The Future of Our Past (The Remembrance Trilogy #1) by Kahlen Aymes
An Romance Novel published by Telemachus Press, LLC (04/19/12)
Summary:
Julia and Ryan have been friends for years. Secretly each is interested in more of a romantic relationship, but neither will bring up their feelings. Neither wants to risk their strong friendship, until they’re about to move to opposite sides of the country. After revealing their true feelings, they start their long distance relationship.
Keywords:
Medicine, Doctor, Romance, Friendship, Long Distance Relationship, Unhealthy Relationship, Jealousy, Sex Scenes
My Review: SPOILER ALERT
It takes about a sentence to summarize what this book is about because this book lacked a plot. There was no real problem to solve, only the idea of navigating a long distance and jealousy. If you like reading lengthy passages about the cutesy love between couples, the frustration at being apart for weeks and months from your loved one, jealousy over interaction with the opposite gender, and sex scenes then you may enjoy this book. For me, it was a meandering overly worded romance full of too many sex scenes and too much “I love you,” and “I love you more” fluff. The only real action was the hard-to-read unhealthy jealousy Ryan felt for Julia’s interactions and relationships with her male coworkers. This is portrayed as normal but it is an unhealthy amount and expression of jealousy! I should have put this book down but felt compelled to finish and find out if anything was going to happen in the end. Where could this book actually go?
To create this series, the author finally launches into a tight sequence of action in the last few chapters and then ends abruptly in the middle of a scene to promote a cliff-hanger and get you to read on to the second book. The pacing throughout this novel was terrible. I will not be reading any more books by this author. I was especially turned off by the usage of a surprise pregnancy to push along the action. I’m quite fed up with romance novels using pregnancy, especially a surprise pregnancy, as a source of conflict. This book even uses the pregnancy to tear the main female character away from a promising career move (which the main male protagonist was against because everything is about him and what he wants). The ending was a disappointment.
Halfway through I started to consistently skim through all the mushy dialogue back and forth between Julia and Ryan because nothing new was being said and it felt like it was just filler dialogue. I also skimmed through the sex scenes because after the buildup to the first one, the rest were just not that interesting.
The one thing the author did that kept me reading at all, was the excellent buildup of expectation prior to the initial sex scene. The longing that Julia and Ryan felt for each other was palpable and felt very real.
This novel was published by Telemachus Press, LLC on 04/19/2012 and is available on Amazon here.
TL;DR Star Rating: 2.50
Links for more information:
Rachel Author Barnard 