Title: After Forever Ends
Author: Melodie Ramone
Published: October 1st 2012 by Gingersnap Press
Purchase Links: Amazon |
Synopsis:
Orphaned by her mother and brushed off by her dad, fifteen year old Silvia Cotton had lived a lonely life. That is until 1985 when her father moved the family from the Highlands of Scotland to the Midlands of Wales. It is there she was enrolled in Bennington, a private boarding school, met the charming and rebellious Dickinson twins, Oliver and Alexander, and her regrettable life was changed forever.
Locked into a fierce friendship with Alexander and lost to a whirlwind romance with Oliver, Silvia found herself torn away from everything she thought she knew. Married too soon, she moved with Oliver to a rustic cabin deep in a Welsh wood and embarked upon a life she'd never planned for, surviving on hope she never knew existed and faith she never knew she had. She made her way through university and onto a career, only to surrender her ambition to raising her children and living a life that was strikingly "normal". But what is normal? Certainly not what ensued in the wood.
True love, faeries, friendship, loves lost and gained. Old magic, fate, doubt, strength and courage, Silvia's story could belong to anyone, but it is her own. Simple yet extraordinary, told in retrospect with wit and candor, Silvia recalls a life of joy and sorrow, laughter and tears. As she unravels the tangled web of her days, she reveals the secrets that exist in an ancient wood, how hearts given freely can become the stuff of magic, and how true happiness was never any further than her own back garden.
My Thoughts
I don't know how I finished reading After Forever Ends in 2 freaking days, but I did. Well, maybe because I can't put it down, and because Oliver and Silvia are just so adorable that I can't afford to waste my time not reading about them.
After reading it, I was really contemplating about it. About Oliver and Silvia.. And I realized that both of them did have flaws, even if they weren't so obvious in the story because it is not the main point of it, but despite that, they loved and accepted each other wholeheartedly. In the middle of the story, I was wondering what tragic thing will happen to them, really, I was waiting, but none came. And that's the beauty of it.
I have never encountered such a perfect story, with no cheating and no trust issues and no barriers and no problems. Oliver and Silvia's relationship was so perfect that I envy them, and I wanted my own Ollie in the end. Maybe some of you will be wondering, and telling me that oh, that will be a boring story, with no dilemmas along the way, but no, it isn't boring. I love the natural flow of the story, and the realness of everything that is going on with it. They married when they were 17, and at first, I was like, "What the hell?" but then it dawned on me, that yes, somewhere in this world, this can happen and it already happened to some people out there!
I have to admit it though, that there were times when I was annoyed with Silvia, because I think that she can really be immature and a little too clingy for my taste. But in the case of Oliver, man, I can't really complain a thing about him. It's almost as if he is too good to be true and there's no way he could be real. He's goodlooking, patient, kind, witty... Oh, he is just everything! And... he believes in magic. ;)
I loved that Melodie Ramone showed the progress of the relationship of Silvia and Oliver. From the moment they met when they were teenagers and until their old age. I also saw the maturity in every character, especially with Alexander. I never thought that he would change his old ways, but I was wrong. He did great in the story and even exceeded my expectations.
After Forever Ends is a story of friendship, love, hope, faith, magic and death. You will really be drawn to it because of the genuineness of the characters and because the story just took its natural course. You'll laugh, you'll sigh, you'll cry and you'll learn. Learn to accept that there's nothing permanent in this world. That even though people come and go, some will always have a place in our hearts, even after forever ends.
Click here to read my full review on Goodreads
My Rating
About the Author
Melodie Ramone is a wife, mother, fosterer of unwanted pets, speaker, novelist and Certified Kitchen Witch. When she is not in the kitchen whipping up culinary magic, she can usually be found knitting, reading anything she can get her hands on, delving into Particle Physics or writing her stories. Although Melodie's roots lie in Scotland and Wales, she resides in the United States.
GIVEAWAY TIME!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Thank you Melodie for gladly giving away 3 ebooks of After Forever Ends! We are so glad to have you on our blog today! :D
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thanks for the giveaway
ReplyDeleteWonderful review, Rach! Sounds like a good slice-of-life story.
ReplyDeleteAdorable review! Never seen this book before, definetly on my tbr shelf now xD
ReplyDeleteJackie
Looks like a wonderful story and I'm absolutely in love with the name of the book, to be honest ;)
ReplyDeleteOooh this book looks really good! Thanks for the chance to win it :)
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting -- thanks for the review!
ReplyDeleteYou can find me here: Jen @ YA Romantics
I've heard of this book before and I've really wanted to read it! Love, friendship, and a little bit of magic all sound like something that would make up a good nice read. :)
ReplyDeleteFantastic review! It's good that the romance in here seemed genuine and down-to-earth :)
ReplyDeleteI do enjoy books about love and friendship. Thanks for sharing! :)
ReplyDeleteThis looks so great! Thanks for sharing with us! I adore that cover as well.
ReplyDeleteDid the author have any say on the design of the book cover? Also, who in the author's life encouraged them to sit down and write their first book?
Thanks for the giveaway!
mestith at gmail dot com
Hi, Meghan! I just popped by and saw your questions. Yes, this is Melodie, the author. hee hee. I actually designed the cover myself. There is a part at the end of the book where one of the main characters, Lucy, is looking through a photo album. I wanted the picture on the cover to be one of the photos she was looking at in the story. Even though that particular photo isn't mentioned, the book cover is something like the page in the photo album she was looking at during that scene.
DeleteAs far as authors who inspired me to write my first book, I'm not sure there were any! I wrote my first book when I was nine. I was reading a lot of Judy Blume at the time, but I don't think she really inspired the story. I think I just wanted to say I'd written one, too! haha
Hope you're having a wonderful day and if you do happen to read AFE, I really hope you enjoy it!
XxX
Thanks, You Guys, for your comments! And thanks, Rachel and Nuzaifa, for your awesome blog. All my best to every one of you in everything. Keep up the good work, All of You!
ReplyDeleteI'm not entering as I already have the book. I agree it's 5 stars and I want everyone to read it :-) Lovely review, makes me feel like rereading!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway, this book sounds like a good summer read.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the giveaway :)
ReplyDeleteThis book sounds so great. I am so glad that it was reviewed so highlu, because I really want to read this. Thank you for the giveaway!
ReplyDeletemiminbennett(at)hotmail(dot)com