OnlineBookClub.org

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Levi's Trail" by Ar'Triel Askew Kirchner.]

Levi Squair is the only black girl in a prominently white school and neighborhood who is immediately targeted by classmates for the color of her skin and afro hair. That is, until she meets the playful Cameron Moore who protects her from the bullying, becoming her first and only friend. Then, he disappears without a trace, leaving Levi to wonder for the next thirteen years what she had done to make him uproot and leave without so much as a goodbye. Fast forward to the present day where Levi works as an assistant at a construction firm, still single, alone, and one of the few African-Americans on the job. Out of the blue, she comes to realize that Cameron is, in fact, the business owner's son, somehow never stumbling upon this information in her four year of employment. A chance meeting as adults and their old feelings are rekindled, causing sparks to fly.

I began reading Levi's Trail fully expecting a sweet romance. I liked the idea of two people from completely different worlds falling in love despite the odds that were against them, especially race. Because of this, the book had a lot of promise, and the first couple of chapters were off to a good—if not grammatically rocky—start. But, it spiraled out of control after that.

Levi and Cameron's entire relationship revolves around his unexplained violence towards her or anyone that looks her way, and time after time he thoughtlessly tries to control her, threaten her, and repeatedly rapes her. Levi continues to explain it away by professing her undying love in a way only those being abused can, and I immediately disliked her character. Sticking with it, I had hopes their toxic relationship would end, but it never did, and we're kept wondering in confusion whether things ever get better for the couple.

Ar'Triel Askew Kirchner's writing is juvenile at best, with a wide assortment of run-on sentences, grammatical errors, and repetitive explanations and questions. The characters are so hot and cold I never knew what to make of them, and the plot itself was so unrealistic to take seriously. A lot more research should've been done in regards to pregnancy and seizures, at the very least, as I felt the author was making it up as she went along without either the experience or proper information.

I rate this book 1 out of 4 stars. I felt it could've been so much better and deviated quite a bit from its original summary. The abuse came across as justified and was brushed off with a simple 'I'm sorry', and I can not recommend it to other readers.

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Levi's Trail
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Like allee88's review? Post a comment saying so!

Wow! Some of the low-rated reviews seem to be grammatical errors and such, but this clearly seems to be a very bad plot, which as the reviewer states; "... the book had a lot of promise."
My wife loves to read romance stories which are against the odds, however, this isn't one that I'll recommend to her. Sounds like it's a book that instead of a person becoming pleasantly engrossed, will stress them out instead.

That was a very honest review. The premise sounds very promising but the total execution seems to be wanting. Good job on the review.

Its too bad the author didn't do more research on this one. I don't like reading books that aren't realistic. It's hard to give a really low rating though isn't it?

Thanks for the comments! And yes, it is VERY hard to give a low rating. I disliked doing it.