Beyond the Rising Tide

by Sarah Beard

[sstaley]

I really liked this unique story told from two different perspectives,one from Avery and the other is Kai. Six months earlier Kai saved Avery's life and ended up drowning trying to save her. This threw Avery into a deep depression, so Kai has been watching her and slowly falling in love with the girl. Kai now lives his life in Heaven helping other people down on Earth but the one person he wants to help the most is Avery which he can't. This is when the story takes a wild turn as Kai finds a way to gain a physical body and come back to Earth to see if he can help Avery heal from her grief and pain.

This story is full of raw, powerful emotion. The things that both of the main characters have been through hits you right in the heart. I loved the character of Kai the most. He is such a many-layered character and as you learn more about him, the more you learn to love him. He lived a hard, rough life and didn't always make good choices, but this story shows how he is redeemed through making wise and selfless choices. Avery has also struggled in her life with an eccentric mom dealing with mental health issues. Now Avery is dealing with the guilt about the unknown teenage boy that saved her life but died in that process of heroism.

I struggled as the two became closer because I couldn't see how any of this was going to work out. I could only see them both ending up with broken hearts and sadness from not being able to be together. At one point it was so gut-wrenching I wasn't sure I wanted to finish it. All I can say though is that the ending will make your heart beat faster and your brain work harder as you process what happened. I didn't guess the ending correctly and I'm glad I was wrong.

This story is written in a beautiful style with such realistic events, a gorgeous descriptive setting of beaches and Heaven, a myriad of emotions and colorful characters that you'll want to sit and read this book straight through from beginning to end. This is a wonderful book that I will be sharing with my own teenage daughter, though adults will also be enthralled by what seems to be an ill-fated love story that at moments will leave you breathless. This book deserves its 5-star rating.