Synopsis
There’s no emotion greater than fear.
No ache greater than grief.
No sound greater than silence.
***
I’m grateful he showed up on my doorstep,
pissed off and angry at the world.
If he hadn’t, I wouldn’t be here.
And I don’t just mean here on this journey with him.
I mean here, in this world.
*
I wonder what events in all our lives—hers included—are The Turning Points? The points where we all determine that the fear of our pasts and the uncertainty of our futures are greater than our need for happiness.
Here.
Now.
While time and everything around us stands unmoving… who’s to say we can’t have it all?
***
We wanted it all.
We wanted it with each other.
We thrived on the chaos we created.
And ignored the Mayhem that ensued.
Because falling in love was easy.
But sometimes, love isn’t enough.
ARC was kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Ez volt a hetedik könyvem Jay McLean-től. És ez volt az eddigi legtökéletesebb. Ahogy haladtam előre az írónő köteteivel, egyre komolyabb érzelmi húrokat tudtak megpendíteni a lelkemben. Ez már a Kick Push olvasásakor is megfogalmazódott bennem, ez a kötet pedig egyenesen a padlóra küldött. Igazán tökéletes zárása volt a sorozatnak, habár titkon reménykedek benne, hogy nem ez lesz a vég, hogy nem kell még elbúcsúznom a karakterektől, hogy jön még „több”.
Azt hiszem így az utolsó kötet után megállapíthatom, hogy ennek a sorozatnak a lelkét, nem is a cselekmények, vagy a mély gondolatok adták, hanem maguk a szereplők. Az írónő olyan karaktereket tudott megalkotni, amelyek örök nyomot hagytak bennem és soha nem fogom őket elfelejteni. Mindenkinek megvolt a maga szerepköre. Logan a nagyszájú nőcsábász, Cam az odaadó hősszerelmes, Jake a humoros legjobb barát, Lucy a nimfomániás könyvmoly (részeg Lucy volt a kedvenc karakterem az összes kötetből. :)), Amanda és Mikayla a vicces, belevaló, inspirálóan erős női karakterek, Heidi a szépségkirálynő, és akkor elérkeztünk Dylanhez. Dylan volt az, aki mindig rejtélyes volt, a csendes megfigyelő, aki viszont ha egyszer-egyszer megszólalt, az mindig feledhetetlen volt. Róla szinte csak annyit tudtunk, hogy ő volt az „Operation Mayhem”-ek fő kitalálója (ugratások), és hogy egyik napról a másikra otthagyta a főiskolát és bevonult a tengerészgyalogságba, hogy az életével a hazája védelmét szolgálja.
Éppen ezért nagyon kíváncsi voltam rá, hogy mi történik, ha „az ő hangját” is halljuk. És igen, ez a könyv igazán mély volt, komoly volt, fájdalmas volt és nem utolsó sorban szerethető volt. Nem hittem, de Dylan Banks bizony szintén kedvenc karakterré vált, és ez a kötet talán még a More Than Forever-nél is jobban tetszett.
Egy balul sikerült bevetés után Dylan hazaérkezik Afganisztánból orvosi eltávra. Hazaérkezik, mégsem találja a helyét, az otthonát. Nem tud aludni, és nem találja azt a bizonyos „nyugalmat”. Aztán az otthon érzését a legváratlanabb helyen találja meg. Egy olyan lány szívében, aki szintén küzd a démonaival, a gyásszal, a fájdalommal, együtt mégis egy gyönyörű, tiszta békére találnak. A kettejük utazása nem könnyű, tele van bukkanókkal és fájdalommal, de mégis gyönyörű és minden küzdelmet megér.
Ez a könyv komolyabb volt, mint az előzőek, ugyanakkor Dylan humora és a „csapat” ismét sok hangosan felnevetős pillanatot varázsolt a kötetbe, és talán ez alkalommal volt az eddigi legtöbb „Mayhem”, amelyek viccesebbnél viccesebbek voltak. Nagyon tetszett Dylan családja is, rajtuk is sokat nevettem.
De talán ami a legnagyobb kedvencem volt az egész kötetben, azok a levelek az üvegben. Igazán sokat adtak a könyvhöz. Némelyik vicces volt, némelyik összetörte a szívem, de imádtam őket.
Összefoglalásként csak annyit mondhatok, hogy mindenkinek nagyon ajánlom ezt a sorozatot, amelynek Jay McLean egy tökéletes lezárást tudott adni. Ez a kötet egy gyönyörű utazás volt keresztül háborún, szerelmen, életen.
My review in English
This was my seventh book from the author. And this was the most perfect one. As I proceeded with her books she could pull more and more serious emotional strings in me. I already felt this way while I read Kick Push but this book could absolutely devastate me. This was the perfect closure for the series but I secretly wish that this will be not the end, that I don’t have to say goodbye to the characters, and that will come “more”.
After reading the last part of the series I can say that what truly give the soul for these books was not the plotline or the deep thoughts, but the characters. Jay McLean could create so brilliant cast of characters who left a mark in my heart forever and who I will never forget. Every one of them had their role in the books. Logan was the handsome womanizer, Cam was the selfless prince charming, Jake was the humorous best friend, Lucy the nymphomaniac bookworm girl (drunk Lucy was my favorite character :)), Amanda and Mikayla were the funny, badass, inspiring, strong female characters, Heidi was the prom queen and finally we arrived to Dylan. Dylan was always the mysterious, silent observer but when he sometimes spoke it was always memorable. Almost all that we knew about him was that he was the master of the “Operation Mayhems” and that one day he left the college and he enlisted to the Marines to serve his country.
So I was really curious about him and this book, when we finally could “hear his voice”. And I have to tell you guys that his “voice” is so beautiful and meaningful! This book was really deep, really serious, and painful and last but not least truly lovable. I wouldn’t guess but Dylan Banks also became my favorite character and I loved this book maybe even more than More Than Forever.
After something happened with Dylan he comes home from Afghanistan. He comes back to his house, to his family, but he doesn’t finds his place, his home. He can’t sleep, and he doesn’t find his “calm”. Finally he finds the feel of home in the most unexpected place. In a girl’s heart who fights her own daemons, with the grief, with the pain, but together they find a beautiful, pure peace. The journey of them is not easy it is full with pain, with bumps, but it is worth every fight.
This book was more serious than the former ones but Dylan’s sense of humor and the “gang” could bring into this story a lot of funny moments, when I laughed really hard. Also in this book were the most “Mayhems” which were so funny. I really loved Dylen’s family, too, they also made me smile a lot.
But maybe my most favorite things in this book were the letters in the jars. These add a lot to the story. Some of it was funny, some of it broke my heart but I truly loved them.
For the summary I can’t say more than I highly recommend this series for everyone, and Jay McLean found a way to a perfect closure. This book was a beautiful journey through war, trough love, through life.
My Favorite Quotes From the Book
“You’ll always be the boy who changed my course in life. The one who changed ME. The one who gave me a reason to look for something more than just the “enough” I was struggling to get through.”
“We run.
We jump.
We fall.
Deeper.
Harder.
In love”
“And for the first time since he knocked on my door—angry and pissed off at the world—we found what we were looking for. And it sure as hell wasn’t in the bottom of a bottle.
It was in each other.
We found the horizon.
He found his calm.
And I found my reality.”
“I look over at the full bottle of wine on my nightstand.
“No,” he says, his finger on my chin, making me face him again. “Let me be your alcohol. Let me dull your pain.”
“If I told you to jump, would you ask how high? Or would you just jump? If there were no reason behind it, would you still take the leap? What if I told you that at the end, there would be nothing? What if you made a splash on the world and lived in an eternal state of floating? Would you make waves? What if you couldn’t float? What if air lost the battle, and you lost the war? Would you want to know what was on the other side? Would you care? Or would you just jump… because I was the one who asked you?”
“You’re such a shitty liar.”
“Am not.”
“Okay Mr. I wasn’t playing basketball in the house, Grandma’s spirit broke her own urn!”
A chuckle bubbles out of me. “Shut up. Totally happened.”
“Sure.”
“It’s selfish—I know—but I don’t want to speak. I don’t want to ask. At least not yet. Because I know what will happen if I do. She’ll tell me the truth and will want the same from me. I’ll give it to her. Floodgates open. Snowball effect. And the next thing we know we’re in deep. Too deep.
I don’t want deep.
I want the horizon.
I want the calm.”
“I fell in like in my kitchen, surrounded by twenty wishes.
I fell in love in his garage, once when I kissed him, and then again when he wrote love on my arm.
I fell in forever right now, when a man I love put my happiness first and made me finally believe that I Am Worthy.”
“(…) I want to stop feeling nothing but despair when I think of him. I want to be stronger than that. I don’t want to feel like the horizon.”
His head tilts. “The horizon?”
“I feel like I’m the sky and the earth is reality. And the horizon… it’s just the sky and the earth appearing to touch, but they never do. I want to touch reality, Dylan. I want to live in it. I want to feel like I’m here… in this world, and not just floating around it.”
“Dylan: You know the rules of mayhem, right?
Logan: Retaliation. Fight or die, brother.
Lucy: Every little girl wishes for a pony. You got eleventy-three of them. What’s the big deal?
Cam: LOL.
Jake: Just so we’re clear, I knew nothing about this.
Amanda: LIES!
Mikayla: LIES!
Logan: Jake supplied us with the glitter and High School Musical poster. He won’t say how he got it, though.
Jake: Shut up.
Mikayla: Jake stopped liking Zac Efron after 17 Again.
Jake: Wow, babe. There’s a bus. Just throw me under it.
Lucy: Lol. It’s okay, Jake. Amanda told me she thinks about him when Logan’s on the bottom.
Logan: WTF!
Amanda: LIES!”
6- Semper Fidelis- Stars
About the Author
Jay McLean is an international best-selling author and full-time reader, writer of New Adult Romance, and most of all, procrastinator. When she’s not doing any of those things, she can be found running after her two little boys, playing house and binge watching Netflix.
She writes what she loves to read, which are books that can make her laugh, make her hurt and make her feel.
Jay lives in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, in a forever half-done home where music is loud and laughter is louder.
Connect with Jay:
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Email: jay@jaymcleanauthor.com
For publishing rights (Foreign & Domestic) Film, or television, please contact her agent Erica Spellman-Silverman, at Trident Media Group.
More Than Series
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