Title: Can’t Buy Forever
Author: Susan Laffoon
Rating: 2.5/5 stars
Thank you so much, Susan Laffoon, for sending me a copy of your novel for review!
This is a spoiler free review : )
Update [2019]: I was trying so hard to be nice in this review, but I ended up making absolutely no sense…
Summary
Odessa Drake, a.k.a. Dessa, is a young woman living in the 1950’s at a boarding home full of an eclectic group of people. Dessa takes interest in one resident in particular, Nicholas, who has been a mystery to her for the past four years. Suddenly, there lives are entangled together and they form a bond stronger than Dessa understands. This bond takes her on a journey where she learns a lot about herself, Nicholas, and forgiveness.
Review
This novel took some time to get into the rhythm of. The reader is not given explanation to the weird happenings around Nicholas and Dessa. It creates a vague tone around them that is interesting and enjoyable for lovers of mystery. It was purposeful and effective in creating the desired tone, however created confusion for me as a reader. I did enjoy how the author inserted clues about the truth behind Nicholas. It isn’t until the end when the reader discovers what these clues add up to and it is fun to go back through the story and understand what they all meant. I do recommend reading to the end if you are confused because it all eventually ties together.
Throughout the story, a lot of characters are introduced with little explanation. I would have loved to dive deeper into these characters and understand them and their connections. I was sometimes confused as to why characters were in the story and how they were connected to Nicholas and Dessa. Aside from the main characters, I appreciated the arc that Roark took because it was thoughtfully developed.
I did begin to appreciate the relationship that was formed between Dessa and Nicholas. It is strong and pure. Throughout the four years it took for them to realize their feelings, their connection was continuing to grow into something uncommon and special. I do wish Dessa had more of a say in the happenings of the relationship because I couldn’t get into how some of the things went down (That is super vague because I don’t want to spoil lol). The plot twist at the end was also a bit difficult to get behind because it was so different from the norm. I commend the author for being original in the plot throughout the entire novel as it was very different from what I have previously read.
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