Everlong by R. Raeta

5/5 Stars – A captivating and wondrously told story I almost didn’t read.

The benefit of being in the #Indiebookclub is that I get to read stories that are outside of my usual fare.  That was very much the case with Everlong, a paranormal romance. I can still hear myself now, lamenting at my computer screen, ‘oh common guys, really?’

‘Yes, really.’

Paranormal romance = vampires I told myself, I know this formula. Heaving breasts, chiselled jaws, forbidden love and maybe a dash of piercing eyes. I’ve seen Twilight, okay I haven’t but I have seen bits of it and well I would like to apologize to R. Raeta, because actually, after grudgingly reading the first page I thought…this is different. This is not the recipe I expected. It just goes to show you should not judge every book by its genre!

First off, the entire book (apart from a couple of line errors) was beautifully written. Each sentence I felt was perfectly weighted and in many places lyrical, poetic even. Classy, that is the word I’m looking for. It is told in a narrative, first-person point of view that is, I think, really difficult to pull off and unusual, at least to me, and yet it just flowed. The pacing was spot on.

I don’t want to get sappy, but to call it a love story would be a disservice because it is so much more than that, yet love is at the heart of it. The story is Lily’s and it starts with stars and words to tales she writes but can never finish.  It is immediately captivating. Why does she sit on the same bench every night, writing story beginnings that have no ending and nobody will ever read? She is alone, broken and slowly fading away with time… until Sam takes a seat next to her.

Honestly, don’t tell anyone, but I think this just might be my favourite book of the year!