Still Life (Forever Still #1) by A.M. Johnson

 


Title: Still Life
Author: A. M. Johnson
  Genre: Contemporary Romance
Type: Standalone
Cover Design: J.E.B. Johnson
Photography Credit: J.E.B. Johnson
  Published by: Blue Tulip Publishing
Release Date: re release DATE JULY 21st

Loss… a word Elizabeth Haddington knows only too well. Despite the tragedies she’s endured, she’s been able to rise from the adversity she’s faced and begin her life again. Being a self-assured and strong woman, she knows she doesn’t need anyone to make her whole.

Hate, pain, and twisted memories are all Sawyer Bryant’s ever known. He’d slowly lost who he was and what he should’ve become. His only escape was the military… Eight years later, as an ex-Navy SEAL, he’s forced to confront his father and their disturbed and violent past.

Then one day, his life is turned upside down, when he glimpses a woman singing in her car at a set of traffic lights. Thinking he’d never see her again, amazingly he finds her performing with her band at the local bar. This chance encounter brings these two lost souls together. Once Sawyer gets a taste of her melodic voice, there’s no turning back.

For Elizabeth, when she meets Sawyer… she realizes she’s fallen hard. But is this really love she’s feeling or does love build slowly over time?

What happens when fate turns things around on you, creates flashes you can’t turn from… moments that will shape your life?

They are faced with the choice of darkness surrounding them or to rid themselves of the guilt and pain and move toward the light.

This story is about life’s moments. How they can make you or break you, and one man’s hope that… Love, won’t judge him.

Buy Links
AmazonUS / AmazonUK / Barnes & Noble / iBooks

AmazonUS | AmazonUK | B&N | iBooks | Kobo

Amanda Marie Johnson was born and raised in Valrico, Florida. She’s now surrounded by mountains with her husband and three children in Ogden, Utah. She attended Weber State University and graduated with her A.S.N. She is a full-time registered nurse and works on the mother/newborn unit. Reading and writing have always been something she is passionate about. She loves to write about the human experience, love and happily ever afters. Still Life is her debut novel.

 

All images copyright © 2015 Concierge Literary Promotions. All rights reserved. Yeamake / Shutterstock.com

3.5 Stars

Still Life is a story of Hope. Two persons who have lost so much in their short lives, facing the demons of their past, while struggling to survive their present, are brought together to heal each other.

To recover. To Love. TOGETHER.

Sawyer Bryant had a promising future. Go to university, study communications and business and keep the Sawyer legacy alive. While overlooking his father's infidelity, and take punches like a man, while his mother faded into the background. Living a cold and empty existence. As soon as Sawyer turned eighteen he left for the Navy. Several years later, and Sawyer is now an ex-Navy Seal and a college freshman.

One day while at a stop sign, Sawyer spots this girl singing in her car and something about how happy and carefree she was, simply brought a smile to his face. Before he could say hello, she drives off. A couple days later, his roommate takes him out to meet his friends, and when he sees the same girl, he realizes it's non other than his roommate's "girl."

Loss...  That is all Elizabeth has known since she was 10 years old, when her parents took their lives.  At twenty-two now and very alone. Lizzie is emotionally distressed over the events of her past. Feelings of self loathing and hatred towards her parents and their selfish actions, keeps her mind on a rollercoaster of memories and emotions. Believing that her parents didn't love her enough to live. After her parents suicides, revelations about her mother's past and her ancestors, became known, further compounding Elizabeth's feelings of coming from a long line of screw-ups. After their deaths she went to live with her best friend Todd and his family.

When Elizabeth and Sawyer meet, there's just something that draws them to each other. Even though they both battle their emotions, there is an indescribable emotion that captives the other. But Sawyer takes a step back, because of Todd's feelings for Elizabeth, even though it irks him, and even though Elizabeth doesn't seem to reciprocate the same feelings towards Todd. Their closeness while known, makes Sawyer jealous.

She was his, and I wanted her to be mine.

Throughout her life Lizzie has  distanced herself from everyone.  Her best friends -Todd, Cam and now even the gorgeous Sawyer, who she can't stop thinking about. The demons of her horrific past, stilts Lizzie from moving forward.

"I'm scared to death. I know I've only known you for a short time, but you bring feelings out that I've never experienced."

Both Elizabeth and Sawyer must battle the demons of their past, allowing the other to heal them, while fighting a monster from Sawyer;s past, that lurks in the background. Slowly watching, planning and stalking them.

Even with this threat lurking, Sawyer battles his PTSD and his feelings of worthlessness when it comes to Elizabeth. He cannot offer her anything more than what he is now. A broken shell of a man. But, for Elizabeth, even though her battles keeps her closed off, she must find a way to forgive, and to open her self up to love.

He made me feel hopeful, beautiful... perfect.

I thoroughly enjoyed the premise to both Elizabeth and Sawyer's past, and the way it factored into the novel, my only hiccup is that, I felt Elizabeth's character was too drawn out, and she was a bit overly dramatic, to the point where I started to get bored with her.

*ARC provided on behalf of the author for an honest review* Thanks!