SCARLET STONE by JEWEL E ANN

‘Not every day is a parade with fireworks, but every breath counts.’

We didn’t need any convincing to pick up this book. Jewel E Anne has become a firm favourite author of ours and has never disappointed in providing entertaining, enthralling, funny, emotional, suspenseful and passionate stories that always manage to grip us. When she challenges us to ‘step outside of your box’, in her latest read, you can bet we’re there! This was such a beautiful quotable book…wow…we highlighted like crazy!

‘I miss the touch of love: a gentle hand wrapped around mine, an embrace to hold me together on the days I feel like I’m falling apart, lips ghosting along my skin, a whisper of forever, a smile signifying my presence makes another human feel happy.’

We went in with no preconceived ideas or expectations, instead allowing the author to completely lead us with her story and what a story it was! It was nothing like we had anticipated but we’re all about the surprises in our reads and we loved that about it. We feel it’s important to remind you to go into this book without spoilers. Trust us, you’ll love the twists and turns.

‘Sometimes silence holds more meaning than words, and love…it’s infinitely impossible to define, but unequivocally without any doubt, the reason we are here.’

This is a difficult review to write because we don’t want to allude to anything that could be a spoiler. This story was undoubtedly intriguing from the start. There were twists that left us gobsmacked, some we saw coming but we still experienced their impact no less.

“Fuck you, Scarlet Stone. Fuck you for taking my heart.”

We have to admit, we did struggle to connect with Scarlet to begin with and the repetitiveness grated on us a little. Initially, it was Theo and Nolan who were the driving force behind us turning the pages. They were the ones whose story and character grabbed our attention, however we did warm to Scarlet and wanted to know her and what she was about and yeah……we didn’t see THAT coming!

Theo and Scarlet are both such broken characters. They meet when Scarlet flees England back to her roots in Savannah. She takes up an opportunity to house share with Theo, a brooding, bad tempered bear of a man with scars and baggage a mile long. Both Scarlet and Theo plan to live there for six months and then move on. Theo, to finally put the past behind him and do something he feels must be done. Scarlet, for her own reasons which we won’t divulge here.

‘Beneath the brute anger, jagged words, and threats, Theodore Reed is a sad man. What does he see when he looks into my eyes? I can’t find myself. I no longer see my own reflection in the mirror. It’s unimaginable that he sees anything beyond my dark skin and unruly hair.’

We really had no idea where this story was headed. We were scratching our heads wondering if it was an otherworldly story (it wasn’t), and soon came to realise this was a story about living, healing and believing in miracles, small and large. It reminded us to grab life and believe in love. Love, the most powerful, the most beautiful, and at times, the most cruelest emotion of them all. Love can be simple, it can be testing, and it is always a contradiction. Lies, deceit, the explainable and the unexplainable are all to be found in Scarlet Stone.

‘Love is indiscriminate in its path – healing some people while destroying others.’

As the pieces of the puzzle fell into place, we were left open mouthed, our struggles with the beginning somewhat forgotten as Jewel E Anne’s voice broke free, propelling us to give ourselves over to this inspirational, beautiful, sad, heartfelt, passionate and intriguing story. Our hearts beat with love and hope.

There was much we loved about this story and some things we felt hindered our enjoyment. The British vernacular felt quite cheesy and dated at times, as well as exaggerated in certain places. It belied her background, location and experience which perhaps is one of the reasons we struggled at times to identify and connect with Scarlet. Although in saying that, Jewel E Anne has overall once again proved why we will continue to embrace her stories. Her characters charm their way into our hearts, they obliterate them and heal them. Her stories move us and she always manages to inject humour into the saddest and brutal of times!

‘Love is a brutal emotion. That’s how I’m certain, beyond a shadow of a doubt, it’s our sole purpose in life. Love is the heartbeat of our existence – the essence of our humanity.’