This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
REVIEWED BY
DEBS CARR
Logan Barnes, son of wealthy but disinterested parents becomes friendly with Johnny Stokes, whose home life seems to be the epitome of his own. When Johnny’s parents and disabled brother are killed in an accident, Logan’s parents become his guardian. The boys qualify for Harvard, where they meet and share rooms with Nicolo Flores, a boy who has secretly worked to make enough money to cover his college fees. The three become inseparable, taking a summer trip to L’Isle des Violettes, an island that Logan has dreamed of all his life, and a place where the three vow to make their fortunes.
Nicolo meets and falls in love with Maryanne, a troubled girl with her own personal demons and a deprived past from which she’s desperate to escape. He keeps her to himself and together they plan for their future, that is, until Logan sees her for the first time and decides she is the woman he is going to marry.
Nicolo’s world is turned upside down when he finds Maryanne and Logan together. He can’t believe that the two people closest to him have betrayed him, and when Logan and Johnny agree to buy Nicolo off, he has no choice but to walk away and watch from a distance as his former friends build up a fortune that should also have been his. Vowing to exact his revenge on the man he holds responsible for taking away his dreams, Nicolo sets in motion events that shatter many lives.
Nicolo and Logan are two men who know what they want and are determined to get it. Over the years each has their score to settle against the other and becomes consumed by the need to do so. Nicolo uses other people, both innocent and not so innocent, as pawns against Logan. They in turn get caught up in the repercussions of their actions and ultimately end up exacting their own vengeance against both men.
This cleverly constructed book with each of the characters’ stories interwoven neatly through the main plot takes you through the lives of spoilt, wealthy families, whose actions have created pain and loss for those closest to them. The extent of their destructive behaviour filters through to people they hadn’t even considered, but who will be the ones to determine whether Nicolo and Logan fail to seek the result they’ve been working so aggressively towards.
I loved the different world this book created and was absorbed by each character’s anguish and need to achieve their personal goals. I could see this book being made into a film, as the story takes you from the formation of Logan and Nicolo’s dreams to the catastrophic ending, and ultimately to the last page when one final twist is revealed.
An absorbing 9/10