Review by Jenesparza7 -- Looking Glass Friends by E L Neve

[Jenesparza7]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Looking Glass Friends" by E L Neve.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Looking Glass Friends by E L Neve takes you on a journey of a man a woman falling in love with each other, despite their marriages to other people. Ellie is mother, beautiful, emotional, and seemingly happy in her marriage to a wealthy and powerful man, but also lives with some dark secrets about how her marriage really is. Neil is younger and works in a bakery that that she regularly visits to purchase her favorite pastries. He is married to an artistic, and pretty woman and has been living comfortably but not happily in his obligatory marriage. Something strikes Ellie about Neil and she feels compelled to give him a copy of her favorite book, thus beginning the snowball of events leading down the path they cannot escape from, leading them to question their hearts, marriages, and livelihoods. This one simple gesture will forever change their lives, the lives of their spouses and the future of their marriages.

I liked that Looking Glass Friends is an incredibly poetic and descriptively written book. It was impossible to put this book down, and each chapter left me wanting more. You will lose yourself in the emotional twists and turns of this book. As Ellie and Neil start to explore their feelings for each other, they begin a journey of self-discovery as they face their own self-betrayals as well as the betrayals to and from the ones they committed to forever under their vows of marriage. They struggle to keep everything sorted between the two worlds they have immersed themselves in, trying to convince themselves that it is only a true friendship, and subduing any feelings of love or lust as they try to bubble to the surface. It is challenging especially when the spouses see the change in behavior, the distance in the marriages. It is enthralling and similarly terrifying to follow them through all the emotional ups and downs and see them discover many things they didn’t realize about themselves, and their personal needs and desires. The love story is sweet and beautiful and heartbreaking, and Neil is a true hero for Ellie throughout the book.

I also liked the relatability, and emotion shown through these characters. Each character in this book faces trials and a wide range of emotions. You understand the friendship Ellie and Neil almost instantly feel for each other, the resistance they both have in accepting that they may have found the person that they were destined to fall in love with, and the jealousy, heartbreak, trials and tribulations the spouses and child must go through as well. The only difficult part in reading this book is watching the marriages see such strain and knowing the outcome is going to pull your heart in several different ways.

This is a book geared more toward romantics but is also enjoyable for anyone who like to escape in a book full of beautifully written love notes, indulgent fantasy, and real-life emotions. Readers who do not like romance, or poetic books may not enjoy this book. It is a realistically, painfully, and romantically well written book that will keep you hooked.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars because it was interesting thorough the entire book, with no lulls in drama, emotion and excellent realistic storytelling. It was an exceptionally well edited book, and I am looking forward to reading her next book, a children’s high fantasy, The Crystilleries of Echoland written under her other pen name Dew Pellucid.

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Looking Glass Friends
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