Infinity + One Book Review

June 10, 2014 / 0 comments

Infinity + One Book ReviewInfinity + One by Amy Harmon
Published by Self-Published on June 10th 2014
Genres: Contemporary Romance, New Adult
Format: ebook
Source: Borrowed
Purchase @ AMAZON  or  BN
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Rating 

When two unlikely allies become two unwitting outlaws, will two unforgettable lovers defy unbeatable odds?

Bonnie Rae Shelby is a superstar. She’s rich. She’s beautiful. She’s impossibly famous. And Bonnie Rae Shelby wants to die.

Finn Clyde is a nobody. He’s broken. He’s brilliant. He’s impossibly cynical. And all he wants is a chance at life.

One girl. One boy. An act of compassion. A bizarre set of circumstances. And a choice – turn your head and walk away, or reach out your hand and risk it all?

With that choice, the clock starts ticking on a man with a past and a girl who can’t face the future, counting down the seconds in an adventure riddled with heartbreak and humor, misunderstanding and revelation. With the world against them, two very different people take a journey that will not only change their lives, but may cost them their lives as well.

Infinity + One is a tale of shooting stars and fame and fortune, of gilded cages and iron bars, of finding a friend behind a stranger’s face, and discovering love in the oddest of places.

 

Liezel’s Thoughts:

Superstar Bonnie Rae Shelby is done. She has had enough with the lies and manipulation brought on by her manager who just so happens to be her grandmother.  After an  insensitive  display during her concert’s very last show she finally snaps and runs where we eventually find her on a bridge contemplating a jump.

Infinity James Clyde wouldn’t have  otherwise cared less. He had places to go, people to see but for some reason odd reason he was inexplicably drawn to that bridge and ends up saving her from herself.  Their encounter should have ended there but instead they find themselves on a journey towards  friendship and self- discovery.

Most people would have been  praised for saving a depressed superstar but because of  Bonnie’s grandmother greed the entire situation is exploited and sensationalized which is easy to accomplish considering Clyde’s past. As their days together continue on Clyde is fabricated into being a horrific mastermind to her unexpected disappearance.

While Clyde’s reputation is being tarnished their relationship begins to grow. When one would think that these two would not have a single thing in common it was as if there were incorporeal beings bringing them closer and closer together. That is -up until the pressure gets too overwhelming…

“I don’t want to be without you, Bonnie! Don’t you get that? I am in love with you! I’ve known you for one week. And I’m in love with you! Crazy, drive-off-a cliff-if -you-asked-me-too, In love with you.But I don’t want to drive off a cliff! I want to live. I want to live with you!”

 

I thought Infinity + One was an interesting rendition of the “Bonnie and Clyde” story.  It kind of reminded me of another indie romance story that I adored in the past due to the aspects of  having that dire  need to escape that leads to a journey towards self-discovery.

This story was however made more interesting because of Bonnie’s exceptional character. She was a bona-fide superstar who was desperately sad and lost yet despite that  throughout their trip she show us repeatedly that she had a heart of gold. There were multiple instances that they were in some kind of  trouble but instead of running she would somehow provoke a favorable outcome.

Clyde was great as well.  Let’s face it, Bonnie caused so much trouble  without even trying and he could have bolted plenty of times but he choose to stay, befriend her and even get her past her issues. I thought the pairing was great especially when we discover how much in common they really had.

My issue with the story however was it somehow failed to hold my interest. Some of the scenes seemed to be too detailed and lengthy to the point that I had to skip ahead multiple times throughout the book which rarely happens to me.

What I liked about it though was the fact that not like the real Bonnie and Clyde’s tale that concludes in a tragedy –  Infinity + One’s Bonnie and Clyde end up getting their very much needed HEA.

 

The Verdict:

rating-3

 

Excerpt:

He bit back a curse and strode to his truck. Unlocking the door, he tossed his bags in the backseat, climbed in, and slammed the door. He turned the key and backed out resolutely, trying to ignore the fact that she had risen, her hands on her bags, and that her hood had slipped from her head. She didn’t move forward, didn’t call out to him to wait. She just stood there, watching him go. He shifted into drive and made it 100 feet before he let his eyes find her figure in the rear view mirror.

“Unbelievable,” Finn ground out, and slammed the wheel with the palm of his hand. He slowed to a stop. “UNBELIEVABLE!” he reprimanded himself even as he engaged the brake, pushed the door open and lurched out of the idling vehicle. Bonnie still stood with her two duffle bags in her hands, her grandma’s stolen purse on her shoulder, but now her lips were slightly parted, clearly stunned that he’d stopped.

And she wasn’t the only one. Finn felt like he was split right down the middle. The rational part of his brain, the side that ensured his survival and his sanity, was outraged, demanding that he keep driving, while the side of his brain that was connected to his heart and other parts of his body was breathing a sigh of relief that he hadn’t let her get away.

She didn’t move, as if she was sure that the moment she did he would change his mind, climb back in the Blazer, and drive away. So he walked back to her, battling with himself every step of the way. He walked until they were practically toe to toe, her dark eyes wide and lifted to his, his hands shoved into his pockets so he wouldn’t strangle her. But his pockets felt like manacles around his wrists and he yanked them free, fisting them in the front of Bonnie’s puffy pink coat and raising her up on her toes and into him until they weren’t toe to toe any longer but nose to nose. His emotions were a big tangled ball of anger, longing, and injustice all wrapped up in impatient outrage, and Finn couldn’t separate one feeling from another. So he did the only thing he could do. He kissed her.

It wasn’t a soft kiss or a sweet kiss. It was a ‘you-scared-me-and-messed-with-me-and-I’m-mad-and-relieved-and-unbelievably-frustrated’ kind of kiss. It was teeth and lips and nipping and bruising, and Finn couldn’t make himself stop, even when Bonnie’s teeth tugged at his lower lip and her hands pulled at his hair. Especially then. And when she wrapped her arms around his neck and stepped up onto his toes so that she could press herself flush against him, he decided revenge really was sweet, and enjoyed the feel of her face against his, the wet heat of her mouth making him forget he was standing in the middle of a Motel 6 parking lot with his ride rumbling behind him, the driver side door still hanging wide open. The rational part of his brain was stunned into peaceful silence…for all of ten seconds.

 

About Amy Harmon

Amy Harmon knew at an early age that writing was something she wanted to do, and she divided her time between writing songs and stories as she grew. Having grown up in the middle of wheat fields without a television, with only her books and her siblings to entertain her, she developed a strong sense of what made a good story.

Amy Harmon has been a motivational speaker, a grade school teacher, a junior high teacher, a home school mom, and a member of the Grammy Award winning Saints Unified Voices Choir, directed by Gladys Knight. She released a Christian Blues CD in 2007 called “What I Know” – also available on Amazon and wherever digital music is sold. She has written five novels, Running Barefoot, Slow Dance in Purgatory, Prom Night in Purgatory, the New York Times Bestseller, A Different Blue, Making Faces, and coming in June, Infinity + One.



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