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A review by theeditorreads
The Beginning of the End by R. Holmes
3.0
Synopsis:
Dr Ambrey Landry wants to repent for her dead parents' sins. She is a child therapist who has returned to New Orleans, where she was born and spent her childhood, where she had vowed to never return again. But her best friend Madi misses her, as much as she herself misses Lulu - the mother figure in her life. She would have to face the demons of her past in order to move forward in her life.
Grey Benoit wants to run/expand his business and bring up his daughter Emily Kate in peace. With the help of his best friend, Bishop, he's got the business side going smoothly but can't seem to help his daughter who's suffering because of increasing nightmares. He needs to take her to a therapist as soon as he can.
Review:
By providing a Playlist and a Creole Dictionary right at the beginning of the book, the author makes reading the story a more enjoyable experience. The book starts with a brief prologue, where a man is hardened because of his time in prison but still can't seem to forget the love of his life who left him when he needed her to support him the most.
The story starts from twenty-five-year-old Ambrey's first-person perspective, on the day she's back in New Orleans. She's trying not to think about her past, about Grey. After all that he has endured, twenty-seven-year-old Grey's only shining light is his three-year-old daughter, Em. He loves her to bits and tries to be the best father, especially after the way Charlotte, Em's biological mother, is. Both Grey and Ambrey had painful pasts.
This is a second chance romance of a single father and the woman he has never grown out of love with. An eight-year-old romance that is as beautiful as it is full of sad memories for both of them. Emily is the star of the story and her equation with each and every character is adorable.
But, I was confused at a few points in the story. There's Aria, Lulu's niece, and the third member of the trio of girl-friends who is mentioned only twice. Then there's one Leighton who I almost thought was Bishop Sullivan's girl, but Madison Hebert and he are all over the place after that and the author also promised their own book in her Acknowledgement (that's a great thing, yay!). There's an assault scene and it remained unresolved, maybe it was meant to be that way, I don't know. At two places, I felt that the transition from the present to the past and back to the present in the narrative was also a little confusing.
It was still a good read, especially the way the author described the lovely city of New Orleans and the festival of Mardi Gras. And Ambrey is a girl after my own heart, her favourite dish being Lulu's red beans and rice, a New Orleans version of our Indian rajma chawal, which I'm a die-hard fan of. A simple, yet lip-smacking delicacy.
The storyline of the past events felt like a soap opera or a Bollywood movie from the 90s, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And the epilogue summed it up nicely.
Thank you to InkSlinger PR for an e-ARC of the book.
Originally posted on:
Shaina's Musings
Dr Ambrey Landry wants to repent for her dead parents' sins. She is a child therapist who has returned to New Orleans, where she was born and spent her childhood, where she had vowed to never return again. But her best friend Madi misses her, as much as she herself misses Lulu - the mother figure in her life. She would have to face the demons of her past in order to move forward in her life.
Grey Benoit wants to run/expand his business and bring up his daughter Emily Kate in peace. With the help of his best friend, Bishop, he's got the business side going smoothly but can't seem to help his daughter who's suffering because of increasing nightmares. He needs to take her to a therapist as soon as he can.
Review:
By providing a Playlist and a Creole Dictionary right at the beginning of the book, the author makes reading the story a more enjoyable experience. The book starts with a brief prologue, where a man is hardened because of his time in prison but still can't seem to forget the love of his life who left him when he needed her to support him the most.
The story starts from twenty-five-year-old Ambrey's first-person perspective, on the day she's back in New Orleans. She's trying not to think about her past, about Grey. After all that he has endured, twenty-seven-year-old Grey's only shining light is his three-year-old daughter, Em. He loves her to bits and tries to be the best father, especially after the way Charlotte, Em's biological mother, is. Both Grey and Ambrey had painful pasts.
This is a second chance romance of a single father and the woman he has never grown out of love with. An eight-year-old romance that is as beautiful as it is full of sad memories for both of them. Emily is the star of the story and her equation with each and every character is adorable.
Their sins might not be my sins to carry…but they are mine to repent for.
But, I was confused at a few points in the story. There's Aria, Lulu's niece, and the third member of the trio of girl-friends who is mentioned only twice. Then there's one Leighton who I almost thought was Bishop Sullivan's girl, but Madison Hebert and he are all over the place after that and the author also promised their own book in her Acknowledgement (that's a great thing, yay!). There's an assault scene and it remained unresolved, maybe it was meant to be that way, I don't know. At two places, I felt that the transition from the present to the past and back to the present in the narrative was also a little confusing.
It was still a good read, especially the way the author described the lovely city of New Orleans and the festival of Mardi Gras. And Ambrey is a girl after my own heart, her favourite dish being Lulu's red beans and rice, a New Orleans version of our Indian rajma chawal, which I'm a die-hard fan of. A simple, yet lip-smacking delicacy.
The storyline of the past events felt like a soap opera or a Bollywood movie from the 90s, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And the epilogue summed it up nicely.
Thank you to InkSlinger PR for an e-ARC of the book.
Originally posted on:
Shaina's Musings