Review: The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski

The Edge of Never by J.A. Redmerski
Publisher: Self-Published
Publication date: November 15th 2012
My rating:  4 stars

 

 Twenty-year-old Camryn Bennett had always been one to think out-of-the-box, who knew she wanted something more in life than following the same repetitive patterns and growing old with the same repetitive life story. And she thought that her life was going in the right direction until everything fell apart.

Determined not to dwell on the negative and push forward, Camryn is set to move in with her best friend and plans to start a new job. But after an unexpected night at the hottest club in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina, she makes the ultimate decision to leave the only life she’s ever known, far behind.

With a purse, a cell phone and a small bag with a few necessities, Camryn, with absolutely no direction or purpose boards a Greyhound bus alone and sets out to find herself. What she finds is a guy named Andrew Parrish, someone not so very different from her and who harbors his own dark secrets. But Camryn swore never to let down her walls again. And she vowed never to fall in love.

But with Andrew, Camryn finds herself doing a lot of things she never thought she’d do. He shows her what it’s really like to live out-of-the-box and to give in to her deepest, darkest desires. On their sporadic road-trip he becomes the center of her exciting and daring new life, pulling love and lust and emotion out of her in ways she never imagined possible. But will Andrew’s dark secret push them inseparably together, or tear them completely apart?

The Edge of Never was such a sweet and emotional love story!  Andrew and Camryn stole my heart, and made me cry.  I’ll be thinking about their story for some time to come. 

Both Camryn and Andrew have their own sad back stories, and while we find out Camryn’s fairly early, Andrew’s is a little more of a mystery unfolding.  Basically, this story starts out with Camyrn at a place in her life where she realizes nothing will turn out the way she wants unless she does something drastic.  So she hops on a bus, randomly picking a destination because this is more about the journey, to her, rather than where she’s going.  This is where Cam meets Andrew.  Andrew has an easy going and open way about him and they slowly become bus buddies and travel friends.  Neither one wants a relationship, so this works out well…..for a while.  Getting along really well with the opposite sex usually undermines the best of intentions. 

This story is told from alternating POVs, Camryn and Andrew’s, a method I’m a big fan of.  Like I said before, we learn Cam’s sad story early on; the reason why she’s wants nothing to do with a relationship or love.  She’s been hurt and feels she’ll never love anyone the way she loved her high school sweetheart.  But Cam accepts that, and doesn’t whine about it, which made her really easy to like.  The saying that you always find love when you’re not looking, or when you least expect it, is so true, as Cam finds out. 

I loved that Andrew and Cam started out as reluctant friends, and it developed slowly into more.  The minute Andrew got on the bus, Cam was on his radar, but he sensed a cautiousness in her and didn’t push, too hard.  Loved this quote:

I get the feeling that she would have no problem kicking me in the nuts if I touched her in an inappropriate way.  Not that I would.  Hell no.  But it’s good to know that she’s the type.  Hell yeah, I like the girl. 

He slowly got to know her, all the while looking out for her, and thankfully, keeping her safe.  Protective men always make me swoon!  I guess I never really thought about how dangerous it could be traveling alone on a bus, but I’ll never make that mistake again. *shudders*  I loved Andrew’s character and how he drew Cam out, pushed her self-imposed limits, and got her thinking out of the box. 

I have to tell you, while this was a sweet love story, it was also surprising pretty darn SPICY!  Enough to melt the socks, steam up the glasses, and have you fanning yourself for some relief!  Also, I must mention that the story took me a little while to get into, but J.A. Redmerski’s writing slowly drew me in a little closer with every click of the page.  This won’t be the last book I pick up by her.