Review: Road to Tomorrow - Mary Metcalfe | Novel Publicty Blog Tour

Rating : C

Author: Mary Metcalfe
Pages: 220
Language: English
Publisher: Laskin Publishing

Here is my post for Novel Publicity’s Blog Tour – Road to Tomorrow. What I love about blog tours is, I am usually coming across with a novel, I would not otherwise pick up. Road to Tomorrow is one of those novels. Now, for my review...

Even though, the subject matter is heavy, this is quite a page turner and a quick read. Andrea Garrett is a young wife and a mother. Her husband is a soldier, and they had gotten married before they knew each other better. Sean has an abusive streak, well hidden under his respected demeanor, and he is showing this side of his only to Andrea. In the beginning, Andrea was working hard to find excuses for his violent behavior, in the hopes of having family and the husband of her dreams. When she no longer could stand the abuse, she decided to took of with her two children and ran away. She left her children, with her twin brother and got on the road, to look for their future...  

However, Andrea’s ordeal wasn’t over. While she was on the run, she fell asleep on the wheel and fell into a ditch. Residents of a small town step in to rescue her, however, they also let her husband on where she was. Blinded with rage, Sean was after Andrea, with the aim to kill her. He couldn’t accept her denial and being left. After this point, we witness the story of  Andrea’s decisions, plans, and her efforts of a new life in the shadows of Sean’s threats, with the author’s clear and direct writing. Of course for the details, you have to read the book...

But I can tell you this much, this is an emotional and intense one. The story is about an abusive husband, a deviant child behavior, PTDS and the consequences of those on  young women; her love life, her survival, and her new beginning... A little too much on the social messages part (maybe necessary but still a little over the scale).

Andrea is a very strong character, when she decides something, she acts on it. She struggles even though her marriage was an abusive one, to end it and leave her husband, showing that it can never be easy to leave everything behind and this side of the story makes her a very realistic character.

But I believe the best drawn character was Sean. A friendly, courageous soldier and man, among his friends, but in reality a seriously emotional wreck inside. A man stuck in between two personalities, one a respectable soldier, a good friend, a charming and handsome man and one very abusive, violent husband, an uncontrollable rage. It was quite heartbreaking.  

Richard was far the most annoying character, for me. He questions her sister’s pleas and tried to believe his best friend because he appears to be a respectful man.  There were also two wonderful kids (way too wonderful if you ask me) and a nice new boyfriend (this part of the story was too shallow and fast developed for me).  

The story telling is alluring, and concise, scenery and settings, especially in the town were very vivid, the dialogue, relationships and happenings were well developed and very relatable. However, especially on the relationships part, I had some issues; after, what Andrea has been through, I found, finding and accepting a new boyfriend in her life seemed too easy and quick. So this falls a little away from being realistic. After living all those horrible things with Sean, wanting to have a new life and a new beginning is something believable, but adapting to have a new man and trusting him so soon seemed a little off for me. This might be done like this, regarding to the length of the book and weight of the emotional structure. Because I believe, this is fairly a short book for this type of heavy subject matter.    

Over all, this was an emotional ride with a nicely drawn characters, and presented a heavy issue without overwhelming the readers. And there is suspenseful end, with an unexpected twist.  

About the Book - About the Author - Prizes!!!

About the book: Andrea Garrett is trying to escape her abusive marriage. Fearing for her life, she leaves her two small children with her twin brother and flees her home the day before her husband is due to arrive back from a tour of duty. After falling asleep at the wheel and landing in a ditch, her life takes on a new direction when strangers step in and introduce her to a life she could only have imagined and one that could save her soul and give her children the future they deserve. Get Road to Tomorrow through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

About the author: Mary Metcalfe lives in the foothills of the Laurentians, northeast of Ottawa, Canada with her husband, three cats and a very large dog. Love of writing runs in the family. Their daughter is a published literary non-fiction author. Clarion Review described Mary’s debut novel as a “sparkling debut… readers will love being swept along by Winds of Change.”Road to Tomorrow is her third novel in the Look to the Future series. Connect with Mary on her website, blog, Facebook, GoodReads, or Twitter.

About the prizes: Who doesn't love prizes? You could win one of two $50 Amazon gift cards or an autographed copy of Road to Tomorrow! Here's what you need to do...

1. Enter the Rafflecopter contest
2. Leave a comment on my blog.

That's it! One random commenter during this tour will win the first gift card. Visit more blogs for more chances to win--the full list of participating bloggers can be found here. The other two prizes will be given out via Rafflecopter. Good Luck!

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