The Album by Ashley Pullo

Discography, Book 1

Synopsis: Every great story has a beginning, whether it’s a planned meeting, a random encounter, or an impulsive jump into the unknown. But it’s the middle of the narrative that really counts — expanding the verse and building the chorus. And this story, the one of friendship and hope, is the musical journey of the album.
Canadian cousins Chloe and Natalie LeGrange move to New York City to chase their dreams. But finding a purpose in a changing world doesn’t come easy for the best friends. Distracting themselves with humor, great music, and the spirit of Generation X, Chloe and Natalie find love and happiness when they least expect it.

Review: The Album follows the destinies of five really different characters but who will eventually meet and go a long way together.

It is quite difficult to talk about this novel because it does not fit into a specific genre. Romance? Certainly yes. Life story? Yes, too. Introspective narrative? Also. And so much more. It offers the reader several facets that can destabilize at first. That’s what happened to me. I could not see where the author wanted to go with that varied palette of characters who were given a chapter at the beginning of a novel without ever crossing each other. But why is that? What is the purpose?

And then I got caught up in the narrative game, or rather the narrative caught me in its nets. I could not let go. Once the bases are laid and the characters presented, the story began. I liked these personalities so different from each other, I liked Chloe and her mania to mark by the purchase of an album the different moments of her life, I pitied against Nathalie and her excessive freedom, Nathalie and her weaknesses, Nathalie and her love … This Nathalie finally so human, this Nathalie so endearing. I shuddered when Adam arrived, I knew that I was going to love him … I was not mistaken. A man, a real man. Not one of those shoddy males that we find in some recent romances. And Zach … Ahhh, Zach … That was the end of me. The story changed, Chloe, Nathalie, Adam, nothing could have got me off of this novel, and I savored its difference because it had the taste of the unusual.

I do not want to reveal too much for fear of spoiling your reading. I did not know what to expect, I was surprised and seduced. The author has mastered her subject and leads the narrative with captivating skills. She made me go through a range of emotions that I did not expect. This novel is the narrative of life, with its ups and downs, its joys, its sorrows, it is normal lives that it presents us, lives like mine, like yours. But it is above all the account of the happiness it offers us, and hope. A nice discovery.

Celine

http://lelivrevie.blogspot.fr/