BOOK REVIEW| LOOKING GLASS FRIENDS | E.L. NEVE

Title: Looking Glass Friends Author: E.L. Neve Publication date: 5 December 2016 My rating: ★★★★ Goodreads rating: 4.13 Pages: 454 Genre: Letters & Correspondence/Contemporary Romance

“The man lying on the bed did not care that his room had grown dark. In the dying sunset the gun in his hand became a logical conclusion to his thoughts, an inevitable means to his bitter end. He had sworn an oath to himself two years ago, and the words walked with him like a second shadow ever since: ‘I swear not to draw out my life. When disgust and boredom are all that’s left, I’ll end this.’”

Thus begins the story of an atypical romance with twists that will surprise readers. The year was 1997, and there is Neil, holding a gun ready to end this life. Until he remembers her face, but who is she? She was Ellie, a customer that would come to Neil’s bakery every morning to buy her son some cream puffs. Thinking of her face, Neil reconsiders and puts the gun away.

Ellie and Neil fell in love over email, discussing the novel, Atlas Shrugged. Neither remembered the other’s face clearly. Both were married already, and she had a five-year-old son, but in the span of a few letters each discovered his soul's mirror-image. So how could they live apart?

Looking Glass Friends: A Novel Inspired by Real Love Letters is intense and the kind of work that will awaken powerful emotions in readers. As one reads on, the need to find out what happens at the end becomes very strong. Will the married woman leave her husband and five-year-old child for a stranger who makes her feel awesome? E.L. Neve will toy with your emotions until the last page of this brilliant novel.

This is a great book with fantastic character development. I was deeply engrossed and involved into getting to the next chapter and seeing what would be the outcome of this love story. Kudos to the author because Neil and Ellie’s love story was written with soul and emotion. This book is full of a romance that you want to succeed. Seeing how two people were meant to be but stuck in situations that didn’t allow them was very sad indeed. I couldn’t put the book down. It was absolutely beautifully written by E.L Neve!

While Neil is happy because of his e-mails with Ellie, his wife Fay is conflicted; although she is happy that he is slowly coming back to life, she knows that it is not her doing, but another woman’s. This sense of inner conflict repeats itself in other characters in the novel, as they must decide whether the chances they take are worth the risks they pose. The author wrote an incredible story that tugged at your heartstrings.

One of the other things that I loved about this book was that it reinforced a relationship, and the bond that you create with your partner should make you strive to be better, to never cease learning, and above all, to grow old together.