Review: Romantic Fantasy with a Twist!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 14, 2013
Having been an avid reader for over 50 years, I've read it all and have burnt out on several genres, which is why when I see the word "romance" in a book's description I immediately move on to check out the next book in line.  I've been there, done that, wrote about it and did it all a hell of a lot better than most romance writers...and their characters...so there's no point in reading about it again.  However, I love a good fantasy, so I couldn't resist reading the description, just in case I might want to give "As I Fade" a shot.  Besides, I REALLY like the title.  So I bought it (thinking I would just skip over the intimate scenes, like I normally do), and a few hours later, I was really glad I did!Imagine waking up in a hospital only to find you have no idea of how you got there.  Then you learn that it's not just a hospital, but the mental health ward of that hospital...in a foreign country...and the hospital staff insists that it's 1946 when you know damn well it's 2013, and have the cell phone to prove it?Now, who's crazy?To top that off, there's a mysterious hunka-hunka-burnin'-love that no one else can see, pledging to rescue you; a stinky old homeless lady you met on a subway train showing you her magical copy of the New York Times, which she then tells you isn't real; a psycho nurse plotting your demise so she can get the man of her dreams; the mystery of the entwined hearts carved on the stairs of your home, and the fact that your shrink thinks you're impersonating a young woman who tragically died six months previously, because you have the same name and the same rare blood type.And then, there are the voices in your head that have plagued you for all of your life, and a second, even more elusive man who is probably a ghost, but you think you've fallen head-over-heels in love with him.Leilani Bennett has written an incredibly imaginative, deftly layered novel about time-travel (or is it reincarnation?) and the endurance of love through the ages as two soul mates (or is it four...or maybe six!) struggle to correct the mistakes and circumstances that separated them in the past so they can live happily ever after in the present...erm...future.Whatever!  I can't wait to read the second book of the four-part "One Breath at a Time" series!