Member Review

When I read Jackson's previous novel, Across the Hall, last year I remember being hooked by it purely through its characterisation. For me, this happened again with The Roads Left Behind Us. Jackson managed to write two very realistic characters that were endearing. I wanted to follow their day to day life, let alone the romance that developed between them, even if I thought the storyline itself wasn't particularly engaging.

This book has a very simplistic plot - Callie begins as a TA for Dr Kate Jory and sparks fly but both are worried about the repercussions of beginning a relationship due to their careers but also previous personal experience. This novel was engaging in the way it sets the scene. We are thrown into a pure Academic setting and as I've worked in this space for a number of years now I really liked reading a book set in a way that feels very realistic to this type of environment.

Another aspect that I really liked was the writing style. Kat Jackson had a beautiful way of words within this. It read easily and it was exceptionally written. I particularly loved reading the example pieces from Callie's work at 'Sapphisms'. They were gorgeous pieces of literature.

Overall, I really enjoyed this novel due to the exceptional writing, the slow development of our main characters and their romance, as well as the academic setting.

Many thanks to Netgalley and Bella Books for a copy of this novel. ARC provided in exchange for an honest review.