BEGIN WITH GOODBYE -- a summary and opinion

This book... Where to begin.

 

I'm torn between a 3 and a 4. A 3.5 perhaps? The story as a whole was good -- the idea, the plot, the characters...

 

....the ending.

 

And no, that's not one of those, "You know the best part of x-y-z? The end. Because it was done," comments. The ending was most definitely a brilliant twist to the story.

 

While the story was mostly predictable, I totally didn't see the very end coming -- and I'm usually pretty good at guessing the ending (...when I'm not being a crazy reader and reading the epilogue first, because ah-hmm... that'swhatIdoshhhdon'ttell).

 

So with that...

 

Publication Date: 6/30/2014

 

 

...one of my points in my notes for this book was that the cover did not pertain to the book. Well... the cover on my Kindle app is not that same as this one right here. THIS cover is remarkable and fits the story. My cover is a man and woman in periodic dress -- leading the reader to believe that perhaps the book takes place in the early 1900s, in England. So not the case. But this cover works.

 

Anywho.

 

BEGIN WITH GOODBYE is the story of Julian and Samantha, an ex-couple who's lives were uprooted in high school. Julian ended up marrying Samantha's sister after a disastrous night, and Samantha really couldn't forgive him of that. No sooner than they'd married, her sister was pregnant. Now, her sister's dead and Samantha is all too willing to voice the secrets of her family -- except the secrets she knows are only half-truths.

 

"The only way to appear clean is to hide the dirt. That's the way it's always been around here, and that's the way it will always be.

"My dinged and dented sedan putters along the picturesque road..."

What I like about that particular excerpt is that it shows what Samantha has come from -- that dirt is meant to be cleaned and swept under the rug; however, Samantha's dirt is on the surface -- her car is a prime example. It's great foreshadowing of the fact that Samantha is not afraid to air the so-called 'dirty laundry', and that she will be in a matter of moments.

Julian confused me at points. In some instances, he seems like a strong Alpha-type male, but others... he's really, in my opinion, a strong Beta-type. He belittles himself and punishes himself for choices he's made in the past -- choices that, yes, were wrong to a degree, but on the flipside, were commendable.

 

Again, I found the majority of the book to be predictable. The pregnancy? Predictable. The fact Samantha hadn't done the math until Julian gave her the story... didn't give Samantha too many bright-points in my book. But regardless...

 

So for the sake of whole numbers, I will be giving this 3, 3.5 book, a 4 star. While it wasn't my favorite book, it was written well and had a strong core and idea behind it.

 

Buy it for Kindle.