Review: Life After Taylah - 4 Delicious Stars
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 30, 2014
Bella Jewel – she’s on my list of all time fave authors, so when I was given the chance to receive an advance copy of her newest novel – you’re damn right I jumped on that lickity split.  Here’s my review and thoughts on Life After Taylah.When I opened the book on my Kindle App, one of the first things I read was a note from the author.  If I’m being honest, the note did have me feeling a little hesitation about whether or not I would enjoy the story (I know, sounds so crazy right – it’s a Bella Jewel book!!).  I hadn’t heard much about this new release, just little snippets of information here and there – so I really wasn’t sure what to expect.  However, once I turned the first page – I was lost in the story.  Bella is one of those unique authors that has the ability to completely suck you in. Life After Taylah is unlike anything I’ve read before – it touches on topics that are heartbreaking, gut wrenching and will def make you want to do the dreaded ugly cry.  But the beauty of this story is the hidden treasures – the messages it delivers.  Despite the dreaded ugly cry (yes it really is going to happen), there is also survival, acceptance, hope and most importantly – love.  These are very powerful emotions, a lot to experience in one book.  You would think that it would have that overwhelming feeling…but everything is tied together beautifully, weaved almost intricately throughout the book.Avery is a beautiful character, definitely one of my fave female leads. At a young age, tragedy strikes her family and her mother is taken from them with no hint of an explanation.  Suffering that kind of loss, it’s unimaginable – especially when given no clear reason as to why.  The beginning of the book touches a little bit on the loving, caring relationship she had with her mother and when she is ripped from them, my heart truly broke for Avery.  The pain of the loss was evident all throughout the entire book, I thought it was brilliant the way Bella managed to always circle the story back to the main plot line – Taylah’s disappearance and how the dominoes fell after that event.  Despite the tragedy, Avery manages to grow and flourish into an amazing woman – her spirit and loving nature do not break, and this speaks to the strength of her character.  Her passion for dance is what drives her forward, if there is any more books in the future with these characters, I’d love to see her take that dream further.Liam – Avery’s brother was a fantastic character.  He truly showcased how easy it is to have your life spiral out of control after losing a family member. The despair and anger he feels is so evident…I thought that Bella did an amazing job showing the contrast between him and Avery and how their lives ended up after dealing with the same loss in their family.  There was one interaction in the book between Liam and Avery that really stuck in my mind:With this, he steps out the door and slams it closed, leaving me speechless and completely heartbroken.  I’ve tried so hard over the years to show Liam that I care but he’s not accepted it.  He closed down the day my mother left and he didn’t look back.  Between him and my father, I was the only rock, and yet neither of them wanted to let me in.  She broke us when she went missing – intentionally or not.Now we’re seeing what’s its like to live with life after Taylah.I’m rooting for Liam – and I’m secretly hoping he gets his own story (please Bella!!!).My biggest dislike of the book was Jacob.  Ughhhhh Jacob.  He is completely all of your slimy, douchey ex-boyfriends rolled into one.  Trust me – it will only take reading one scene with him in it, for you to agree with me on that one.  Straw hat – that’s all I’m going to say, and you’ll know what I mean when you get to that part in the book!So now….I strangely find myself in the same position as Bella likely was when she wrote the “note from the author”, as I begin to share my thoughts on Avery and Nate.  This 1000% was a difficult relationship, and you’ll either hate my opinion on them, or you’ll totally agree.  Either way – here we go…Nate…oh how I flippin love Nate.  He is just that perfect amount of sexy man – hell even his arrogance is drool worthy.  He is old school chivalrous underneath all of his tough exterior and I LOVED that about him.  He is so deliciously HOT and Lordy do I ever want him climbing in my window for a forbidden tryst!  I’m not giving anything away by mentioning that Avery and Nate are both in relationships when they meet – Nate is married and Avery is involved with Jacob.  The attraction, the spark, the instant connection jumped right off the pages when they met – it all but smacked me in the face how perfect they were for each other….however, they are both involved with other people.Throughout the course of the story, their encounters increase, they see each other more frequently and despite their best efforts to do the right thing – a relationship develops.  These two characters, I found myself invested in them and I WANTED it work out despite the circumstances.  They both had personal experiences driving them to look for and wish for something more out of life.  Had this been a different set of circumstances, I think that the relationship they developed would have been harder to swallow…Bella does a beautiful job of portraying the anguish and guilt they both feel while trying to fight the attraction to each other.  Had the book not been written that way, I think I wouldn’t have enjoyed it as much as I did.  Throughout the story, a quote that I have always loved kept running through my mind – something you may want to think about too while you’re reading it…I didn’t fall for you, you flipping tripped me.Bella has done an outstanding job with their storyline, she really has.  The heart, it is its own separate entity – we cant help who we fall in love with, and we all know that fate can be a cruel bitch on the best of days.  The way this was written – you can see that things aren’t always black and white…sometimes life is grey and we have to play the hands we get dealt.  Having said that, it definitely isn’t an easy road for Avery and Nate!  A few snippets from Nate in his conversations with Avery that broke my heart:“You’re taken,” he rasps.  “I’m taken.  But you’re flipping still there.  Why are you there Avery? Why the flip are you consuming me?”“Marriage is for life.  It’s what you sign up for.  It’s not meant to be easy, Avery…”This book…it consumed me!  I loved every second of it, and it gave me one of the biggest book hangovers I’ve ever had.  I struggled with this review, wanting to get it just right – the characters deserved that.It was an emotional roller coaster ride, but definitely one worth riding….that is forsure.  The whole book you are left wondering – how is this possibly going to end?  Will Nate and Avery end up together?  Will we ever find out what happened to Taylah?Well….you need to buy the book to find out those answers – keep the tissues and the wine handy for this one, believe me when I say you are going to need both ;)xo Cassia