3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
When I first saw Life Before by K.L. Romo it captured my attention right away. Being a fan of historical fiction I was hit by a wave of curiosity about this book.
The story first introduced me to Elaine Grace Dearborn, a middle aged, stay at home wife from Dallas, Texas who questions what she is doing with her life. She is hoping that there is more to her than just being a Mother. She then started to act on what she had always hope to be; a writer. But self-doubt started to creep in. What if she fails? She doesn’t have a back-up dream. But as soon as she sat in front of her laptop she decided that it is now a do or die situation. She needs inspiration and without thinking she started to type. What if she were someone else? An innocent thought but she didn’t realize that there is more to it than what she was hoping for.
She then meets Eliza, a beautiful girl of thirteen that was tainted by her very own decisions and her mother. A series of unexpected events turned her innocence into something that was least expected from a girl her age.
Elaine meeting Eliza is not something out of the ordinary until she realized that Eliza lives in the past. The very notion of it made Elaine confused. How was that possible? Is this a trick of her mind? She didn’t know that there is more to Eliza and that meeting her will change her life.
I have to say that while reading this book I was drawn to Eliza the same way Elaine does in the story. The characters are complex and perfectly depicted making them seemingly come to life. This makes the story attention-grabbing wherein you just want to know what will happen to each of them. The different narrators are a common thing that I noticed in historical fiction, it can get annoying at times, but Romo used it in a good way. It gave enough detailed insights to each character’s side of the story, which is also important to the overall narrative.
Aside from the story itself, I also enjoyed the book because I felt that it was very well researched. The story is thought provoking and for me, a bit sad at times. Slavery, abuse and racism are being discussed in this book. Some may not find it interesting, but if you don’t have any problem reading explicit sex and violence in a book, I will suggest you read this.
I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars. I do love the story, but I just find that the latter part of it made me cringe more than once. I find it a little bit, for lack of a better word, sweet, which, personally, I do not prefer. Also the copy I received contained a lot of blank pages in between chapters which is annoying at times.
Overall, if you’re a fan of historical fiction, I highly suggest that you give this a shot.
******
Life Before
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like IanYanny's review? Post a comment saying so!
