11 February, 2013

#BookReview :: Road to Tomorrow (Look to the Future #3) by Mary Metcalfe


Andrea Garrett is trying to escape her abusive marriage. Fearing for her life, she leaves behind her two small children and flees Newark the day before her husband is due to arrive back from a tour of duty. After falling asleep at the wheel and landing in a ditch, her life takes on a new direction when strangers step in and introduce her to a life she could only have imagined and one that could save her soul and give her children the future they deserve.







When I realized that this was the third book in the ‘Look to the Future’ Series I panicked as I have not read the first three books. After few clicks on Goodreads, I realized that it was safe to read the third book without reading the first two as these are stand-alone books with similar themes.

The story follows the life of Andrea, who got married to Sean at a young age. Sean is from a military background and to most people he is a respectable soldier and a friendly guy. Its only Andrea knows his other personality – where he is short tempered and abusive. Though Andrea tries her best to rationalize her situation, when it becomes too much, she leaves town before her husband is due to return from line of duty. But on her way she has an accident when strangers enter her life and everything changes for her.

I loved Andrea. She is necessarily a woman – and as a result she has a soft heart. When Sean’s abusive personality becomes evident, she tries to find excuses on his behalf. It’s a typical reaction that I would expect from a woman because no matter what, she had loves Sean and it wasn’t easy for her to let go of that emotion. But when it becomes too much for her to deal with, she draws on her strength to leave Sean and his abusive behavior behind. Sean seemed like a split personality to me – one when he was at home and one when he was outside those confines. But Andrea’s brother irked me even more than Sean. Richard should have taken steps to ensure his sister’s safety, encouraged her to walk out on the abusive relationship, instead he just advised her to stay out of Sean’s way when he is angry! Are you kidding me? But yes, then I loved the people of the small town where Andrea settles in. There was a feeling of belonging and kinship there and I admired that a lot.

The plot in general is a simple one and is very predictable.

It is the author’s way of dealing with sensitive issues like domestic violence, deviant children and later about dealing with PTSD that makes this novel extra special. She has given us an insight into the minds of an abused person and also someone who is suffering from PTSD. It was so easy to relate to and understand Andrea’s psyche that it was actually scary. The most important message is that if you are in an abusive relationship then get out of it now. Do not wait till it is too late and never let your children be subjected to it.

Overall this was an interesting and enlightening piece of work that I devoured in a matter of hours. My only issue with it is that though it was good to see Andrea moving on, I felt that it came a bit too fast. I doubt if it is so easy for someone who has suffered abuse in a relationship – to trust again and to move on so soon after. Anyhow, that’s my personal opinion and a very small issue. Otherwise this is one of those ‘Must read’ books.


Get Road to Tomorrow through Amazon or Barnes & Noble.


About the author

Mary Metcalfe lives in the foothills of the Laurentians, northeast of Ottawa, Canada with her husband, three cats and a very large dog. Love of writing runs in the family. Their daughter is a published literary non-fiction author. Clarion Review described Mary’s debut novel as a “sparkling debut… readers will love being swept along by Winds of Change.”Road to Tomorrow is her third novel in the Look to the Future series. Connect with Mary on her website, blog, Facebook, GoodReads, or Twitter. About the prizes: Who doesn't love prizes? You could win one of two $50 Amazon gift cards or an autographed copy of Road to Tomorrow! Here's what you need to do...
  1. Enter the Rafflecopter contest
  2. Leave a comment on my blog.
That's it! One random commenter during this tour will win the first gift card. Visit more blogs for more chances to win--the full list of participating bloggers can be found here. The other two prizes will be given out via Rafflecopter. You can find the contest entry form linked below or on the official Road to Tomorrow tour page via Novel Publicity. Good luck!   
a Rafflecopter giveaway

4 comments:

  1. The characters and the emotional resonance of this book sound amazing! Thanks for your marvelous review :)

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  2. Thank you so much for this wonderful and thoughtful review! I am so glad you supported the message I was trying to convey about the importance of getting away from the abuse and re-building your life. I spent many years in my work analyzing domestic abuse issues and am pleased to be able to bring that reality into my fiction work.

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  3. Awesome review as always, Debdatta! I'm up for the tour tomorrow and still have a bit to finish up, but am loving Road to Tomorrow so far! Thanks for joining us on this tour and for cross-posting to Amazon and GoodReads :-D

    Em

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  4. I have a feeling this book is going to be intense (from the excerpt), maybe I should ready the Kleenex. Thanks for sharing this with us.
    uilani25(at)hotmail(dot)com

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