April & Oliver; Book Review

When a book grabs you and tosses you headfirst into its unfolding landscape of words within the first few pages, you know you found a good book.
I started April & Oliver while sitting in the waiting room, waiting for a root canal. I was so immediately enthralled in the storyline and lost amongst the pages that I was considering asking for an extension of my appointment time, just so I could sit there and read some more. (It had nothing to do with the looming root canal, I assure you!).

April & Oliver, by Tess Callahan, is a novel that defies description. It's broody, but not melodramatic. It has romance, but not of the wine and roses variety. Here's the back cover copy:

Best friends since childhood, the sexual tension between April and Oliver has always been palpable. Years after being completely inseparable, they become strangers, but the wildly different paths of their lives cross once again with the sudden death of April's brother. Oliver, the responsible, newly engaged law student finds himself drawn more than ever to the reckless, mystifying April - and cracks begin to appear in his carefully constructed life. Even as Oliver attempts to "save" his childhood friend from her grief, her menacing boyfriend and herself, it soon becomes apparent that Oliver has some secrets of his own--secrets he hasn't shared with anyone, even his fiancé. But April knows, and her reappearance in his life derails him. Is it really April's life that is unraveling, or is it his own? The answer awaits at the end of a downward spiral...towards salvation.

Yet even that doesn't really summarize this story, in my opinion. This is a tale of true friendship and true love. This is a tale of lost innocence. This is an examination of whether the paths we walk in life choose us, or we choose them. The title characters, April and Oliver, are immensely complex and multidimensional. Ms. Callahan has a real gift for character development, as I can't remember the last book I read that featured such fully developed, believable characters. April, especially, gets into your heart and soul and I had a real difficult time shaking her off when the book was finished.

And speaking of when the book is finished? Oh Lord. Chills! Goosebumps! Heart palpitations! The last few sentences of this novel set my pulse racing and my imagination churning! I immediately wished for another book about April and Oliver, but now I realize that those last few sentences would lose their immense power if there was any more to the story.

I completely fell in love with this book and its oft dark and tumultuous storyline. It is easily one of the best books I've read this year. You can read an excerpt below.

Book provided by The Hachette Group for this review.