TWO ROADS by L.M. AUGUSTINE

Reviewed by Gitte

Gitte – 4 Stars

I just fell in love with a sweet, funny and beautifully written story, because that’s what ‘Two Roads’ is. Beautiful.

‘I carry your heart with me…’

It was also emotional and devastating, tragic even. It had beautiful characters and real heart. It was poetic and visually descriptive.  I loved it. I have so much geek love for this story! Though I will say that I’d class this as YA not NA in respect of the characters behaviour and the storyline.

Two Roads is quite a slow but well-built read, and you know what, sometimes this is just what you need. Not too much angst, misunderstanding nor darkness. Yes it has tough topics like suicide and the loss of a loved one but it also has humour, hope and healing. It shows strength and inspiration and has a great message. Sure, at times I thought hmmm pass the cheese but at no stage did it become overwhelmingly annoying. The beauty, the humour and the innocence surpassed it on the whole.

So we have Cali, our sweet and sassy heroine who’s experienced real tragedy and heart ache. She puts up a great front and hides behind sarcastic humour and a tough girl facade.

‘I don’t mind being called a bitch. Being a bitch means I’m strong. Being a bitch means I’m surviving, and sometimes that’s all I can do: I survive. I do everything I can to get by, even if it makes me sick to my stomach.’ – Cali

Cali looks to poetry to help her survive her past and her present. It’s the only way she can make sense of her emotions, her heart and her mind.

‘I still cry myself to sleep every night. I still spend my days wishing I could go back to before four years ago. I still feel worthless, but at least pretending to be someone else dulls the pain.’ – Cali

I really felt for Cali and understood her struggles. However, she really annoyed me a few times with her ‘fake act’ behaviour and at one stage she does something which pissed me off so much I actually had to put my kindle down. I was like, no way did you just do that, girl that shit is NOT funny or cool!!! GAH!! I wish she hadn’t done that because it took me a while before I warmed to her again.

Then we have Logan, who I fell in absolute love with. He was so not the usual guy I’d fall for but wow, yeah, there’s a first for everything right?! There’s so much to Logan, he’s not just a very hot geek…Yeah hot geek, and how often can you say that? He has a heart of pure gold and a mind that’s intriguing and addictive. Oh and he pulls fab pranks!

Cali and Logan had a love hate relationship filled with pranks, regret, emotional dependency and I got it. I wish it had been explored in more depth and had been more appropriate to their ages but then, would it have been as beautifully innocent? I don’t actually know to tell you the truth.

‘The truth is, when Logan and I are going at it like this, we’re in our own little world…..It’s just us, just me and him, just our insults and our pranks and our twisted refreshing, perfect and so screwed up hate for each other. In a really strange way it’s kind of nice….My hatred for Logan is terrible and refreshing, wonderful and horrible all at once.’ – Cali

I have to say, I had tears in my eyes so many times yet I also laughed along with most of the pranks, oh and Logan’s t-shirts. But above all I felt it. And to me, because I truly felt the emotion, this is why I enjoyed ‘Two Roads’ as much as I did.

Sure, this is a story of love but it’s also a story of survival and unravelling yourself from the layers of protection and defences you’ve built up and trusting another person by letting them in.

”And that’s the thing about love: no matter how hard you search, no matter how hard you run, sometimes, just sometimes, true love is right in front of you all along.”

TWO ROADS by L M AUGUSTINE
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