Book Review- Life Liberty and Pursuit
by Susan Kaye Quinn
Published June 22nd 2010
Omnific Publishing
ISBN 1936305232
4 stars
When college-bound Eliza falls into a cruise-ship pool, she doesn’t expect to fall in love. And when navy recruit David pulls her from the water, he finds her surprisingly hard to resist. But a whirlwind of rescues, candlelit nights, and beachside misunderstandings pulls them into a four-day love affair that threatens to break their hearts before their love has a chance to start.
When David leaves for endless drills and physical training in boot camp, and Eliza returns to Albuquerque to prepare for Princeton in the fall, they dare to keep loving each other and struggle to imagine a future when they can be together. But when miles and mistrust pull them apart, they are forced to choose between keeping true to their dreams and having the courage to love.
I received this book from a cute friend of mine I met while working our vendor booths at Twi -events, Micha from We Book Apparel and Ominific Publishing. Thank you so much!!
The first couple of chapters of Life , Liberty and Pursuit were a little rocky for me. I had a hard time believing so many catastrophes would happen all in a four day period. Girl falls into swimming pool and almost drowns (can she not swim?), boy and brother get drugged and kidnapped while ashore. Then as the make outs during their four day cruise pick up it gets a little too steamy for my taste. I am thinking…”hmm not really YA material, more like watered down pure adult romance novel…thinking some of it could have been left out. But, I must shout hooray to Ms. Quinn for pushing abstinence, and advocating waiting. There was plenty I truly enjoyed about this book.
About a third of the way through and I was hooked. I found the interactions between David and Eliza via letters pulled my heart strings as they both try to navigate those crucial decisions made right after high school and beginning college. I am so glad the author didn’t tie their future up with a cute little bow and send them off happily ever after. There is separation of miles, testing conditions and time to get to know each other. Eliza is in the process of finding out who she is and what she truly wants while David is pushing himself at Navy boot camp. I personally love a man in uniform and grew up on various army bases so the story resonated with me. And it doesn’t hurt female readers to hear about his incredibly charming bunk mate Clayton. This was one of the strong points of the book for me. Real and likable secondary characters. As Eliza visits the Marek household, I can’t help thinking I want to be with them for their family Christmas. David’s brother is cute, his sister Tea spunky and his father a successful doctor in the community. They are a Polish Irish mix of fun and it’s endearing how much they support one another. I walked away with a good feeling, left with the theme of believing in the future and faith in the power of love. Overall I really liked it and would recommend it to those 18 and up. Four stars to a story about a cruise and real life choices made. To learn more visit http://www.lifelibertyandpursuit.com/