*Review* The Barren Way by Julie Anne Nelson

Julie holds a special place in this month for me.  Indie Girl March last year is

what brought this talented author into my life and I am excited for her to be a 

part of it this year!  Please give a warm welcome to Julie Anne Nelson!

Release Date:  May 14, 2013
Published By:  Young Mountain Publishing
Length: 380 pages
Review Copy: Paperback, from author

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  The story of Cecily Daye and the sevens continues in The Barren Way as the girls face greater conflicts when their destinies begin to be revealed. The bond that kept them alive will falter under the weight of new alliances. But when the earth beneath them begins to die, allies and enemies face the same extinction and the same question: What is the point of winning if no one is left alive in the end?

  There is something that I am sure I will say every single time I review one of Julie Nelson's books; she never fails to stun me with her gorgeous writing.  Opening one of her books never happens before I clear the remainder of that day.  There is just no point in pretending that I will do anything but read her book until the very last page.  I have been captivated from the first book.  Now in book three, though I remain captivated I find myself so attached to the characters that I freak every time something happens.

  So much is going on in this book.  What started as one for all and all for one, is slowly being torn in different directions.  Everyone is showing the potential that they have kept hidden or didn't know they had.  Nelson has packed so much change, beauty, evil and heartbreak in this plot.  The Barren Way, carried a story that will keep every book after on it's toes, and yet parts had me wishing that I could take it back.  Take back what was lost, take back what was gained.  There is so much to say that I can't say without ruining this for you.  There is so much that this series offers and so much going on, every page brought something new.  

  Everyone has shown great development in this book.  Characters that felt they would never have potential, or relied on others have really come into their own.  However, it seems as if others are destined for destruction.  It is these characters, these seven girls that have the power to make me hold my breath and break my heart.  When the seven started they were powerless and shunned, together they became something great, and now it seems they are meant to be great alone.  Everything in me believes that these girls should be together, and so many things feel wrong.  Ultimately I know that Nelson has done everything for a reason and the girls growth and ways are for something.  Though my heart soars  and breaks, I hold my breath for the sevens and their rises and falls.

  Relationships have mainly been formed up until this book.  This book of beginnings and endings of many things that were assumed solid, unending.  For every truth there seems to be a lie and either a mend or new break.  Many times as readers we complain of easy love or foolish love but what do you say when the love you thought pure is stained?  I'm not talking by a triangle because there is not one of those in sight in any of these books.  I am simply talking about not knowing who your partner truly is.   What if there is evil where you thought good and dark where you thought there was light.  I mean this not just between lovers but also people growing together.  Know that nothing is safe, no love, no friendship.

  The Barren Way was not what I had expected.   It tore me into pieces, threw everything I believed out the window and set fire to it.  Although, it also gave me many new things to look at, look for.  The beautiful words that flow through these pages and the twisted story that carries on in my heart long after the last page.  Julie Ann Nelson, has crafted three books already that will forever keep a special place for me; they were the start of my developing love for witches.  Though the series is far more than that, and may have never truly been witches, it seemed it to start.  The Sevens series is turning out to be anything but ordinary and I recommend this to anyone that wants something new, from an author that will do the unexpected.

 The look in Finn's eyes stopped my mouth.  "Don't even think it.  I'm not telling you this because I want you to worry or to feel responsible; I just want you to understand that we are together in this.  If you die, I will die with you.  Everything I live for    everything I need is here between you and me.  I don't care where we go or what we do, as long as we are together.  Forever."

  I nodded, but a sick feeling pulsed in my gut.  "Forever." The word felt like a sentence rather than a gift.

Their eyes held each other for a long moment, their moment.  The entire world of wars, soldiers, kidnappings, and rebellions faded away and Zoe and Logan were the only two people alive.

"You look like you've lost faith.  I'll keep fighting until I die    I'm not afraid.  I'm not like you, I didn't have much hope to begin with.  I was just looking for a satisfying death and then I got wrapped up in your crusade.  And now I find that I need your belief that we are fighting for something    a chance at a real future, a future that isn't horrible."