{Review} BEYOND THE PRECIPICE by Eva Blaskovic

ASIN #: B00C3NZAU2

File Size: 638 KB

Page Count: 406

Copyright: April 25, 2013

Publisher: Ashby-BP Publishing

Book Summary:

(Taken from Amazon)

A YOUNG MAN WITH A DARK SECRET MUST CHOOSE BETWEEN HIS FAMILY AND THE GIRL HE LOVES.

For six years Bret Killeen is trapped by the wishes of his dead father, blackmailed by his brother, and rejected by his uncle. Meanwhile, he watches his mother descend into the depths of poverty.

As Bret wrestles with guilt over the death of his father, he is helped by Nicole, a young cello player with big dreams. She stirs the embers of his longing both for music and for her - and ignites a fire he can't extinguish.

But can he brave his past in order to seize his future?

The award-worthy debut novel by Eva A. Blaskovic is a riveting blend of suspense, dark humor, and compelling inter-personal drama. Once you engage this roller coaster read you won't be able to stop.

Mandy's Review:

Did you read the summary above? If not, please do so now because what I'm going to say below may not make sense if you didn't read it. Also, this review may be full of spoilers but I'll try my best not to reveal too much.

There's a lot I feel like I want to say about this book, but it's mostly negative. To balance some of that, let me start with some positives ...

I like Kern and Dana Willoughby, for the most part. I think they're a little too lenient and indulging with their children sometimes but, overall, they're nice people and I wanted to get to know them better.

I think the cover's pretty. I like the picture of the cello. It blends well with the coloring on the cover.

Now, onward to what I didn't care for.

Bret got on my nerves. For the first half of the book the author teases the reader with some big secret that he's hiding and that his brother Drake is lording over him, using it to manipulate Bret to do whatever he wants him to do. With his musical genius, I'm expecting to read that he has some type of magical ability to pick up any instrument and begin playing. Nope. His big secret? His huge, heart-rending, panic-inducing secret that he just couldn't bring himself to tell anyone because they may not look at him the same? He felt guilty over the death of his father. He felt responsible. My thoughts when I realized this was his secret: "Oh my God! Are you f*cking kidding me?!" I cannot begin to tell you how disappointed I was by this. Who doesn't feel guilty about someone's death? Who doesn't feel like they could have done more, been more helpful? Total let down.

Then there's Scott, Bret's oldest friend and roommate. Scott acts like a bitch when he finds out about Bret's "secret." He gets all pissy because Bret didn't tell him first; he found out about Bret's secret through Bret's uncle opening his big mouth at a celebratory dinner. I thought it was ridiculously portrayed. What's the big deal?

Finally, people, we have a new character introduced into the novel. Not at 25% and not at 60%. Oh, no, dear readers. The author introduced the new, totally unnecessary character at 95% of the way through the novel! And it was all to show Emil's competitive nature getting him into trouble and Bret rescuing him. Granted, this was probably to show that Bret could redeem something within himself since he was unable to save his father, but this should have totally been done some other way. NEVER introduce a new character at 95% completion of the novel!

Reading Beyond the Precipice was like walking through sludge. After every chapter, I kept taking breaks to look at my phone, get on social media, have a conversation with someone ... anything to wake my mind back up and get it going again. I'm not sure why Amazon thinks this novel is award-worthy and why there are people giving this novel 5 stars, but I would not recommend picking this up. Ever.


*An ecopy of this novel was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.