is her sister so different? Why are people getting sick? Why are the Mayfair's so interested in her? ... It's all quite a bit to take in for a girl who's life's already been turned upside down. 

I'll admit, I expected another generic story about a young girl falling for the mysterious guy in school, a little bit of danger, and a happy ending, but I was pleasantly surprised to receive so much more. There's a foundation of werewolf history built here as we learn about their society, their politics, and how they came to be. It's not all supernatural glory ~ in fact, their life has a tinge of tragedy in almost every aspect, and I can't help but think it's the actions of their fathers that are to blame.

I really enjoyed all the unexpected connections that developed throughout the story. We find that not everyone is who we think they are, and it eventually comes to the point that we don't know friends from enemies. (Questions begged to be answered in the next novel, Kindred.) However, the connection between Adria and Isaac can never be questioned, although I did feel as if their relationship was a little forced and very sudden. At first, I had a difficult time believing their emotions for one another, but as their relationship grew, I found myself rooting for them. 

Adria's role in the novel, I feel, will turn out to be much more than she, or we as readers, ever expected. I won't give away too much, but there are hints throughout the novel that had a tinge of foreshadowing I couldn't ignore. There are secrets about her own life before the Mayfair's she hasn't yet discovered, and I think her place in the werewolf world will change the course of its history.

So many unanswered questions! Who is Adria? What are Trajan and Viktor to each other, really? What's a Praverian Chronicle? ... 

***I loved this book.***

A must-read for all fans of the paranormal. If you like what you see, swing over to Amazon and get it Kindle-style (only $0.99!) OR you could go here to enter the giveaway for a softcover copy of this awesome novel :)

Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~

The Mayfair Moon ~ New Cover

New Look

Old Look

                  VS. 

Soooo, The Mayfair Moon got itself a new look today... What do you think??? Personally, I think I'm leaning towards the original version. It seems darker and more mysterious, two characteristics of which I'm a huge fan. I think it's the dude in the new cover ~ definitely not Isaac, if that's who it's supposed to be. Adria, on the other hand ~ well, that's pretty much how I pictured her. Love the moon, fog, and dark forest in the background though.

Ah well, they're both good, and the story is awesome, so I guess looks aren't everything, right?

Oh, and check it out ~ The Mayfair Moon is on sale - Kindle Style - for $0.99 on Amazon right now, only until Kindred (Darkwoods Trilogy #2) is released July 20th. What's a buck, right?

OR, if real-in-your-hands books are more your style, you could swing on over to the giveaway page to win a free copy :)



Happy Reading Everyone :)


~Keely~

Feature & Follow: Celebrating 100!

So I just jumped on the bandwagon with this one about a few weeks ago, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Parajunkee's and Alison Can Read's meme dubbed Feature and Follow will be celebrating it's 100th week. If only we could all live that long.

In honor of turning 100, this week's Feature & Follow will be a little different and way more fun. See, this time, there will be a fountain of giveaways by those participating (held from June 7th-June 13th), and what's more, each avid bookie that comes aboard will be featuring another fellow blogger. So recognition and prizes. Didn't I say this would be fun?

So as a newly loyal participant, I guess I will start off with my feature, aka my favorite, not that I pick favorites or anything. The first time I read her blog, I nearly peed myself. No exaggeration. It was just that funny. I wish I could have gotten a hold of her to ask her the traditional feature questions, but I guess a mention and a little gushing will have to do.
Seriously, check out The Bawdy Book Blog. Always interesting, always a laugh. I promise.


So now that you've checked out another awesome blog, you're probably wondering about those giveaways that I mentioned. Well, there will only be one giveaway here, but you can check out the links by visiting Parajunkee and Alison Can Read or by scrolling down a little further for more features and giveaways. The more you enter, the better chance you have at winning ~ free ~ books.

So here at Realms of an Open Mind, the giveaway will include a softcover copy of The Mayfair Moon by J.A. Redmerski. Why did I pick this particular book? One, it has werewolves. Two, I love the cover. Three, it's based in Hallowell, Maine (a stone's throw from me, and from what I've seen, Maine can be as creepy as it gets). Four, I love the writer's blog (which can be visited ----> here). Have I read it yet? In the process... My thoughts most of the time consist of four words: Didn't see that coming. Frickin' awesome, creepy, and mysterious.. Official review coming soon.

After a nightmarish encounter with a werewolf, seventeen-year-old Adria Dawson loses her sister, but gains the love of a mysterious young man and his legendary family.


Strange and tragic things begin to happen in the small town of Hallowell, Maine: residents come down with an unexplainable ‘illness’ and some disappear. In the midst of everything, Isaac Mayfair is adamant about keeping Adria safe, even from her sister whom he has warned her to stay away from.


As unspeakable secrets unfold all around Adria, impossible choices become hers to bear. Ultimately, no matter what path she takes, her life and the lives of those she loves will be in peril. As she learns about the werewolf world she also learns why her place in it will change the destinies of many.

Yup. I knew you'd want it. So enter here (I hate conditions, but I have no choice ~ U.S. shipping only please my dears):

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Happy Reading Everyone :)


(p.s. Good Luck in the Giveaways!)


~ Keely ~

(p.p.s. Check out the links below to meet tons of awesome book bloggers and enter even more giveaways!)

Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My teaser this week hails from The Mayfair Moon by J.A. Remerdski:

"Furious white spots dotted my vision, shattering my focus. Blood came up in my mouth. I couldn't tell if I was still standing, or if that tree pressed against my face was really the ground. There was some kind of struggle, but the demonic undertone stood out over everything."

I will be hosting a giveaway of this wonderfully creepy book set in none other than Hallowell, Maine, so keep a look out :)


Happy Reading Everyone :)

~ Keely ~