I tried to get into this book but could not.

First, descriptions of the main character's depressed mental state went on at length. Chapters were devoted to flowery depictions of her unworthiness.

Second, many of the author's descriptors were flowery and inane. At one point she describes someone as being "indignantly buried" instead of being buried with indignity.

I still tried to get passed the stilted language and boring protagonist but just couldn't finish the book.

I was given a free copy of this book. I am leaving my honest review.

The premise of this book seemed so interesting, but unfortunately it never really went anywhere. It was confusing and hard to follow. I wanted to love this book.

After the Dash follows three generations of women from the same family.

There is Evelyn (Eve) the kind, loving and wise grandmother, Amara (Eve's daughter) who has always craved the morally grey side of life, secret affairs, money, drugs but never love and Aiyanna ( Amara's daughter/ Eve's granddaughter) who has had her heart broken and dealing with alot of anger, depression and sleep depriving nightmares.

All three of them have the ability to see into their past lives

Throughout the book you read from the perspectives of the main characters and follow their lives on a time fluid path. Sometimes you are reading from the past of their current lives , sometimes from their past lives and sometimes from the lives of the people we meet as we follow Eve, Amara and Aiyanna.

The idea of having a fluid timeline that includes past lives within a story is a concept that I found interesting and had a lot of potential to be a truly gripping story. This book however didn't make the most of those potentials. The book is incredibly jumpy and not always clear about which time or life you are reading from and it does take quite some time to get used to.

The past lives that you read about are all unique in their own way and written in a way that really paints a picture in your mind .The current lives of our characters however feel lacking.
The Life of Amara is the only one that has any substance, she faces abduction, lives on the streets, has issues with drugs and she finds a purpose in her life, a driving force that changes her ways.
Eve being the sweet grandmother spends the whole book worried for her daughter and trying to help her grandchild. Her past is a sad tale which shaped her into the woman she is but the ability to look back into past lives doesn't feel like part of her story.
Then finally we have Aiyanna who discovers her gift and how to harness it after she spends half of the book in her bed dealing with depression. She doesn't use the gift for anything other than to remind herself to follow what her grandmother tried to teach her. That love is always the way and doesn't end when a person dies.

The overall message about love that this book gives is lovely but its not the intriguing and unique Sci-fi fantasy book that I anticipated it would be .

Many thanks to Netgalley and Black Rose writing for sending me this E-ARC to read in return for an honest review.All thoughts are my own and are in no way influenced by the nature in which I received this book.

This review will posted on my Blog (thetwoquills.wordpress.com), Instagram ( @thetwoquills) and over on my goodreads on Monday 4th May 2020.

Wow. I’m not really sure where to start here. I went into this book expecting something completely different than what I got. Which turned out to be a good thing. Hands down, my favorite thing about this book was the way it made me think. All truly great books make you stop and think, and consider life. This book did that in spades. I loved the characters, Jamma in particular, and the redemption arcs of other characters were very satisfying. My only criticism would be that at times it was hard to keep up with all the different characters, which got a bit confusing. But I understand why many points of view were necessary to really drive the point of the book home. All in all, I rate this book 4.5 out of 5* and absolutely would recommend.

I received an ARC of this book thanks to Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

Aiyanna Burns learns some important life lessons about empathy, love, and understanding through the lens of different lives.

This story never really captured me. It's the kind of book that I could easily put down and not quite remember what it was about when I picked it up again.

2.25☆

3.5 stars. I really wanted to love this book. The blurb that I read on Netgalley really raised my hopes, but once I began reading it, I became stuck in a muddle of too much wording, too much detail, and two protagonists whose names were so similar that I had a difficult time discerning one from the other. The writer's style needs a little bit more clarity so that the book is easier to follow, although she writes wonderfully descriptive words. I still had a tough time discerning the difference between the mother and daughter characters. I cannot explain if these feelings are brought on because of uncertain times right now, but this is the first time in a long time I've read a book that I just could not seem to get into. When I finished, it left me with so many unanswered questions. Not that this isn't a good book, it is, it's just not my cup of tea.

I would like to thank the author, publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in exchange for a fair and honest review.