Everything is Just Beginning

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Everything is Just Beginning

Erin Bartels

Revell

Michael Sullivan is a talented lyricist and a decent guitarist, but since he was kicked out of his band (and his apartment), he's not sure he'll ever get a record deal. Living with his loser uncle in a beat-up trailer and working a dead-end job, Michael has little reason to hope for a better future. Until the invitation for a swanky New Year's Eve party shows up in the mailbox. It's for his uncle, with whom he shares his name, but his uncle is going out of town . . .

On the effervescent night of December 31, 1989--as the Berlin Wall is coming down, the Soviet Union is inching toward democracy, and anything seems possible--Michael will cross paths with the accomplished and enigmatic young heir to a fading musical dynasty, forever altering both of their futures.

Award-winning novelist Erin Bartels enchants with this story of two lonely souls who have exactly what the other one needs--if they could simply turn their focus from what is ending to what is just beginning.

     This book absolutely sneaked up on me. I began it wondering if I would really like it, or if the constant 90s references would begin to become tiresome and if my musically challenged brain could even appreciate the plot. But this book snowballed, as my investment slower grew deeper and deeper until I was almost finished and getting strangely emotional about the characters. (I say "strangely" because that's not really a habit of mine. Granted, I stayed up past midnight to finish this book, too, which may have had something to do with my mental state.)

     It's not that the characters always made good decisions (they didn't) or that I could relate to their situations (also a no). But they seemed like real people, and though I'd say this book might be a bit edgier than most Christian fiction, it's pretty squeaky clean by any secular standards. A surprise win for me, this book isn't my usual reading fare, but I enjoyed it all the same.

I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

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