Can she move forward without knowing her past?
Will he enjoy his present if he can’t free himself from what he left behind?
In the heart of the Adirondacks, Isabelle lives in the shadow of a dark family secret whose silent burden strips her family of emotional warmth and faith in God. Tyler belongs to the religious sect called The Faithful, which Isabelle’s father dislikes immensely. Yet, because Tyler belongs to this group, Isabelle sees only a man devoted to his family and faith.
She wants it; she gets it; they marry.
And when the truth comes out, Isabelle faces two choices:
Staying could endanger her child.
Leaving could cost her life.
Elaine Stock writes contemporary fiction. If you enjoy family drama blended with psychological suspense, are curious to know how people can get themselves out of a mess that seems otherwise impossible, she hopes you will cozy up with one of her stories. Always with You is her debut novel. Elaine’s short stories were published in the best-selling Amazon anthology Christmas Treasures: A Collection of Christmas Short Stories and FamilyFiction’s The Story: 2014 Anthology. She is also a regular contributor to the HappySis Magazine. On her blog, Everyone’s Story, she joins guests weekly to help encourage hope to “readers, writers, and all those in-between”. You can visit her on her website: http://www.elainestock.com.
My Impressions:
Elaine Stock’s debut novel, Always with You is a chilling look into how one can be deceived when not prepared with the proper foundation of truth. In the story, eighteen year old Isabelle has lots of questions about her family’s secretive past. Both her father and grandmother are cold and seemingly unresponsive to Isabelle’s desires and needs. So when she finds a knight in shining armor, she is quickly swept up into a new world that promises family and love. But evil is often masked and her dream of a new life and love soon spirals into a nightmare.
Always with You has a definite YA vibe — two young people, deeply in love, with many obstacles from family and friends. Their story is told from the first person perspective of both. Isabelle and Tyler seem like two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet with some neo and not-so-neo-Nazi influence thrown in. I really didn’t like either of the characters (or many others, for that matter). I couldn’t trust Tyler, and Isabelle was very, very naive. Often their love came across as being fueled more by hormones than deep emotion. There is a great deal of sexual tension between these two that, while not graphic, is a bit on the steamy side. The cult that Isabelle finds herself thrust into is scary-bad and a good warning to young adults and parents to keep their discernment honed. The story becomes a bit far-fetched at the end, and characters seem to change without any lead-in or development. A so-so read for me, it has many highly rated reviews, including this REVIEW by my friend and fellow blogger, Carrie. Make sure you read it to get another perspective.
Audience: YA to adults.
(Thanks to the author for copy. All opinions expressed are mine alone.)
Recent Comments