Review: Before and Ever Since – Sharla Lovelace

EMILY LOCKWOOD, YOUR PAST IS SHOWING…

Emily Lockwood has been sitting on a secret for so long, and buried so deep that she really doesn’t even think of it anymore. Why should she? She has a successful career, an ex-husband who rarely tests her patience, a mother who usually does, and a stubbornly independent grown daughter. Everything is fine, just another crazy kind of normal.
Until Ben Landry comes back to town. From childhood friends to young lovers, Ben and Emily had an unbreakable bond. Or so she thought—until he disappeared for over twenty years without explanation. Seeing Ben again triggers more than mere memories and a tug at her heart. It rips the cover off an old secret that could hurt the people she loves most.
While Emily works to keep her secret safe and her heart safer, her sanity gets a reality check. She’s been seeing things—her past played out like home movies unreeling before her eyes, visions that are making Emily see herself, her family, everyone she knew, and every choice she made, in a revealing new light and a startling new angle. For Emily, seeing her life in rewind makes her realize she has hard choices to make for her future. Choices that may redefine everyone else’s future as well.

Series:
Release Date:  November 6, 2012
Publisher:  Berkley Trade
Source:  Lit Connect Book Tours
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

Emily Lockwood’s been hiding a secret for the past twenty one years.  A secret she never worried about coming out, until her mother put her house up for sale, her ex-best friend arrived back in town and Emily suddenly starts taking trips down memory lane courtesy of her childhood home.

Sharla Lovelace is a gifted storyteller.  She creates characters that are very down-to-earth, flawed and understand that there isn’t a fairy tale happily ever after waiting for them at the end.  They’re ok with things being good or just OK.

Emily must deal with her mother’s decision to sell her childhood home and the sudden flashbacks she starts having when she enters certain rooms in the house.  The flashbacks tell the story of not only what her mother did for the sake of their family, but shows Emily what she didn’t see in some of her teenage and young adult interactions with Ben Landry, along with the final moments of her father’s life.  The flashbacks help Emily (and us) understand some of the secrets that have been kept within her family and give her some clarity as to why certain events happened in her life.

In Before and Ever Since, we get a story that is messy and doesn’t tie up with a beautify bow at the end.   As Emily deals with the reappearance of her best friend Ben Landry, she finds herself dealing with feelings she thought had been long buried.  She bounces back and forth between being nice to Ben to being down right ugly to him.   Behind it all is her confusion over her feelings as well as her apprehension that the secret she’s long held buried will blow up now that Ben is back.   As a reader, you are right there with Emily, feeling her confusion and pain at every interaction she has with Ben.  It’s raw, it’s gritty and it’s not tied up with a pretty bow, which makes it feel so very real.

I loved the story and I love the characters.  The story and the characters will grab you from the first page, demanding that we go on this journey with them.  It was a journey I’m glad I took.  I look forward to reading more from Sharla Lovelace in the future.