Genre: New Adult (Science Fiction/ Romance)
Date Published: May 27, 2014
Publisher: AltWit Press
What if the woman you envied most is the person you are destined to become?
In 1994, high school senior David Foster was the lackey and soundboard geek for his best friend's grunge band. During spring break, the band lands a dream gig playing at a motel in Myrtle Beach, SC. David expected all the girls to ogle the guys on stage, but when a beautiful blond "Bond Girl" approaches him and calls him by name, he's shocked to find out she knows more about him than a stranger should.
She even knows about his notebooks and his visions of time travel.
What she thought was a quick time-travel-sightseeing trip takes a surprising turn when she meets the young adult version of the man she'd heard stories about as a child. His fairy-tale romance with the woman he'd loved, Layla, inspired her to accept nothing less than a love just as strong...but hopefully not as tragic. When she won't tell the younger version of him her name, he calls her Layla--and the world as she knows it changes forever.
Forever Layla by Melissa Turner Lee is a beautiful story of love, sacrifice, and time travel. The characters, Layla and David, are fully fleshed out in within this book. Knowing the future is a curse. Especially for Layla. Her duty to her family and ultimately the world astounds me. She carried it all on her shoulders. What a strong character! David was amazing too. His loyalty and dedication to Layla was never ending. The plot was gripping and flowed nicely. These were characters you could really grab onto. I believed them and their story. I felt entirely immersed into their lives as I read. I wanted it to be real. I loved that the time travel was to the more recent past. I enjoy a good book that travels back to the colonial days or the Victorian Era, but the 90's? I loved it! This is a time period I was around for. I remember all the music and the clothing. There was so much fun to be had in the 90's. I cried a couple of times too. Tears of sadness and tears of happiness. It was an emotional read on many levels for me. It also offered some pleasant surprises all along the way as the full picture gets pieced together. I wasn't expecting to be so completely captivated by Forever Layla, but that's just what happened. There are no other words. This is definitely one of my favorites of the year so far! This is one you definitely need to read!
The ARC of Forever Layla by Melissa Turner Lee was kindly provided to me by Juniper Grove for review. The opinions are my own.
Melissa Turner Lee is a stay-at-home mom of three of the CRAZIEST boys ever. She’s also the wife to a wonderful man she met when at 17, who is also the inspiration behind her awesome Painter series. Melissa has a degree in Journalism and Marketing, which she has never used. One day her husband sent her to the local book store for a day to herself. Melissa picked up Twilight by Stephenie Meyer and her life changed. She remembered being 17, falling in love. But most of all she remembered herself. She’d become “Mommy” and forgotten all about Melissa, the girl who dreamed of being a writer, but suddenly she remembered and the writing started. And It hasn’t stopped.
To learn more about Melissa Turner Lee and her books, visit her blog.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.
The ARC of Forever Layla by Melissa Turner Lee was kindly provided to me by Juniper Grove for review. The opinions are my own.
Layla looked down at her salad. “At least your mom cares about your future. She’s just trying to get you somewhere good in life before she lets go.”
“Maybe.”
“But she’s wrong about what you’ll become. You will never be a dentist.”
“Because I’m going to discover time travel. So you really are from the future.”
Layla leaned in closer to whisper, “Do you see how hard it is for me to let you pay for my meals? To let you so much as put a bandage on my knee when I can do it myself. If getting to the airport is all I needed to do to get back to my work and my life, don’t you think I’d do it?”
I leaned in to whisper, “So is this conformation that you really are from the future? That this isn’t a hoax?” I was so close to her again. Her fragrance was everywhere, filling my senses. I could feel her presence and it electrified the air between us. My heart raced as I stared into her eyes that were huge saucers of warm hot chocolate.
She was in the same trance, looking back at me and having trouble forming her sentence.
“I…can’t…tell…you.” She swallowed.
“I think you already did.” I knew in my heart I was having a moment. It was just like the flashes that I had to jot down in my notebooks. This wasn’t just the attraction between a guy and a pretty girl. This went deeper. This was more. She was my future. Just as much as that vision of how time travel would work. I was seeing into my future and all the potential that came with it.”
I leaned in closer. I didn’t want anyone to hear the craziness of what I was about to say. “What if you are Layla? THE Layla. What if you are the catalyst sent to get me on the path to my destiny? What if you and the time travel go hand-in-hand and there cannot be one without the other? You want me to accept that I’m never going to be a dentist. Well if all you are telling me is true, maybe you need to accept that you are never going back home. You are Layla.”
She pulled back and took in a quick breath at my last statement. She looked like she was going to speak but never did. Maybe she was having trouble processing the idea.
“If I’m to be a time traveler and it all starts with my great love for the beautiful Layla and you have shown up in my timeline and I automatically call you Layla. Then you must be Layla. You either believe the stories you were taught or you don’t. Or maybe you liked them better when they were for someone else and didn’t require anything from you.”
She said nothing as I watched her take it all in. Her blonde hair was messy from the ocean breeze by the pool, but I liked it like that. It reminded me of how she looked when she got up from bed. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I could hardly believe I was sitting at a table with someone like her.
It almost made her story unbelievable because there was no way that I’d end up with a woman like her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked, her eyes becoming even more wet with emotion.
“Like what?”
She blinked and swallowed. “Like I mean everything to you.”
I thought about her words and what she had told me about my future. I thought about the time travel I’d told no one about. I thought about the notebooks and the Cheerwine and Philo T. Farnsworth.
“Because maybe you do.”
“Maybe.”
“But she’s wrong about what you’ll become. You will never be a dentist.”
“Because I’m going to discover time travel. So you really are from the future.”
Layla leaned in closer to whisper, “Do you see how hard it is for me to let you pay for my meals? To let you so much as put a bandage on my knee when I can do it myself. If getting to the airport is all I needed to do to get back to my work and my life, don’t you think I’d do it?”
I leaned in to whisper, “So is this conformation that you really are from the future? That this isn’t a hoax?” I was so close to her again. Her fragrance was everywhere, filling my senses. I could feel her presence and it electrified the air between us. My heart raced as I stared into her eyes that were huge saucers of warm hot chocolate.
She was in the same trance, looking back at me and having trouble forming her sentence.
“I…can’t…tell…you.” She swallowed.
“I think you already did.” I knew in my heart I was having a moment. It was just like the flashes that I had to jot down in my notebooks. This wasn’t just the attraction between a guy and a pretty girl. This went deeper. This was more. She was my future. Just as much as that vision of how time travel would work. I was seeing into my future and all the potential that came with it.”
I leaned in closer. I didn’t want anyone to hear the craziness of what I was about to say. “What if you are Layla? THE Layla. What if you are the catalyst sent to get me on the path to my destiny? What if you and the time travel go hand-in-hand and there cannot be one without the other? You want me to accept that I’m never going to be a dentist. Well if all you are telling me is true, maybe you need to accept that you are never going back home. You are Layla.”
She pulled back and took in a quick breath at my last statement. She looked like she was going to speak but never did. Maybe she was having trouble processing the idea.
“If I’m to be a time traveler and it all starts with my great love for the beautiful Layla and you have shown up in my timeline and I automatically call you Layla. Then you must be Layla. You either believe the stories you were taught or you don’t. Or maybe you liked them better when they were for someone else and didn’t require anything from you.”
She said nothing as I watched her take it all in. Her blonde hair was messy from the ocean breeze by the pool, but I liked it like that. It reminded me of how she looked when she got up from bed. She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. I could hardly believe I was sitting at a table with someone like her.
It almost made her story unbelievable because there was no way that I’d end up with a woman like her.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” She asked, her eyes becoming even more wet with emotion.
“Like what?”
She blinked and swallowed. “Like I mean everything to you.”
I thought about her words and what she had told me about my future. I thought about the time travel I’d told no one about. I thought about the notebooks and the Cheerwine and Philo T. Farnsworth.
“Because maybe you do.”
To learn more about Melissa Turner Lee and her books, visit her blog.You can also find her on Goodreads, Facebook, and Twitter.
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I got an ARC of this book and loved it! My fingers are crossed :-)
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