CommonBookSense: Book Review: The Edge of Juniper (Lora Richardson)

The Edge Of Juniper

by Lora Richardson

Genres: Romance, Coming-of-Age, Fiction

“You’re off-limits, so why can’t I stop thinking about you?”

Fay Whitaker, sixteen years old and yearning for adventure, is excited to spend the summer with her fearless cousin Celia in small-town Juniper, Indiana.

But Fay soon discovers that her summer home is not what she expected. She is alarmed by her uncle’s temper, and learns of the grudge he holds against the Dearing family. Celia handles the tension at home by escaping with her boyfriend, leaving Fay with time on her hands—time that leads her straight to Malcolm Dearing, off-limits because of his last name. Fay is captivated by Malcolm’s warmth and intensity. She finds that trying to stay away from him only makes her think of him more.

Fay and Celia are launched on a journey, and each must attempt to navigate the thrilling and unpredictable world of love. Everything Fay thinks she knows about love is put to the test, as relationships unfold and reveal themselves in ways she never before dreamed.

Here I am again, at nine (nearly ten) at night, writing a review for Lora! Oh, the nostalgia!

Lora Richardson is the author of Outspoken, which was one of our first EVER review requests and one of my favorite books. I loved it so much (I'll link the review below). So to say I was excited to see she'd emailed us would be a TOTAL LIE! I was more than excited.

Let's get down to business. I finished this book in a day, which isn't a surprise because I finished Outspoken in a day. And it didn't disappoint me. Sometimes I have the problem where I read a book by an author that makes me want to marry them (which is never an issue because same-sex marriage is legal now), but when I buy all of their books and start reading I get really disappointed really fast. Sometimes, the next book just doesn't quite live up to the hype of the first one. You build these expectations about the way your favorite author is going to write, and then get disappointed when all of your hopes and dreams are crushed by a...I dunno, a bridge? Sure, a bridge. I don't seem to have that problem here, and I'm really happy about that because if I did you guys wouldn't be getting this review when you are...I would pretend I'd never read it so that I wouldn't have to acknowledge the emotional trauma of having my dreams crushed by a bridge.

I can see lots of aspects of myself in Faye. Her approach to relationships is the exact same one I have; blunt and honest. None of that beating-around-the-bush, do I like you? do you like me? crap that a lots of people/romance novels have. Just like in Outspoken, she gets straight to the point of the story, no dilly-dallying. That's what I like to see!

Her characters (all of them, even the sub-characters (is that what they're called?)) are well developed and have depth. Her story line was consistent, you could see where the story was headed and nothing was stopping Faye and Malcolm from getting there. It was just overall a relaxing read, one that makes you want to find your own Malcolm. While it may have been a tad cliche for some, it was everything I'd been looking for in a book.

So, straight to the point, Lora is an absolute amazing writer. I haven't a doubt that whatever she writes will make me fall in love. I impatiently look forward to whatever she has planned for the future; there's never enough of her words to satisfy me!

Each book is just a combination of 26 letters, but Lora always seems to find the combinations that will make you turn the next page. Some people are just born to be authors, and I'm confident that she's one of them. Pick up a few of her books, you won't regret it.

As always, links can be found just below my SPARKLY signature!

Keep your noses in the pages, and I'll blog YOU lovelies later!