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Recently I was sent an ARC of Talania by Crystal Spears. This is a New Adult Romance book. The story sounded tragic and all-consuming and I just knew I would love it. Boy was I right. This book grabbed me and reeled me in. Not only that, but I had to not wear mascara for 2 days thanks to the amount of tears I shed. Seriously! So, let me tell you a bit more.
Synopsis
Evelyn Beaumont can’t remember anything from the time she was 14 until she was 19. She lost five years of her life because of brain cancer. Now she is a 20 years old survivor and enrolled in college, determined to reclaim her life. There she meets Tristan Monroe, but it isn’t the first time they’ve met. In fact, Tristan and Evelyn were once in love. It was a love so strong that it shattered him when, after the three years they had spent together, she never came back to Laguna.
Evelyn wants nothing more than to have her memories back. With the help of Tristan and his brother Drake, they take Evelyn on an emotional journey filled with videos, photos, and memorabilia…a walk down memory lane.
While they stroll down memory lane, Evelyn must learn to deal with Tristan’s rock star fame and the ever-present groupies. She struggles to find herself and to learn to love again.
Is their love strong enough to overcome the memory loss? Is it strong enough to survive whatever comes their way? Will all the proof Tristan shares with her be enough to show her how deeply they loved each other? Will love find Evelyn once again?
Brain cancer… yep, brain cancer. Wow is all I can say. As the synopsis explains, Evelyn (or Ev) loses memories thanks to this cancer. You see, her doctors had to remove the tumor that, in layman’s terms, sat on her memories. I felt such a huge loss for Ev. Can you imagine losing years of your life. Just think about that for a minute… years of your life are gone. You don’t remember people, places, events. You can’t remember your friends, what you enjoyed, or in Evelyn’s case who you loved. She lost her first kiss and her first time being with her lover.
The Characters
Evelyn is our main female character. You meet her at college and are instantly brought up to speed on her condition. Her awesome roommate Adella is like a breath of fresh air. She brings Ev into the present and drags her out to have some fun. Ev goes through so much in this novel. She is one heck of a fighter. I just felt so much love for her. I wanted to hug her and try to take away her pain. I was so impressed with her willingness to learn all she lost. I think that process would scare me! I was also so happy with how willing she was to accepting her past as her present… Tristan. She may not remember him with her mind, but she is accepting of the fact that her heart loves him and knows him. I found her willingness to love him so quickly a bit hard to swallow (more than the cancer taking her memories). I mean it is a true LOVE story because she loves him even though she doesn’t know him but it struck me as a bit much how quickly she went from not trusting and knowing him to loving him unconditionally.
Tristan is our main male character. Oh Tristan. Poor Tristan is so lost at the beginning of this story. But, he is the *best* boyfriend there ever could be. Why? Well, he made a promise to Ev years before and, even though he thought she left him, he stuck to it. He loved her despite what he thought she had done. He thought she left without telling him… that she just decided to break all ties and disappear. He still wanted to be with her. He still hung on to her memory and loved her despite all that. Ahhh, true romantic. Right? Tristan helps Ev regain her memories by sharing them with her. She and he were an intense couple and thankfully, were great about keeping those memories forever with videos. You get to see the transition of Tristan to this broken soul to the most stand-up human being. He sticks by Ev more than any man could ever be expected to do. I just love him!!
There are a few other characters that I want to mention. Drake is Tristan’s brother and he plays a huge role in this book as well. He is the backbone of this couple. Whenever there is anything happening, Drake is there to help them out and pull them together. It is Drake’s doing that they even have all those memories to see. He got them and left the couple to get to know each other. He is a great brother to both of them, even if he is only related to Tristan. He has memories with Ev too and he is more than happy to share them with her and create new ones. I am hoping we see more of Tristan in the future!
I mentioned Adella above. I think she is just awesome. You couldn’t ask for a better best friend. She is accepting of all Ev tells her and she stands by her side throughout all the pain she goes through in this story.
Finally, the last character I want to mention is Ev’s mom. This woman is a true witch. She robbed Ev and Tristan of so much. The worst part? She has no remorse. I grew to despise her throughout the story.
Final Thoughts
I read this story in just two days. I was engrossed. I was in love with the characters and I needed to know how they would do. I was worried from time to time that the HEA (happily ever after) wasn’t going to happen but Crystal Spears was able to bring it all back to a good place. There were many episodes of tears on my part, both happy and sad. I was hooked and felt such emotion for the characters.
If I am going to give this one stars, I would give it 4.5/5. If I were being honest, I think the things that brought it down are the amount of whining Ev did, the quickness of the love as I mentioned above, and the language the characters used. They seemed much older than they were supposed to be with the dialogue used. Do I recommend it? Heck yeah. Buy this book and read it. The things that bothered me may not be anything you notice and in the end, I don’t think they took away from the story so much as bothered me.
Buy Talania – A Trip Down Memory Lane
About Crystal Spears
Crystal D. Spears is a 28 year old mother of two. She loves to write, read, create, shop and photography. She currently resides in Indiana with her Fiancée and their two children, two fancy rats Max and Splinter and a pit named Dozer.
Where to find Crystal Spears
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
The Giveaway!!!
Disclosure: ToBeThode was given an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. ToBeThode is not responsible for giveaway as the author is providing prizes. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Affiliate links may be present.
Andrea Carpenter says
Thanks for the giveaway. I can’t wait to read.