Genre: Contemporary
Fiction
Description:
“Sarah Cohen is a walking disaster. She means well, but the ex-diver’s
hasty decisions wreak havoc on her life in Boston. Good thing Emerson is a
phone call away in Syracuse, with a metaphorical mop to clean up the mess.
Their long-distance friendship can be excruciating for him, though. Years after
they shared a brief college romance, he’s still in love with her. When
everything goes wrong, Sarah takes another plunge: back to the scene of her
last mistake, to start fresh. Unfortunately for Emerson, the move puts her too
close for comfort. Her attempts to straighten her life’s trajectory are
sometimes amusing and sometimes catastrophic. With Sarah around, is anyone
safe?”
Author:
Laurie Boris is a freelance writer, editor, proofreader, and used to
be a regular contributor to the multi-author blog, Indies Unlimited. This is
her fourth novel.
For more, visit Laurie’s website.
Appraisal:
This is the third Laurie Boris novel I’ve read. Sliding Past Vertical has one significant difference from the other
two, there isn’t a major character with a fatal illness. But the qualities from
her previous novels that made them both excellent reads are present in Sliding Past Vertical. Characters you
can relate to, with typical human flaws and mostly likeable. Even those you
don’t care for are realistic and not unlike people you’ve met in real life. The
stories each have real world plots that shine a light on the human condition in
an entertaining way while possibly enlightening the reader about their fellow
man.
As for the specifics of this book, I liked Sarah, the protagonist. At
least for me, that is important. If I don’t like the main character, warts and
all, I find it harder to care what happens to them. However, the character I
related to the most was Emerson. It was obvious early on that Emerson’s
feelings for Sarah were much deeper than hers for him. He’s been biding his
time and now sees his chance. How and whether this will resolve itself is a
question until the very end and one that could easily have hit a false note,
regardless of the resolution. Somehow Boris hit the perfect pitch.
FYI:
Some adult language and situations.
Added for
Reprise Review: Sliding
Past Vertical by Laurie Boris was the WINNER in the Contemporary/General
Fiction category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran September
28, 2013.
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues.
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 75-80,000 words
1 comment:
Thank you for the Reprise!
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