EBR Guest Review: A Native's Tongue by Michael D. Dennis (Jill-Ann Guyette)

EBR Guest Reviewer: Jill-Ann Guyette

Synopsis:
A Native’s Tongue, by Michael D. Dennis, was published in June 2014 and is available for sale on Amazon in ebook and paperback, and on Barnes & Noble

“A Native’s Tongue is about a young man trying to find his way in the world. He struggles to keep the woman he loves while entangled in the sex, drugs, and tragedy of Los Angeles. It was inspired by real events,” says Dennis.

Charlie Winters has never been an overachiever. He is used to just getting by while living with his single mother and working a dead-end job at a cheesesteak stand.

Meanwhile, he’s constantly grappling with the voice of his sister, who died in a tragic car accident years earlier, echoing in his head.

So when Violet, an older woman, sets her sights on Charlie and refuses to let go, he follows along. He soon finds himself immersed in a destructive relationship that still fails to fill the void within him.

But then he meets Jennifer, a mystical young woman whose energy and life convinces Charlie to pursue her, even through the darkest corners of Los Angeles, and sets their lives upon a path that can’t be stopped.

Escaping to the California coast, Charlie and Jennifer finally find what they’ve always needed. But a sudden illness quickly pulls them both back to LA. It is there, amid the sex, drugs, and split-second decisions that pulse through the city, that tragedy strikes—threatening to tear Charlie and Jennifer apart forever.

Love and tragedy collide in Dennis’s poignant new novel, A Native’s Tongue.  (Taken from Goodreads)

Stars Given:★★☆☆☆ (2 Stars)

Overall View:

***this book was given to me by the author through Ethereal Book Reviews (Guest Reviewer Program)***

Where do I even start? Everyone says to start at the beginning. Maybe I should start at the end and say, WHAT JUST HAPPENED? I seriously had to go back and re-read to confirm it ended as it did and that my confusion wasn’t unjust. It was. I re-read the last page 4-5 times, each time I was no less confused as I was the first time. Right now I’m starting to think I’m more confused than I was the first time I read it.

That was just the end. The beginning and the middle, there are no words to express the absolute disgust I felt reading this book. At first I thought it was just the writing style. How the transitions were made from one character to the other and from one point in time to the past, back to the present. I felt like I was being thrown around without any notice or care of how I hit the ground. I soon realized that how the characters were being treated and treating one another disturbed me.

Although, it was great getting into the mind of a lonely older woman, the heart and hurt of a man who’s best friend and sister haunts his memory daily and then the soul of a spoiled and troubled socialite. I guess I would recommend this book to others only for the fact I’d like to see if they react the same as I.

I give this book 2 stars.....yeah that’s all I got....