Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: Beyond the Garden
AUTHOR: S.Y. Thompson
PUBLISHER: Sapphire Books Publishing
LENGTH: 342 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 14, 2015
BLURB:
Life as an immortal is never easy. For Lilith, its become almost intolerable. Her only goal now, to find a way to die. Her quest takes her across the globe and back again. When she meets master scuba diver Dana Reed, her goal is turned upside down. Dana offers her a breathtaking romance, as long as destiny cooperates.
Hell hounds, archeological booby traps and self-appointed fanatics serve as a backdrop for this romantic adventure. The results could be disastrous or more wondrous than she ever imagined. It’s up to Lilith to decide her path and fight through to realize her dreams.
REVIEW:
This story’s most certainly unique. It contains many elements that will appeal to a wide audience. Fast paced action and adventure, immortals, mortals, hellhounds, evil versus good, life changing decisions to be made, and amongst it all a budding romance.
The story begins with Lil having a vision of a girl, Eli, who could pave the world as a better place for women. She teleports to the girl’s bedside in Istanbul, and while there she stumbles across Dana and saves her from some thugs, and thus begins their story and a page turning account of their expedition. For some reason while reading this story I kept thinking of the movie Indiana Jones.
There’s talk of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, and beyond. Which in hindsight the title should’ve clued me into. I’m far from a fan of religious talk or conjecture, so thankfully the mention of such was relatively sparse and didn’t bog the plot down. A great deal of the story is set in Baghdad so it’s far from plain sailing, bad things happen, people die.
The heroines are wonderful. The writing style is vivid, bringing the characters and world to life. I think Owls are beautiful creatures, so the few appearances of Pravade, Lil’s pet owl, were a delight to read.
My one quibble, as I turned the pages I kept expected to read an update on Eli, the wee girl from the start of the story, however she’s never mentioned again. With so much going on, the romance is more backstory. There are a few ‘adult’ scenes but far from what I’d call explicit.
All in all, this was a fun adventure and I learned a thing or two about scuba diving. I’m sure many readers will enjoy this well written and well edited story.
RATING: 
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