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

by J. A. Redmerski

[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.