Review ~ Blog Tour ~ The Path Keeper by N J Simmonds

What if our lives were mapped out before birth? Does anyone have the power to change their destiny?

Ella hates London. She misses her old life in Spain and is struggling to get over her past—until she meets Zac. He’s always loved her but isn’t meant to be part of her story. Not this time. Not ever. Little does she know that his secret is the one thing that will tear them apart and force her to live in a world that no longer makes sense. A world full of danger, lies and magic.

The Path Keeper is a passionate tale of first loves, second chances and the invisible threads that bind us. Can love ever be stronger than fate?

Review

I  would like to thank the author, publisher and blog tour organiser for the ARC in return for an honest review.
I have to admit that though I had slight reservations about this book, I really enjoyed it.
Essentially it is about love and second chances, in that the human soul lives more than one life, reincarnated into a new body over and over and given the chance to try a better way of doing things in each new life they live. Their guides in this are angelic figures and it is pre-ordained when they live and die.
Now, I struggled with this concept at first, just because I like to believe that our moment of death is not set in the stars, and it took me a while to get past that and into the flow of the story! Yet having taken a step away and thought over these themes, I can see that it is in fact what defines the story and shapes the love affair. Yet as a reader and especially as non-religious one, this spiritual feel to it, is really what affected how I enjoyed it.
The story itself is actually exciting and thought provoking and by the point, I had finished it I had grown to be very fond of the characters and left wanting more. However, I actually had to take a step away from the book and think about the themes before I could identify why I liked it.
There was one major reason, the originality of the love story itself that is both passionate and all consuming. I wanted Zac and Ella to find a way to be together. I believed in there love and was gripped by a need to know if it was doomed or if they could find a path to happiness. N J Simmonds gives them a connection and then weaves it into a story that transcends the world as we know it, carrying them and us on a journey that will test their love and left me both a little crushed and yet full of hope. It is quite a journey, but one, when looking back on the book, I realise required me to be more open to the possibility of more than one way to view the journey we take. Once I began to do that, this epic fantasy was a real winner and one I would recommend to lovers of fantasy and love stories.

You can purchase this novel from Amazon

 

About the author 

Natali Drake, who writes under the pen name of N.J. Simmonds, has written articles for various UK newspapers and online publications. In 2015 she cofounded the online magazine The Glass House Girls and is a regular contributor. Originally from north London, she now divides her time between her two homes in the Netherlands and Spain with her husband and two daughters.

You can follow the author on her website and Twitter