The Tower by Nicole Campbell

[Jax14]

The Tower is a standalone YA novel and deals with love, friendship and loss.

Rowyn, Reed and Rosalyn have been best friends since they were young. Having grown up in a community of witches, life has not always been easy for them at school. They have been shunned and cursed at and basically treated as though they are lesser people. Rosalyn is a vibrant young lady, one who loves to bake and is fiercely loyal. She loves life and sees and spreads positivity. When she and Jared, who is not in the community, get together, she believes that she has found the partner of her dreams. Reed and Rowyn have always had an eye for each other so getting together would be the obvious thing, right? Then fate steps in and deals a blow so cruel that it feels like life can never be repaired. Who will rise and who will sink?

I downloaded this as a free book and when I got around to reading it I hadn’t read the blurb so was in for a surprise; which turned out to be a very good one. The story starts off in a light-hearted way and I was just smoothly reading along when WHAM you get hit with info and you argue with your brain as to whether or not you actually read that. Didn’t see that coming. What follows is a book with so much emotion that I actually had to put it down a couple of times. I like fiction to take me out of reality and the emotions that came across gave me a massive dose of reality. I kept going back and forth saying it’s a good story and then being overwhelmed by the emotions and then going back again. I don’t think I’ve ever read a YA book that dealt with emotions in such depth before – very powerful stuff.

I understand how the author wanted to portray Rowyn, but I felt that her reactions were sometimes over the top, especially when it came to her dad. But I guess as adults we sometimes forget the intense emotions we experienced as teenagers and how feelings were so much more passionate then. Reed was a very interesting character, especially to see how he treated others and the influence being best friends with two girls had on him. His struggle to face reality later on in the book was very honest, and I’m sure a lot of teens can relate to the angst he was experiencing. His connection to Reiki and how it works was illuminating. Rosalyn made me smile each time she was on a page, with her sunny personality and her steady as a rock morality.

The POVs jumped from chapter to chapter which helped you get into the character’s places in the story a lot more. There were only a few editing mistakes which didn’t interrupt the flow of the book at all. I learnt quite a few things about holidays and rituals in the community which was something new. I just wish more was explained about the tarot cards and the tower in particular as I’d actually forgotten about it when it fitted in later in the book.

A well-written novel that is definitely recommended.