Review: Nate & Avery
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 2, 2014
Life After TaylahBy: Bella Jewel4/5 starsWhat would you do when the most important person in your young life goes missing? Gone. Without a trace. No clues. No evidence. Nothing. Simply vanished. What affect would that have on your life…not only in the immediate future, but also later in life? How would that shape the person that you will become? I can’t even begin to imagine.Taylah, mother of Liam and Avery vanishes one day after the kids have been sent to school. She is simply gone. This changes the lives of her family. Liam becomes withdrawn & angry, drowning himself in booze, drugs & women. Avery suffers from soul-crushing heartache, depression and not living life. Their father withdraws from them both, not providing love, support or affection.While Liam is off the rails and basically disowned by their father, Avery tries to be everything that he wants and expects her to be. She feels obligated to do so, so that her father won’t break from pain if he loses her too. This includes a hand-picked soon-to-be spouse, which will result in a life without love, joy and happiness.Avery befriends Nate while at a party at her brother’s house. Nate is a champion motocross racer, bad-boy looking hottie, father to a darling 3-year old…and is married. Nate is suffering in a dead marriage, in which he only stays for his daughter. Lena is not a good mother or wife, is selfish and quickly on her way to becoming an alcoholic.Avery and Nate’s friendship starts innocently enough, but they just click on more levels than strictly as friends…and fall in love. Unable to stay away from each other, they also become lovers. Embarking on an affair, the emotions felt from both sides are so devastatingly realistic to the reader. Whether you find cheating ok or not in books, the author handled this with reality, style and grace.In general, I hate cheaters. But Bella wrote this in such a gut-wrenching, heart aching way, that I didn’t feel anger or hatred towards the characters. I felt their situations, I know friends in similar sorts of situations, I felt their emotions, and plainly…I just felt the characters. Congrats Bella, on another great book! I do hope to see more from the Life After crew!