Review by szanta3030 -- Days Passed by Mcentry Dunbar II

[szanta3030]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Days Passed" by Mcentry Dunbar II.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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The book Days Passed by Mcentry Dunbar II is tagged as a romance story, but I would say it is more of a novel of manners. It's a story about two childhood friends and then teenage lovers separated by the life circumstances, or rather by their parents' response to them. It follows their lives until their mid-twenties when the book finishes and leaves the reader in suspense waiting for the sequel. Life lessons given by one of the characters make the book more valuable.

Days Passed is told by a third-person narrator. The main characters, Tony and Brittany, have known each other since they were infants. They had been best friends until the summer before starting high school – that's when they fell in love with each other. Unfortunately, at the end of the summer, they were separated – Tony's father lost his job after being accused of some kind of crime, and Brittany's dad didn't allow them to meet again. Then the book follows their lives through high school and college, and then their mid-twenties. It shows us how they deal with pain, love, and loss, usually not in the right way.

What I liked about the book is its plot — it's really interesting. I think it had a lot of potentials. It reminds me a bit of the book “Love, Rosie”, it also talks about coming of age and is quite extended in time. I have quite ambivalent feelings about the characters — on one hand, I'm glad they were real and made mistakes, but on the other, I didn't find them really likable.

Unfortunately, there was a lot of wasted potentials, too. I disliked the way the book was written. The narrative bothered me, because I think, especially in romances, it’s better to read the characters' thoughts from them. I feel like it was a try to give us an insight into plenty of perspectives. The author wrote that he wants this book to show that everybody deserves a second chance, and that might be the reason for the third-person narrator.

I didn't hate this book, but I didn't like it enough to be willing to read the sequel, which is probably coming in the future, so I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars. It was well-edited, and didn't contain any curse words or concrete erotica, though they did mention some affairs in conversations. I think Days Passed is best for young adults. It wasn't a too bad book about growing up of two really imperfect people.

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Days Passed
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