Over the Edge

Hello, this is Heather! I was on holiday at a Scottish Island last week so bade goodbye to wi-fi except in Internet Cafes, which meant reading conditions were ideal. Sadly it also meant I couldn't post this review until now, so apologies for that. Hope you enjoy :) 

Author: L S May

Published: May 2016

Publisher: (unknown)

A friend of mine recommended that I try a mocha a couple of weeks ago and the experience was similar to reading this book. There were aspects in the mocha that I enjoyed immensely, such as the sprinkling of cocoa and familiar hot chocolate like taste, but ultimately the coffee left an aftertaste of the same bitterness that seven-year-old me felt when my brother beheaded my Barbie dolls (I got my revenge a few weeks after). It was then that I concluded that coffee just isn’t for me – however the incident was not one that I regretted, much like this book. The story goes like this: Cierra tries to commit suicide by jumping off a cliff, yet it just so happens that she falls into a portal instead. Here, she meets a lad named Justin, his boisterous brother-like companion, Zach and Ruth, who threatens her to return to her world and never come back. Naturally, the rebellion in Cierra dismisses this threat and she latches onto the first bit of light that she has felt in a long time by fishing notes through the portal to communicate with Justin. They soon open up to each other and Cierra attempts to ‘have a go’ at life despite home life being somewhat hard. This is a spoiler for those that do intend on reading the book, but in the end Ruth is revealed to be like the creepy mother from Coraline and acts in a rather psychopathic way. The book ends on the stereotypical ball scene in which Justin, who lost his memory along the way, dances with Cierra and recites various fluffy memories of their time together that happen to be drifting back to him.

To begin, I will address the chocolate and cream combo of the book. I read the book very quickly; I even declined an Uno game to finish it. The plot is far from dull, yet at the same time it is extremely easy to follow. I also really appreciated the fact that the author chose to focus on a few characters instead of introduce a new person on every page. The description of Cierra’s depression was very well written at points, this quote being my favourite; “It took her whole world and made it as cold and empty as the weight in her chest. It made the very air unwelcoming. And worst of all was the darkness. The way the sun never pierced the clouds, but struggled through, coming out weaker on the other side.” I found this an impressive way to demonstrate the affects of depression and give the reader some real imagery of the way 350 million people view the world. Like my mocha, the book was pretty cheap costing just a little over two quid and I did enjoy it so cannot complain. I feel that May has a lot of potential as an author, with such a creative storyline I will be looking out for her other books.

However, there were elements of the book that I thought could be improved. I know that in states of severe depression one can get caught in a rain cloud of their own to put it lightly, but Cierra came across as the epitome of selfish at times. No, I am not referring to how she tried to commit suicide just after a fight with her father: I get that at this point she was too distressed to care about the damage – or even consider herself worthy of causing any. I thought her kiss with Justin was, though, remarkably selfish and a little unrealistic. Someone with self-esteem as little as hers I thought odd to even initiate a first kiss, particularly after having broken down so much prior to it. Justin was not all that obvious about liking her in that manner, hence the very idea that she expected him to kiss her back and had not contemplated that she was not ‘good enough’ or ‘worthy’ or ‘his type’ when her depression and self-esteem were so extreme on both ends of the scale struck me as peculiar. After a while, they did get together, but to the reader it did seem a bit like Justin had no other choice. He explained that he just wasn’t sure how their relationship could work and did actually like her: but what would you do if after you rejected someone, they had tried to end their life? Moreover, if you were the person that had attempted suicide, would you believe the person that had rejected you prior? It all just seemed rather forced. I would like to read a book about depression that does not rely on a romantic relationship to make the other person ‘live happily’; a relationship is not the only way life can be beautiful. I also found that most of the book could do with more development; there were few paragraphs over three lines long, which meant that everything felt a bit rushed. For instance, Olivia seemed to go from a stranger to best friend in less than a day and a little rude about prodding Cierra for information about her depression. I did not get Ruth at all. She had no motives to stab Cierra’s dad… or try to kill Cierra really… or give Justin amnesia. I suppose her instability and protective nature over Justin after the car accident is an explanation, but honestly it seemed very dramatic and far-fetched.

The book was quite abstract in that the ideas and themes were there, but there was a dearth of development and realistic explanations. May did show depression in quite an accurate way most of the time, so I think this is an area she has a lot of potential in building on. I am unsure on who the audience would be for this book since there were several cliché moments and the language was simplistic so would appeal to what the urban dictionary refers to as ‘tweens’, but depression and suicide is too heavy for this age so maybe over 14s. Those that like a fast-paced story with some sweet aspects would really enjoy this book.