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chrissie_whitley 's review for:
Everything We Left Behind
by Kerry Lonsdale
I read the previous book in the series, [b:Everything We Keep|29639736|Everything We Keep (Everything #1)|Kerry Lonsdale|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1459205790s/29639736.jpg|46247179], through the (now-called) Amazon First Reads program, and the third is coming to me via Netgalley, so I happily went out and purchased the Kindle version of this sequel to read beforehand. Womp, womp.
Where book one was tender and emotional at times, I found this installment to be pretty lackluster and easy to skim. Neither version of the main character, be he James or be he Carlos, was engaging enough to hold the steering wheel. Lonsdale wrote both sides of the man as angsty and repeating a basic ohmygodnowwhatdoIdo? mantra. The [a:V.C. Andrews|1353301|V.C. Andrews|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1413410493p2/1353301.jpg]-esque incestuous relationship was talked about more often here, and it felt as awkward and out of place as it did in the first book, just not cushioned by a better story. The mom and the brothers gave off a distinct cardboard cutout odor. Regrettably, Natalya and Carlos were far more interesting than the direction this story is headed.
While the writing quality and story depth suffered a bit in this one, the main weight that pulled the story down continuously was the existence of this journal supposedly written in great detail by Carlos to James. Now, I have no doubt that Carlos would write a journal to jot down everything he so desperately wants James to know, when and if he does surface. No, my issue is that we don't see the journal entries; we only see the novel's regular narration from Carlos's POV. But then James directly references these portions of the book as though they were journal entries. Journal entries are rarely written like actual books with full paragraphs, full dialogue, and properly structured sentences. This entire side of the narration, Carlos's POV, drove me nuts the entire time. It just dripped with the presence of the author, and brought me fully back into the real world every time.
I am looking forward to hearing more from Ian from the first book. So, here's hoping for a better book in the third one, [b:Everything We Give: A Novel|36689505|Everything We Give A Novel|Kerry Lonsdale|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517417236s/36689505.jpg|58418974].
Where book one was tender and emotional at times, I found this installment to be pretty lackluster and easy to skim. Neither version of the main character, be he James or be he Carlos, was engaging enough to hold the steering wheel. Lonsdale wrote both sides of the man as angsty and repeating a basic ohmygodnowwhatdoIdo? mantra. The [a:V.C. Andrews|1353301|V.C. Andrews|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1413410493p2/1353301.jpg]-esque incestuous relationship was talked about more often here, and it felt as awkward and out of place as it did in the first book, just not cushioned by a better story. The mom and the brothers gave off a distinct cardboard cutout odor. Regrettably, Natalya and Carlos were far more interesting than the direction this story is headed.
While the writing quality and story depth suffered a bit in this one, the main weight that pulled the story down continuously was the existence of this journal supposedly written in great detail by Carlos to James. Now, I have no doubt that Carlos would write a journal to jot down everything he so desperately wants James to know, when and if he does surface. No, my issue is that we don't see the journal entries; we only see the novel's regular narration from Carlos's POV. But then James directly references these portions of the book as though they were journal entries. Journal entries are rarely written like actual books with full paragraphs, full dialogue, and properly structured sentences. This entire side of the narration, Carlos's POV, drove me nuts the entire time. It just dripped with the presence of the author, and brought me fully back into the real world every time.
I am looking forward to hearing more from Ian from the first book. So, here's hoping for a better book in the third one, [b:Everything We Give: A Novel|36689505|Everything We Give A Novel|Kerry Lonsdale|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1517417236s/36689505.jpg|58418974].