Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.
With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.
But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?
5 STARS out of 5
TITLE: The Edge of Never
AUTHOR: J.A. Redmerski
GENRE: New Adult
I.AM.LEFT.SPEECHLESS by this book's sheer awesomeness!
THIS IS BY FAR THE MOST EPIC LOVE STORY I'VE EVER READ!
And I don't say that lightly because I am seriously considering making a "most-epic-read" shelf solely for this one!
I wonder what the hell I’m doing here.
Yesterday I thought about why I felt the need to get up at exactly the same time as the day before and do everything like I did the day before. Why? What compels any of us to do the things we do when deep down a part of us just wants to break free from it all?
And so.. armed with a small bag and few necessities, 20 year-old Camryn decided to leave everything behind to travel across the country.
During the bus ride, she met Andrew, a guy who needs to go back to Kansas to visit his father for one last time:
"I’m going to see him before he kicks the bucket,” he says, and his choice of words shocks me a little, “because that’s what we do, right? It’s a customary thing, kind of like saying ‘bless you’ when someone sneezes, or asking someone how their weekend was when really you don’t give a shit.”
The dialogues in this book were realistic and very insightful. I won't deny that this is a slow read; but I learned not so long ago NOT to judge the book based on the pacing alone. Glad to say I kept reading because Maryse was right -- this book has a TSOT vibe in it. And I super liked it!
Definitely worthy of e-highlighting are these quotable quotes courtesy of Andrew -- MY TOP FAVORITES OF THEM ALL:
"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.”
"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.”
Oh! Andrew's such a deep guy! I thought this one melted my heart the most:
Never thought I’d intentionally sleep on a bathroom floor next to a toilet while sober, but I meant it when I said I would sleep anywhere with her.
This book seriously has everything!! Not once did I felt like it dragged. Their alternating POVs were so smoothly done and very captivating. I really savored the words, but felt like rushing to the talked-about ending which was kinda ironic by itself.
One thing had me anticipating the ending very much -- the real reason why Andrew was holding back from having a relationship with Camryn at first.
I was so consumed at knowing his secret that my guesses ranged from being outrageous to fairly stupid --- Andrew's shooting for both genders and actually had a gay lover because he said he likes it in the ass; he's about to be deployed to a country in the midst of a God-forsaken war where he knows there's a great probability he won't return in one piece; he has a kid and a estranged wife back in Texas.
Then finally, I learned about Andrew's secret. It came out of the blue, and I just couldn't believe it. Some books tear me up, even made me cry really hard but quick -- but this book... THIS BOOK HAD ME BAWLING LIKE A BABY FOR THE LONGEST TIME. Snot was actually dripping from my nose. I cried so much, my eyes are still literally swollen.
I won't say much anymore because I might rob someone of a wonderful reading experience, and I certainly wouldn't want to do that. So if you haven't read this yet, take it from me who doesn't even want to read this at first because of the lame blurb (yeah, I'm blaiming the blurb)...
DO YOURSELF A FAVOR. Read this honest-to-goodness amazing book!!!