Review: Force of Nature by Sydney Logan
IN A GLANCE: Eyes will be opened, whilst the eye of the storm passes overhead.
Title: Force of Nature
Author: Sydney Logan
Publisher: Williams Creek Press
Format: Kindle
Pages: 52
When a storm strikes, Laura is trapped in the library basement with her crush Aiden. Will the time spent together make them both admit their feelings for each other or will it destroy them like the storm consuming their town?
When asked to review this, I must
admit I was rather excited. I have been looking at this author for a while and
she has been on my ‘to read’ list for too long!
The plot is rather simple, but is all
the more excellent for this as there are no complications that could add
unnecessary waffle to the plot. Two lovers, both too shy to admit their love
for the other, are trapped in the basement of the campus library during a
storm. A big storm which, on leaving their shelter, they discover has left a
trail of destruction that will take months to repair. Like something you could
read about in a newspaper, Logan then weaves in this delightful and incredibly
powerful love story, with the most perfect gentleman I’ve read in text for a
long time!
I’m at a loss really with how to
describe what I like about this book, because it really was so much of a
pleasure to read that for once I am quite speechless. One wonderful thing I
feel needs mentioning is the skill of Logan to tell such a brilliant and
developed story in such a small amount of pages. Straight away the reader knows
the key information that is necessary to engage with the story, there’s no
waffle, Logan packs a punch from the start, which is why I think I find it so
engaging. I loathe books that could spend the entire first 50 pages setting the
scene, but Logan does that, in plenty of detail, in the first 50 words! Rarely
have a encountered an author with such talent for hooking a reader into the
story so quickly, and so completely.
The characters are also fantastically
written. Although we only meet Chloe very briefly, I found myself, without
prompting from the story, concerned for her safety out there in the storm. But
the real focus is Laura and Aiden, and boy are they well written. Similar on
the surface, but oh so different underneath, the perfect (to me at least!)
combination for a literary couple. They’re very engaging as well, you instantly
associate with Laura and feel that you know her like you know some of your
friends, even though you only met her a few minutes ago. It’s another testament
to Logan’s story telling ability that she makes you invest so much in
characters that you encounter for such a short time. It’s really quite
remarkable. When you add to that mix her wonderful grasp of the balance between
intimacy and the development of the story, I am left speechless by the skill
she possesses!
Another aspect of this book that most
definitely deserves a mention is the atmosphere Logan creates during the storm.
Being an English woman through and through, extreme weather is pretty hard to
come by. I love a good storm, but for us that is just a few loud bangs of
thunder, one (or two if we’re very lucky) big flashes of lightning and a whole
load of flash flooding. So for me, the concept of storm shelters, tornadoes and
towns being levelled in seconds is very hard to grasp. However, Logan writes
the atmosphere of this event so wonderfully that even I, with no experience of
this weather, felt like I could understand the terror and panic that would
possess you in that situation. I was biting my nails just like Laura and
curling up into a tiny ball (much to my mother’s amusement might I add!) so
that the storm wouldn’t see me. Stupid, I know, but it was so well written I
actually felt like I was there in the basement and I needed to hide from this
big, bad storm overhead. I felt totally in the moment, which is yet another
testament to the skill that Logan possesses!
In conclusion, I suppose there’s
nothing more to say. This story was a delight to read, thoroughly enjoyable and
one I will most definitely, whole heartedly be recommending to my friends.
There really is nothing more to say than to tell you to go get a copy and get
reading!
Slowly but surely, our town was coming back to life. So was I, which was a good thing, because I was officially head over heels in love. I think I always had been, and it had just taken something as monumental as nearly losing our lives to put things into proper perspective for both of us. We’d wasted a lot of time, and now that we’d been given a grim reminder that life is far too short, we decided from that moment on not to waste one single second.
I would give Force of Nature an Ali's Bookshelf
Exceedingly well written and a
delight to read, I only wish it were longer!
Plot : 18/20 – A romantic twist to
the traditional boy meets girl romance.
Characters: 20/20 – Very likeable and
easy to invest emotions in.
Writing: 20/20 – Incredibly
well written and very easy to read.
Creativity: 18/20 – A twist on the
usual, but still well versed in classical romance, fantastic balance.
Ending: 9/10 – I didn’t want it to
end! But it was lovely J
Cover: 9/10 – Eye catching and
definitely something you would pick up!
If you like this, you would like:
Mountain Charm by Sydney Logan is
another delight to read. There is a little snippet of this book at the end of
my copy of Force of Nature that has me truly hooked into this story.
Karla Darcy is another author who
writes romance with a twist, weaving the delicate emotions of love and lust
into unusual settings throughout history. She has a whole range of books
available on amazon for kindle, some under $1 so well worth a look!
This book was reviewed for a blog tour, below is the beautiful banner for the tour.
