EVOL by Cynthia A. Rodriguez

3.5 STARS

When I first heard about this book I was intrigued because it’s different and I love different. A love story that starts from the end – interesting for sure.

The thing about being different is that sometimes it can be too different to the point of where it takes away from the story. And as I started reading EVOL by Cynthia A. Rodriguez, I was getting the feeling that that was what was happening here. At one point I was even going to call it quits but fuck me – I’m so glad I didn’t give up on this book because it came back strong.

I may get a bit messy but for the most part I think I’m going to keep it pretty.

Let’s start by hearing what the author has to say. . .

Synopsis

Denise and Gavin are over.

381 days into their love affair, Gavin shut the door and Denise is all alone.

At day 380, Denise is trying to figure out how to salvage what’s left of their relationship and by day 200, they are even happier than the day they met; day 1 when Denise knows beginnings are merely endings in disguise.

But what doesn’t kill us will break our hearts.

Travel back 381 days and bear witness to the goodbye before the hello.

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I’ll be honest, this is not an easy review to write. I thought I knew what I was getting into when I started reading EVOL but I was wrong. Very wrong. This book was nothing only about 50% of what I thought I was going to read. That’s not a bad thing though.

So. . .

Why is this review difficult to write? The timeline was confusing. I found myself trying to add and subtract days in order to tell what I was reading. I had to concentrate too much to figure out the who, what, when, where, and how. Look, I have a shit ton of stuff going on in my everyday life that requires me to concentrate and when I’m reading a romance book I don’t want to do any kind of arithmetic .

Think about it this way. . . The book focuses too much on the breakup, I never got a chance to get to know Denise or Gavin. Everything negative about them was given away first and it’s hard to come back from first impressions. All I got was how horrible Gavin had treated Denise. We also find out within the first few chapters that Gavin in someway left Denise when she needed him the most. That screams – “Danielle, don’t trust him!” So, what I did get from that is that Gavin is a dick and Denise a shell of herself.

I didn’t get the chance to form my own opinion of Gavin which took away from the idea of him ever becoming my book boyfriend. I need a book boyfriend in romance stories. By the time we get to the good stuff (or the timeline that made more sense) I was already over him.

EVOL is a love story that kind of starts with the day that Denise and Gavin say goodbye to one another. We have zero clue as to why they call it quit but we do get a detailed description of Denise’s pain and desire to keep her relationship together from the start of the book.

But here is where I need to switch a few things up. As I got deeper and deeper into the story it became apparent that this book was personal to the author. There was so much insight into a woman’s mind (or the author’s mind) as she tries to heal from within and move on in life.

That alone is the reason I gave EVOL a higher rating. To be honest, I wasn’t even going to give it 3 STARS until I got towards the end of the book and things started to make sense. I had to add 0.5 STARS because there was heart bleeding from the pages – even though I might have forgotten where I was in the story.

And the words were like poetry. I found some of the most beautiful quotes. . .

Tell me you want to leave, and I’ll hold the door open for you. But I’ll secretly beg you no to leave me. It’s all in my eyes. – Denise

How many females have felt this way? I will be the first to raise my hand.

I just want him to know how I hurt, to make it not hurt so badly, to care that I love him, to . . . love me. – Denise

As a woman with an amazing sister, I feel into a deep love and respect for Denise’s sister, Sabrina. Sabrina gave me LIFE!

“I’m pissed because he broke my little sister when she put him back together. And that’s not what you do when you care about someone.” – Sabrina

^^^^^^^^^^^^ This is one of the many clues that Gavin may be an asshole. If my sister doesn’t like you then I don’t like you either. She doesn’t even have to tell me why she doesn’t like. She’s my sister and gets my loyalty.

But is Gavin really a bad person? It depends on your interpretation of EVOL. You’ll have to read it to find out. It’s only 99¢ and free on Kindle Unlimited.

Now for the million dollar question.

Do I recommend this book? That’s a difficult one. On one had I do and on the other I don’t. I do because I did end up enjoying the story. I don’t because it was on the confusing side and I would hate to steer someone wrong.

Will I read another book by this author? Yes. I look forward to it too.

I hope I didn’t get to messy and kept it pretty pretty.

P.S. Don’t mind the gifs. I just find them so damn funny from time to time.

TTYL, lovers!

Remember to follow all things messy. . .