SWEAR ON THIS LIFE by RENEE CARLINO

31 July, 2016

Where to Purchase

Amazon US » Amazon UK »

Our Review

‘She sat there holding her smooth legs to her chest, staring out the window, popping her gum, bored, and saying inconsequential things. But still…she was the center of the universe. She could make the whole world go around without even breaking a sweat.’

Wow….this book…..THIS BOOK was everything we could’ve wished for. It was breathtakingly unique and overwhelmingly addictive. We could not put it down. When we say that every single emotion came into play, we mean Every. Single. Emotion. It was utterly captivating and stunningly beautiful. This is without question one of the most intense and complicated second chance romances we’ve ever read.

‘Our innocence was beautiful, impossible to capture again, impossible to re-create.’

Swear on This Life is one of those stories where as a reader you felt the Author’s soul like a breath on your very being for every page turned. It was quite simply magnificent in its message and true meaning. The way in which the story unfolded was an intense journey of forgiveness, love, healing, discovery and understanding.

“This could be the best thing for us, after it stops being the worst.”

Swear on This Life is a story within a story, within a story. How utterly brilliant and powerful. Her words hit us with such an incredible force they demanded to be felt. From harrowing and tragic childhoods where wounds are opened, continuously weeping into adulthood. Denial, avoidance, absence and indifference. All barriers masking a wound that can only be healed by its creators and circumstance.

“Most of the time people who are lost don’t ever find their way back.”

Emiline and Jase; childhood friends who forge an unbreakable friendship and find a love that’s all encompassing. A true soul mate love that no matter the obstacles, distance and years can unravel. Where one knows the path that must be taken in order to heal the other. We felt them, we lived their journey, and we were them.

“Our story is great. Maybe not all the other shit, but the story of us is perfect, Em.”

Renee Carlino blew us away with this story and we cannot recommend it highly enough. It was utter perfection in its originality, its complexities and the depth of her characters. What could’ve been, what should’ve been. What in actual fact was- when facing the past, the truth and the future of what’s right in front of you. Outstanding!

“We can’t go backward. There are too many regrets. Please just move forward with me?”

Synopsis

When a bestselling debut novel from mysterious author J.Colby becomes the literary event of the year, Emiline reads it reluctantly. As an adjunct writing instructor at UC San Diego with her own stalled literary career and a bumpy long-term relationship, Emiline isn’t thrilled to celebrate the accomplishments of a young and gifted writer.

Yet from the very first page, Emiline is entranced by the story of Emerson and Jackson, two childhood best friends who fall in love and dream of a better life beyond the long dirt road that winds through their impoverished town in rural Ohio.

That’s because the novel is patterned on Emiline’s own dark and desperate childhood, which means that “J. Colby” must be Jase: the best friend and first love she hasn’t seen in over a decade. Far from being flattered that he wrote the novel from her perspective, Emiline is furious that he co-opted her painful past and took some dramatic creative liberties with the ending.

The only way she can put her mind at ease is to find and confront “J. Colby,” but is she prepared to learn the truth behind the fiction?