Liv's World of Books: Release Blitz & Book Review: The Edge of Us by Veronica Larsen

The Edge of Us

by Veronica Larsen
Genre: Standalone Contemporary Romance

Release Date: August 1st, 2017

Blurb:

Eight years ago, Cole Van Buren left me at the altar without a single explanation. My heart’s been at a standstill ever since, the anger keeping me from moving on. Keeping me from seeing the man who’s been right in front of me all this time…

Andrew’s been the friend I needed, the one constant through the hardest times of my life. But one night, the lines blur and we’re tipped into something more. Just when I’m ready to explore what we could be…

My ex comes back.

Cole says he didn’t come to get me back, but I should know better. The answers he dangles overhead are the ones I need to finally let go.

Except there’s no such thing as closure, only a past that wants to pull you backward.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35836234-the-edge-of-us

Buy now:
Amazon → http://amzn.to/2v1HOxr
iBooks → http://apple.co/2rx3EnW
Nook → http://bit.ly/2v3kwqz
Kobo → http://bit.ly/2h5Tc5M
Google Play → http://bit.ly/2tXmJQ6

About the author:

Veronica Larsen began writing around the age of seven, scribbling Nancy Drew-like stories between the margins of composition notebooks. Her journey into the romance genre began once upon a long military deployment when she penned a steamy romance for her husband, a US Marine. This story eventually turned into her debut novel Entangle. She fell in love with writing romance and hasn't looked back since. Her novels are known to feature engaging story-lines, relatable characters that tap into heart-tugging truths, and a tangible chemistry that builds throughout the story. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, which has come in handy in resolving the messy lives of the fictional people in her head.

Website / Facebook / Twitter / Amazon / Goodreads

My review:

This book was simple in its complexity. It was not an easy or light-hearted book. No. It will have you by the balls and squeeze them tight – even if you don't have any =P.

It's a second chance/slow burn romance and while it's mostly in the present, it also gave us the defining moments from the past when the memories overcame Mila.

'To unravel a ball of yarn you start on the outside, on the most accessible strand, and work your way inward. It's the same with the truth. There's only one truth, and that's the truth in its entirety. Anything else is glorified fiction.'

The Story:

Mila is a successful woman and the award she's holding isn't the only prove of her achivements. But what she's missing is the one thing that had made her whole many years ago. Where once had been love there is now hate and no matter how hard she tries, she cannot forget the man who hurt her so deeply and betrayed her in a way she will never overcome. Now this man is back right at a time where she thought she could finally open up again to someone else. Andrew a friend she could count on and who was there for her when she needed a shoulder to lean on.

Mixed feelings of friendship, desire and maybe more swirl inside of Mila. But those feelings are nothing compared to the pain and hurt but also still love that sits deep inside of her for the man that shows up eight years later after he disappeared and left her on the altar without any explanations. She will never be able to forget him but to leave the past where it belongs, she must find closure. So, she sets out to demand answers though in the end, it will be harder than ever to decide what she'll do with them.

'He's not in any way a perfect man but there's no doubt in my heart he's real. Honest. Pure in the ways people who sometimes make the worst decisions are.'

Thoughts:

This was an unexpected raw and emotionally exhausting book. It wasn't as much a love triangle as I thought it would be but I'm thankful for that because I enjoyed the story with its twists a lot where the view of H and h was still clear.

It wasn't an ugly cry or just a sad book. It was unsettling at times and painful at others. It was raw and I felt like someone was poking around in an open wound on my skin. I felt deeply with the characters. Most of all with Cole, partly because it was expressed in his art and shown in his development. He'd changed over the years and grew in his experience as painful as it was.

Of all the books I've read by this author, this was by far her best work. The writing was exceptional because the characters didn't need to tell you how they felt, it was clear and palpable in their actions, whether they felt deeply or just slight confusion.

And just when you thought the depressing feelings would pull you under, an easy and fun remark got you right out again. The easy banter between Andrew and Mila was a great change in this otherwise heavy and painful read.

'In a world that teaches woman they have to be beautiful, but not to know it, and smart, but never show it, I had to believe in who I wanted to be then I had to become it.

I highlighted so much in this book which shows how much I loved it! I loved the dynamics between all the characters. Not just between Mila, Andrew and Cole but also of the secondary characters like Camile and Tobias.