Cover Image: The Beginning and End of Us

The Beginning and End of Us

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Member Reviews

Aphrodite, blissfully living in the Forge of Hearthfire, a forest realm of dream-like existence, realizes she is in love with her best friend. In the next moment, she finds herself sent outside the gate to the outside world - set out on her Path to fulfill her destiny as the Keeper of Love.

As a Keeper, her purpose is to be a conduit of love. To exist for love. To bring, find, share and BE love.

Aphrodite’s path leads her on journeys across the world. She floats effortlessly from place to place, landing short term odd jobs, letting her path take her to where she is meant to be, and to whom she is meant to love.

As a Keeper, the loves she finds in Hidden Heart, Wanderer, Fighter, Country Boy, are special, passionate and real; forever in her heart, but not forever lasting. With each love, there is music. Songs that come to her and help her through the tough moments and lift her in the joyous ones.

And then one day, love meets music, and Aphrodite’s purpose takes on a whole new significance.

James’ descriptive, expressive, lyrical writing builds and blends an enchanting world of surreal pleasure of the senses with a magical mournful melancholy. Colorfully illustrating the sights, sounds and tastes of all the places of Aphrodite’s journey, James captivates the reader. I could envision everything so clearly and was easily mesmerized.

The Beginning and End of Us is an enchanting, spellbinding read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Bookouture for the read of Rose James’, The Beginning and End of Us.

The opinions expressed in my reviews are my own.

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The Beginning and End of Us is not my typical read, at all. I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bookouture for an honest review. I love to delve into a book that I normally would not read. I really appreciated the authors writing style. It is a story about a supernatural being who is the Keeper of Love. She is on a journey to find her ONE, real love. It is about love and self discovery. The reader experiences many of Aphrodite's love encounters and how she believes each person is her true love. The words grip you, the emotions are vivid. Rose James wrote a very creative book and did an excellent job making the words on the pages come alive. I feel the best audience for this book would be high school students, college students or young adults who have recently experienced a broken heart. I am having a difficult time on what to rate this book. I am going to give it 3 stars because of the topic but there is no doubt for the right person it could be given 4 stars.

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The story felt like watching an art film. Which one likes, even feels magical at times however it leaves you lost and wondering. This story had love in heaps, magic of life and it's beautiful coincidences, pain too. This is a story which has no starts no ends, it just is and will speak to maybe some hidden, forgotten parts of your soul.

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The Beginning and End of Us by Rose James is a beautifully written story that gripped me from page one. It’s definitely a departure from what I like to read which is suspense and thrillers.

Here’s what you need to know:

I wish it didn’t have to be this way, I thought, willing the thought to fly to you so you’d know how hard it was to leave you behind. That was the night I lost you, and gained myself.

Born in a honeysuckle-choked garden deep in the forest, Aphrodite – young, sensitive and beautiful – learns her true purpose in the world moments before she’s cast out of the only home she’s ever known.

Haunted by loneliness, she begins a journey to fulfill her destiny. It is a path that will lead her into the arms of four very different men – a dreamer, a fighter, an artist and a lost soul. All human, all flawed and all on their own journeys of painful self-discovery.

But could it be the secrets she left behind – and the one person she thought she had lost forever – that hold the answers to the questions she’s seeking? For while life may take you unexpected places, the truth will bring you home…

An unputdownable, life-affirming epic, filled with ordinary yet extraordinary people, The Beginning and End of Us is a magical story in which you will recognize yourself, from the sweetness of a rain-drenched first kiss to the terrible pain when you realize it’s finally over.

One word to describe this story: magical.

Due out on November 21.

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