SPIRALLING SKYWARDS (Contradictions Duet) FALLING (Book #1) and FADING (Book #2) by LESLEY JONES :: DUET REVIEW

‘If I could, I would have kissed her heart.’

You know those books that just completely grab your emotional being and refuse to let go until you’ve devoured EVERY SINGLE page?! You know which ones we mean….the ones that frustrate, upset and annoy you so much you want to throw your kindle. The ones that shine a spotlight on human behaviour almost magnifying the raw, selfish, devastating and ugly side. The ones where you can identify with aspects, situations and behaviours and relate them to your own life or those around you.

“Never let me go.”

“Never.”

“Always hold me tight.”

“Always.”

The books that make you angry, make you melt at the romance, make your pulse beat with passion and make you ugly cry and smile from one page to the next. That complete emotional wheel spinning as you read. Well, this duet did just that, Fading more so in its intensity. Contradictions had high angst, surprising twists and dramatic antics as well as a complete case of the dreaded insta love. It literally had everything.

‘I wanted all of me to fill all of her. Her thoughts, her breaths. Each and every beat of her heart I wanted to be consumed by me. I felt angry, elated, sad, euphoric, and totally overwhelmed.’

We fell in love with all the characters, sure they all annoyed us at times but hey, people do that in real life too right?! Connecting with them all meant we felt their struggles, their love, their disappointments and their sacrifices. To err is human – to forgive divine. And there truly was a lot of that in this duet. There was also a lot of passion, laughing and swooning. It truly was quite the emotional journey and the dual POV worked so well and was very much needed as we alternately sympathised and celebrated with tragedies, insecurities, joy, heart-break and ultimately true love.

‘…she faded. Faded away right in front of me, and I didn’t even see it.’

We just couldn’t look away, it was a compelling story and our kindle’s only left our hands unwillingly. Fading was without question our favourite of the two as it had such intensity, such passion and such realism, it made us cry. Who doesn’t love it when characters make you cry, right?!

“I love only you. I see only you. I want only you. There is only you.”

Saying this, we did have a couple of issues. We sadly didn’t find much authenticity to nationality nor location of the characters. The British characters sounded Australian, and the Australians sounded like caricature Aussie’s. The way in which this duet was written – language and slang wise – we forgot we were in London as there was no true British feel. This was such a shame as it impacted our enjoyment -you see – we love to feel like we’re in the moment with our characters with that important believability and the ‘lack of’ in this regard did affect our reading. The second issue was the high number of spelling and grammatical errors.

“I fucked up, but I won’t lose you over this. I can’t.”

Lesley Jones wrote a story about two people – Liam and Sarah – that’s so incredibly honest and gripping. Where we’ve come from, what we’ve been through and how we measure the importance of people, wants and needs which all shape our actions and ultimately have consequences, be they good or bad. Actions speak louder than words and what’s important to one person may not be so for another. Human behaviour can be ugly in its beauty and beautiful in its ugliness. Life isn’t perfect, people aren’t perfect. Contradictions showed LIFE and we loved it!

“The moment I saw your face, I was yours. From that moment on, my heart only beat for you.”