The Edge of Always (Edge of Never, #2)

by J. A. Redmerski

Camryn Bennett has never been happier. Five months after meeting on a Greyhound bus, she and her soul mate Andrew Parrish are engaged and a wedding isnt the only special event in their future. Nervous but excited, Camryn can't wait to begin the rest of her life with Andrew, a man she knows in her heart will love her always. They have so much to look forward to, until tragedy blindsides them. Andrew doesn't understand how this could happen to them. He's trying to move on, and thought Camryn was doing the same. But when Andrew discovers Camryn is secretly harboring a mountain of pain and attempting to numb it in damaging ways, there is nothing he won't do to bring her back to life. Determined to prove that their love can survive anything, Andrew decides to take Camryn on a new journey filled with hope and passion. If only he can convince her to come along for the ride.

• ISBN10: 1455549002
• ISBN13: 9781455549009
• Publish Date: 14 January 2014 (first published 1 January 2013)
• Publish Status: Active
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Forever
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 464
• Language: English

Reviews

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I was extremely nervous going into The Edge of Always, because while I absolutely loved The Edge of Never, that ending was not something I needed more of. Some books don't need sequels, and in fact shouldn't. This is one of them. Weirdly, this didn't even read like a direct sequel. It felt like the sequel, a third book, and a spin off. Yes, this seemed like three distinct books shoved together to make one unnecessary follow up. If you haven't read The Edge of Never, then you should probably stop reading because SPOILERS abound!

The Edge of Always starts off with Camryn and Andrew being super happy and excited about their baby. Camryn is about 4 months along at this point, and I honestly couldn't care less. I had been dreading her falling pregnant after them going at it like rabbits without protection, so of course it had to happen. I do not think I could have handled 400+ pages about a happy couple with their brand new baby, so I was glad when Camryn miscarried very early on (I don't think this is a spoiler since it's not so subtly implied in the blurb). That probably makes me sound like a terrible person, but it is what it is. I actually think Camryn was glad too, since literally minutes before it happened she realized that a baby means no backpacking around the world! Convenient. Of course, she's not her self and her depression from the first book is finally looked at in more detail. She starts doing harmful things, until Andrew catches on and decides things need to change. End book one.

The middle part of The Edge of Always is another road trip. However, this time Camryn and Andrew are gone for about seven months. They drive from town to town, performing, taking odd jobs, and having sex. It's a kind of fun and light-hearted section, but I was mostly bored since it was a less interesting version of the first book. I do think it would make a cute movie, but as a book, it was just nothing impressive. There's a lot of bizarre and pointless road trip antics, nothing profound, and then they return home. End book two.

Finally, the last several chapters jump forward in time a lot. Several months, and several years in between. This last part of The Edge of Always is very domestic, and very boring. Once again, I do not care about pregnancy, childbirth, child's first birthday, weddings, buying houses, and doctor's appointments. This is not interesting. I did not need to know in this level of detail how Camryn and Andrew end up after their amazing love story in The Edge of Never. It was interesting how they didn't give up on their dream of traveling the world together, and they even adapted their plan to include a toddler. However, how in the heck does that work?! It's completely glossed over, which I was kind of glad for since again, no interest in their kid, but then again I'm curious how it worked out. But of course, reality has to set in some time since kids gotta go to school. Then it's magically 15 years later, and Camryn and Andrew are back to being twenty-somethings traveling together. The end.

The Edge of Always was such a disappointment and beyond unnecessary. I do like seeing where characters I grew to care about end up, but usually a brief epilogue or a novella is enough. 400+ of nothing is too much. This kind of ruined the magic of the first book for me.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.

[nitzan_schwarz]

3.5 stars

[Ashley]

Nose Graze — Young Adult book reviews

3.5 Stars

I'm still not 100% how I feel about The Edge of Always, and I feel like that's going to make it challenging for me to accurately convey my thoughts, but I'll try my best!

In The Edge of Never I felt like there was a very clear, overall conflict, and that made for a very clear plot. I knew exactly where the story was and I could see where it was headed. But I don't feel that was quite the case with The Edge of Always. At first I thought there was a clear, central conflict: the one hinted at in the synopsis Camryn's miscarriage. But, that conflict only actually takes up about 30% of the book.

After that, it's just mindless road trips. It felt different from the first book, because in The Edge of Never I felt like I knew where the story was going. It had an overarching plot driving it. But in The Edge of Always I didn't know what the endgame was, so I didn't know where the story was headed, and I didn't like that uncertainty. Then, at the ~65% mark or so, the book totally switched gears. It went from being a sort of self-contained story to a long epilogue. By that I mean, the first half took place over a series of months, which is typical for a book. But then the second half suddenly spanned like 3 years all on its own. The pacing completely changed and the focus completely changed. It kind of felt like I actually read a book and then a separate, long epilogue. The second half was almost completely dedicated to "what happens after".

But the main thing I'm getting at is that The Edge of Always lacked a strong direction. It didn't feel as focused and centered as The Edge of Never did, and that left me feeling a little lost and wondering where it was all going.

BUT, that doesn't mean I didn't like the book. For the most part, I did enjoy my time reading The Edge of Always. Andrew was as great as ever. He's one of my favourite guys in NA because he's just so damn sweet. He's a picture-perfect, amazing boyfriend. I love how he never loses patience with Camryn, even when she's being totally stupid. Although Andrew and Camryn struggle, I love how it never feels like their relationship is in jeopardy. There are so many books out there where the couple gets to an almost-breaking point where they might part ways and it's z0mg so intense. That doesn't happen in The Edge of Never—and I love that. There's never a point where Camryn and Andrew almost break up or almost lose faith in each other. They're always there for each other 100%, and that's so refreshing!

And as you might expect from reading The Edge of Never, this book has a few super swoony scenes that will make you melt! ;) I'll just leave it at that!

So ultimately, my only issue with The Edge of Always is the lack of clear focus and direction. And once it switched gears, I decided that it was structured a bit... oddly. It really felt like I read two different books with how the narration changed and the timeline changed. Although this book didn't wow me as much as The Edge of Never it was still a good read. I like how the author left nothing to the imagination. By the end, every single question I could have possibly had got answered, and I really appreciate that! I liked knowing exactly how things panned out for Camryn and Andrew, and it was cool to see Lily grow up! I bet we'll be getting a story from her point of view at some point!