Language: : English
Paperback : 351 pages
ISBN-10 : 1733514015
ISBN-13 : 978-1733514019
“What could be a corny premise turns into an exhilarating, fun ride in Edelson’s adept hands. Her characters are smartly drawn, and readers will easily identify with Ruby, a strong yet insecure young artist on the verge of adulthood, who is still recovering from her tragic past . . . Fans of Twilight and modern fairy tales will fall in love with Ruby and root for her eventual romance.” —Blue Ink Review (Starred Review)
“Between Wild and Ruin is a stunning story of legends, romance, and destiny with themes of starting over, small towns, beauty, and community . . . Edelson perfectly breathes new life in mythology by honoring the oral tradition of a small community and the ruins that bring to life Ruby's destiny.” —Manhattan Book Review
“Highly recommended to mature teens through new adult and adult audiences, this is a story that lingers in the mind long after its final revelation.” —Midwest Book Review
“A great addition to young adult urban fantasy.” —Seattle Book Review
“Descriptions of the New Mexico landscape are rich and atmospheric, arousing the senses with references to the scent of smoke and juniper, the predatory roar of mountain lions, and the brilliant dazzle of stars in the desert sky . . . The writing conveys a sense of timelessness, making it easy to believe Ruby’s sense that the land is spirit-haunted and that Leo, the handsome young man she encounters near the ruins, is somehow connected to it all.” —Clarion Forward
“An intriguing historical tale and an over-the-top love-quadrangle romance.” —Kirkus Reviews
“The paranormal aspects of the tale are credible and richly steeped in traditional lore, and the plot is finely crafted . . . Between Wild and Ruin is most highly recommended.” —Reader’s Favorite (5-Star Review)
Surfaces are deceiving . . .
After falling for Ezra and discovering a gateway to the Otherworld, it’s a truism Ruby knows to take to heart. But La Luna finally feels like home, and with graduation just weeks away and a cushy internship on a nearby archeological dig in her pocket, it’s easy to downplay the strange new events taking place in the Glorieta Pass. Even when Angel’s deadbeat father reappears after twenty years, stirring up questions about Angel, the ruin, and Ruby’s mother.
Holding hands, Ezra and I dunk under the water, swimming farther toward the center of the contained lake. When we come up, he grabs me and pulls me against him. “Thanks for this,” I tell him. I wrap my arms around his neck and lever up, twisting my legs around his muscled back so he has to support me. “I’m just going to pretend we’re all fine for a few hours if that’s okay.”
“You are fine.” He smirks.
I run a hand through his wet hair, slicking it back off his forehead. His face glows under the late afternoon sun, as alive as his burning eyes while I search them. I know he’s putting on a happy face for me; there’s no way the picture I showed him of Mick isn’t eating away at his sharp mind.
“None of that,” he tells me.
“Are you poking around my head?”
“No. You’re radiating anxiety.”
“You have a better idea?” I tease.
He lifts a single eyebrow, and damn, anxious or otherwise, it’s all I can do to keep my hands off him.
“I do.” Ezra’s arms tighten around my waist. He splays his hands out flat against my lower back and pulls me in, locking our bodies together. When I gulp, he grins. Tilting his forehead forward, he finds my mouth, pressing his lips against mine, inciting anarchy inside my heart.
“Better?” he whispers against my mouth.
“So much better.”
Spinning in slow circles while I embrace him, Ezra gives me a panoramic tour of the Cochiti Basin, pointing out the different mountain ranges that spread in an arc from the west to the south around the bowl-shaped basin the lake carved out when the state dammed the Rio Grande. He points out extinct volcanos off in the distance nearer to the Jemez mountains to the north, and gorgeous gold and russet hoodoos perched on the mesa tops encircling the lake. We’re surrounded by a fairytale backdrop of desert plants, and errant, majestic trees and unreal geology, and it makes it hard to reconcile the fact that there’s a whole other world I don’t understand waiting for me back in La Luna. It makes me wonder if that’s how Ezra feels whenever he leaves—knowing he can never leave for good.
“You know what I do when I can’t stop thinking about something?” he asks, when we come full circle.
“What?”
“I run into the wilderness and yell. Loud as I freaking can. Until my throat hurts.”
“Really?” I suppress a smile. Trying to imagine Ezra out in the middle of nowhere yelling at the sky sort of trashes the usually stoic picture I have of him.
“Try it.”
“Here?” I look around the mostly empty lake and shoreline.
“Why not?”
He looks amused, like he’s sure I won’t do it. Which is probably why I tilt my head back and let loose an ear-shattering scream. I hold onto him tightly, digging my nails into his strong shoulders until every last bit of breath in my lungs leaves my body. After a few seconds I deflate, finishing with a whistling sigh as I let my chin drop against my chest. “You’re right, that was amazing.”
Copyright © 2021 by Jennifer G. Edelson
![](<a href="http://www.jeanbooknerd.com"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6CheQnqo7paIZBHS35OkJDc8plDNrqTa4L-d_6TIUV300S9-43gGcr9yH1zNeEbNIsV1I4w3WWTOfxg3-QbKOMbB4VOMvXoZbJrhWD1bxghE1G7vEpVpIDOaLB_bgCW23BCavz3X4mfE/s1600/JBN_TourHost.jpg"></a>)
No comments:
Post a Comment