Lifers by Jane Harvey-Berrick

Lifers by Jane Harvey-Berrick

I don’t exactly know where to start with Torrey and Jordan’s story.

It will take something very special to shake this story from my memory, it was quite simply outstanding.

Life can deal you a crap hand and be a cruel bitch when it wants to be but what makes us who we are is our ability to deal with those events.

I felt that although this was a romance story it was more of a life lesson. It was about compassion, forgiveness and acceptance. Traits that we sometimes have difficulty understanding but more often than not ones that we have an even greater difficulty exhibiting to others.

I absolutely loved the characters, I felt for them both but Jordan, my heart broke for him. He was every inch a broken soul, he had nothing and no-one, his only role to fulfil was that of the town pariah.

Feeling that he was worthy of their hatred because he hated himself, Jordan wanted nothing, he lived for nothing, he planned for nothing, his future was nothing…. getting the drift yet.

He was convinced that he was worthless because not only did he feel it inside but every minute of every day it was rammed down his throat by the narrow minded bigots that couldn’t see that he was suffering as much as they were.

They may have lost a friend but he lost his brother and felt like he had a lifetime to atone for that sin.

Torrey had her own heartbreak – left by her mother when she was 13, she found it difficult to understand why her mother had chosen God over her – surely God wouldn’t want her to be alone, he would want her Mum to be with her. Obviously not!

A free spirit she had walked out of her previous job when an ill-fated relationship with her boss hit the skids and with nowhere to go she faced her past and rocked up in rural Texas to stay her Mum.

Torrey had no idea what the situation was with Jordan when she first encounters him in the book but the way she stands up to his treatment, gives the reader an insight into just what type of person she is. Whatever else is going on with her, her heart is most definitely in the right place.

Torrey and Jordan’s relationship is as volatile and it is beautiful and she pushes him all the way to stand up for himself. The way she does it may be more than a little unorthodox on occasion but she wants him to see that he has a place to be, something to give and people who will be there for him no matter what.

The extended family relationships, both Jordan’s and Torrey’s are dysfunctional to say the least but in Jordan’s case unresolved grief can do that to people. It was difficult to read but unfortunately true to life.

I found the tone of the book sincere and while I have read some comments with regards to use of local dialect, I found it was pertinent and did not distract me as the reader from the essence of the story.

The moral of the book came full circle in the end and the story was drawn to a beautiful conclusion by Jane, she proved that although the relationship between Torrey and Jordan was fundamentally intense and based on love.

A truly outstanding novel and one that will stay with me for a very long time. Fabulous work Ms Harvey-Berrick.

Rating 5 out of 5 ( outstanding)