READING: Inexpressible Island (End of Forever #3) by Paullina Simons

Publication date: July 23 2019
Published by: Harper Collins
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Historical, Mystery, Suspense, Time Travel, Romance

Rating: 

Julian has lost everything he ever loved and is almost out of time. His life and death struggle against fate offers him one last chance to do the impossible and save the woman to whom he is permanently bound.

Together, Julian and Josephine must wage war against the relentless dark force that threatens to destroy them. This fight will take everything they have and everything they are as they try once more to give each other their unfinished lives back.

As time runs out for the star-crossed lovers, Julian learns that fate has one last cruel trick in store for them--and even a man who has lost everything still has something left to lose.

Gut wrenching but still beautiful, the last instalment in End of Forever had it all (well, almost). 

This series might have been about two people's epic love story in the beginning but I think in the end, it was all about Julian and about his personal journey as a son, a friend, a partner. He is the main focus of Inexpressible Island and Mia just compliments his story. 
I have to hand it to Simons, her storytelling is magnificent. All the twists and turns will have you sitting at the edge of your seat going "No way!" almost throughout. She knew where she was going with the story from the first page of the first book and it showed. The way the story came together was the most beautiful part of the book for me.
What made me drop one star, was the actual ending. Not that it was particularly bad, but after all this anticipation about what would happen on Julian's last journey, it was a bit anticlimactic imo. I personally don't think a HEA suited these two. I know Julian and Mia had been through so much and they deserved it, but a happy ending comes in many forms. It doesn't always mean 

a beautiful wife and a baby.

shoved in the last 10 pages. I didn't like that history was re-written to their advantage with no actual reasoning. Unless 

it was confirmed that Julian did that full circle "meet Mia-time travel-get lost in the caves-meet Mia" multiple times and the re-writing of history is finally him being lucky and living the best version out of 10 or 100 of tries. Then, yes. I accept the ending. But none of that was made certain. Maybe it was sort of implied, but I can't be sure. Honestly, after Julian got rescued and he "started" his life again and met Mia, I had this sense of foreboding, emotionally preparing for her to die. But not only she didn't die, everything was changed on top of that and I thought "Oh, Ok. Was that it? Why didn't he do that from the beginning then if that's all it took...?" Also, at some point I thought that Mia is the one who time-travelled and came to find him for a change the way she was written, acting all obsessed with Julian from day one. But no, not even that. So even though I was very satisfied with how Julian's story turned out, I was disappointed in how Mia's story concluded. Then again, I was never fond of Mia :/

To readers starting this series now: if you get past the 1st half of book 1, then you are good to go. It only gets better from there.
Paullina Simons is a master when it comes to epic romances, end of story.
Remember: this is a deeply heartbreaking story, bordering on really depressing. Not for the faint of heart.

READING: A Beggar's Kingdom (End of Forever #2) by Paullina Simons

Publication date: July 23 2019
Published by: Harper Collins
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Historical, Mystery, Suspense, Time Travel, Romance
Rating: 

Sometimes a second chance is your only hope. 

Is there a fate beyond the fates? Julian has failed Josephine once. Despite grave danger and impossible odds, he is determined to do the unimaginable and try again to save the woman he loves. 

What follows is a love story like no other as the doomed lovers embark on an incredible adventure across time and space. Racing through history and against the merciless clock, they face countless dangers and deadly enemies. 

Living amid beauty and ecstasy, bloodshed and betrayal, each time they court and cheat death brings Julian and Josephine closer to an unthinkable sacrifice and a confrontation with the harshest master of all...destiny. 

THIS BOOK PIERCED RIGHT THROUGH MY CHEST, TOOK MY HEART OUT AND SLOWLY CRUSHED IT UNDER ITS BOOT. 

WHY BOOK??😭😭

Julian’s and Josephine’s love story achieves epic proportions in book 2, as Julian time travels 4 times (yes, 4) in different periods starting from 1600s+ to early 1900s. 

I cannot write a proper review without including spoilers, so for those of you who haven’t read book 2, steer clear.
Also, just a warning: this review is going to be super long because I am going to comment on each time travel period individually.

Julian first time travels to 1665. I liked his journey to the other side better in book 1 (the leap) than the caves in book 2. Because the time travelling itself happens very early in the book (page 20 or so), it felt a bit sudden and awkward to me. I didn’t like Josephine-Mallory – not a big surprise there- and I couldn’t help but wonder why Julian puts himself through all that crap to be with this person who is so obviously cunning and manipulative.
This time around she is a thief and a murderer. She actually told Julian that he ruined her plans to become wealthy with his love, and I don’t think she would have any qualms about hurting Julian to get what she wanted. And the funny part is that Julian knew that and was still willing to sacrifice everything for her. So, yeah. I found that very farfetched (even for time travel!) and ridiculous. When they try to escape through the great fire of London she dies and he is brought back.

The second time Julian time travelled, he landed on 1775 right in the most poor, dangerous and disgusting part of London. Josephine-Miri was a thief and a small time con artist. Herself, her mom and a couple others in her gang, basically live in the streets which are full of diseases and infections. Yeah, not a happy place. Julian even says “Everything stinks, every minute of every day”. I guess he meant it both metaphorically and literally. I think Julian (and the reader) is at his most miserable on this timeline. He is desperately trying to earn Josephine-Miri's love knowing he only has 49 days and she doesn’t even acknowledge his existence, she wants nothing to do with him. When he finally gets her to come around and run away together, they are ambushed by her old gang who betrays her, and both of them are sentenced to public abuse and humiliation, basically setting them up on the pillory and having the public throwing stuff at them. How's that for dismal gloom and doom uh? It was as depressing as it sounds and to see Julian's utter devastation as he realises he is brought back to the present without having achieved anything, was too much for my poor heart to take.

Present :
Ashton, man. I mean, what was that? I wanted to punch him in the face and throw the book out the window. Nothing, and I mean nothing, Ashton had been through in his life could justify his actions. He was a lying, cheating dog. End of story. I hated Julian trying to justify his behaviour to Z. “He is who he is and you knew when you chose him”. No, dude. It doesn’t work like that. Not everything is justified by “It is what it is”, I don’t accept it. Be a man and take some responsibility for your shitty behaviour.
Also, what happened to Riley stayed with me for a long time after I read it. At first, I thought it was such a cheap shot and a belittlement of Riley’s character. I didn’t want Ashton to be cast as this important and impactful presence in Riley’s life whose absence and betrayal made her to literally go mad. After mulling it over, I thought of Z.'s ending and how these two girls, with completely different backgrounds, decided to make different decisions and take different paths in life after such a loss and sense of abandonment. So even though Riley’s demise for lack of a better word still chafes, I understand why Simons wanted to make that comparison and contradiction. 

The third time Julian travelles was to 1854 and this was hands down my favourite period. It was the first time I actually liked Jospehine-Mirabelle. She didn’t put on airs, she was respectful and humble with poise without being rigid and cold. She fell in love with Julian straight away without it being obnoxious insta love. It was the first time it was hinted that Jospehine-Mirabelle knew Julian already, and their coming together was just glorious. I loved everything in that story, except for the ending of course which was- surprise surprise! super tragic. Regardless of their ending it was the only time that I actually believed their eternal love, connection and devotion to each other. If Josephine was like that in book 1, it would be just perfect. 
Also, the Jon Snow reference killed me!

Present:
Ashton’s death shook me, I am not gonna lie. I detested him after what he did to those girls but the way his death was written was just soul crushing. I was sad for him sure, but mostly I was sad for Julian and all the loss he suffered and how he still soldiered on driven by his love for this one girl. Sounds super cheesy I know, but Simons is just that good: she makes you care about the most unlikeable characters and have all these deep feelings about the corniest situations.

The fourth and final time, Julian travelled to 1911 and this time he lands in New Zealand where “Josephine’s” mum took her, after she had a gypsy warn her about her daughter’s curse. They have all been waiting for Julian as this "mystery man" who would come and save “Josephine” from the curse. This story was the most difficult one to wrap my mind around as I was an emotional and mental wreck by that point. This timeline is very dark, and it reminded me a lot of the feeling I got when watching Twin Peaks. That sense of foreboding, of always being in danger. I especially liked Julian’s scene with Edgar Evans. I liked the directness and how it played out, finally showcasing a strong minded man other than Julian. Bit of a dick, but hey, so is Julian if we’re being honest.

All in all, A Beggar’s Kingdom was a quite long, massively depressing read. Reason being, the absence of multiple POVs so the reader is constantly attacked by Julian’s extremely dark thoughts and feelings with no possible escape.
Simon outdid herself once again with her outstanding writing. If the same story was written by anyone else, I would never have made it to book 2. Obviously, there were parts I liked more and parts that made me very angry. I thought to myself many times "Do I actually like this book? I don't like any of the characters."
The answer is yes. As long as a book is unputdownable and it makes me think and feel things, it's the bomb as far as I'm concerned. 

Let’s hope for a great conclusion in Inexpressible Island (book 3) coming out November 2019.

READING: The Tiger Catcher (End of Forever #1) by Paullina Simons

Publication date: May 28 2019
Published by: Harper Collins
Genre: Adult, Contemporary, Historical, Mystery, Suspense, Time Travel, Romance
Rating: 

Julian lives a charmed life in Los Angeles. Surrounded by friends, he is young, handsome, and runs a successful business. Everything changes after he has a fateful encounter with a mysterious young woman named Josephine. Julian’s world is turned upside down by a love affair that takes him—and everyone else in his life—by storm. For the two new lovers, the City of Angels is transformed into a magical playground.

But Josephine is not what she seems and carries secrets that threaten to tear them apart—seemingly forever.

A broken man, his faith in tatters, Julian meets a mysterious stranger who tells him how to find Josephine again if he is willing to give up everything and take a death-defying trip from which no one has ever returned.

So begins Julian and Josephine’s extraordinary adventure of love, loss, and the mystical forces that bind people across time and space. It is a journey that propels Julian toward an impossible choice which will lead him to love fulfilled…or to oblivion.

There seems to be an issue with the Spoiler buttons in this review. If you want to read the dull review with spoiler, please head over to my Goodreads review here.

That was one strange book 🤔

Let me just put it out there:
The Tiger Catcher is NO Bronze Horseman.
And it shouldn't be. We already have one BH and it was amazing.
This was something else entirely.

Some tropes were the same as in BH - sad, sad, sad, funny and happy interlude that ends in tragedy, sad, sad, sad.
But here is where all similarities with BH end.

Why? Because first and foremost, Josephine was a universally unlikeable character.
She was selfish, manipulative and a liar. She was fully taking advantage of Julian, emotionally and financially and no matter how much I tried, I could not see why Julian was so obsessed with her. I never sympathised with her at all, and overall I didn't get her.
And then 

She dies.

2 years and a change of continent later, Julian is still devastated. He stops being a functional human being, he barely works, he doesn't eat and he's addicted to drugs. The writing was brilliant here - what was pretentious and fake in LA, became real and raw in London, and I could completely feel (and believe) Julian's pain and self destruction, even though I couldn't quite understand it, because, again, I didn't like Josephine.
On his birthday, he meets a strange woman in a bar who leads him to Devi, a shaman who reveals to Julian that he can give him the answers he so desperately seeks.
Now that part I was very sceptical about. I am a realist and a cynic romance read (the worst kind!) so all this talk about God and spirituality and souls with numerous lives meant to be together just doesn't do it for me. I applaud those who believe in these sort of things, and maybe I am a little envious of them. But for me, they are nothing more than over-romanticised nonsense. 
Apparently, Julian is desperate enough to try anything to reunite with Josephine and trusts Devi enough to take the final leap and ta-da! 

He time travels!

 

To say I was shocked by this development, would be the understatement of the year! Nowhere in the blurb does it even hint on such a turn of events. Even though I was not prepared for that AT ALL, I have to admit that it was my favorite part of the book from beginning to end.

"Oh,no" was the first thing I thought when Julian time traveled. I was sure it was going to be very bad and I was prepared to abandon all hope for this book. But then, Simons worked her magic and did an exceptional job writing Julian both in the dark cave trying literally anything to see his love again, and when he came through the other side. 1600s England was pretty disgusting guys, and it was portrayed perfectly. Even though Julian was part of a rich household with noble born women, nothing beautiful and elegant was ever shown, only black, dirty bleakness, with the only bright thing being Julian and Mary (aka Josephine). Now, maybe I was just sucked in by the writing, but I thought that Julian and Mary made way more sense than Julian and Josephine. Although, from what was insinuated by Mary's past, someone could say that she too was taking advantage of Julian. So maybe souls don't change that much after being reincarnated after all. The only thing I didn't think made sense was Mary wanting to be an actress as well - too on the nose. I hope we don't get to see her trying to be an actress EVERY time! And then, she dies. Again. And Julian unwillingly is brought back to present London, as if no time has passed. That was the most gut wrenching, heart breaking moment for me. I thought Julian would for sure die by the end of the book, especially after that! (mind you, I didn't know there was going to be a 2nd and 3nd book at the time!) But, to my absolute surprise, he became better. Not fully well of course, still always thinking of Josephine (Mary), but he was making more of an effort to exist and to be. Only to try time traveling again next year. And I am assuming the year after that and the year after that, until his body is completely broken and at the end, he dies. We'll see how it works out in Book 2.

 

Secondary characters were all equally unlikeable as Josephine. Ashton, his best friend, was nice enough and always there for him, but other than that no thought or care was put behind the other characters, who were, in a nutshell, shallow idiots.

I don't know guys, this is too weird a book to just classify under "liked" or "disliked".
I believe in order to get through it:

1. You will have to be very open to accepting things that you might hate in the beginning, and
2. You will have to disabuse yourselves of any notion about this book being like The Bronze Horseman.
If you are not willing to do that, you are doomed from the start and I already see a DNF in your future.
If you are, then you are in for quite a ride. Consider yourself warned.