What people are saying about Derelict:“A wonderfully refreshing read.”“…brave and candid. Highly recommend.”“A great read.”“A good book to read on your holiday. Loved this at the beach.”“The best summer read, 2019. Loved it.”“Received this free Kindle book from a Goodreads giveaway and really enjoyed it!”Eva Dawson is lost. Working as a photographer, she stumbles upon the world of urban …
Working as a photographer, she stumbles upon the world of urban exploration, and starts to find beauty in broken things.
Meanwhile, her marriage is just as broken as the buildings she sets out to explore. Can she find a way to create a future, or is happiness a relic of the past?
This book is an exploration in its own right, a fascinating journey through one woman’s attempts to change her life for the better.
Praise for “Charcoal” by JE Rowney
:“Great characters…the writer really ‘gets’ heart breaking situations.”
“This personally was like a shotgun to the chest. A very powerful read. Highly recommended.”
“A really good read. Just wanted to keep reading to see how the story unfolded. Refreshingly different.”
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This book is a downer. A marriage in shambles. Two people living derelict lives. Seek counseling. Try to change. Try to spend more time together. All from her perspective. Can the marriage be saved?
I listened on Audible with an excellent narrator.
I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book from Story Origin.
My heart broke for Eva as she tried to rediscover herself, her lost friend, and repair her crumbling marriage. I had a sense of what was to come, and I must say, I was, on some level, quite satisfied with the outcome.
J.E. Rowney is a new author for me. I was quite impressed with her writing. The vivid pictures she painted and raw emotions she brought out… it was like watching things unfold right before me.
The great narration by Wendy Wolfson also added to my enjoyment. She really brought the story to life.
I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.
An intense read / listen that follows the weeks in the life of Evangeline Dawson who is struggling to find her own happiness as well as the happiness of her marriage to Mark once again. Rowney provides us with a captivating read that took me on a rollercoaster of emotions. Hurt and confusion as well as hope and anger. Incredibly well written I feel almost like an interloper viewing Eva’s life as a fly on the wall but with access to her inner most thoughts and emotions. For anyone who has been married or in a lengthy relationship some of her reactions (biting her tongue and letting un-necessary aggrievements slide) seem all to close to home. As I listened I kept thinking how there are always two sides to any relationship and I wanted to get an inner sense of Mark’s thoughts and feelings but in the end the journey we must walk is our own as was this walk of Eva’s. A lovely, heartbreakingly beautiful work. What’s the saying? “There is beauty in the broken”
I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
*this review is based on the audio version of this read
I like this book. I think a lot of people will be able to relate to the characters as they going through their journey in the book. You will see their ups and downs. The book is well written. Definitely a good read.
Derelict, my second read from author J.E. Rowney. Enjoyable British chick lit/urban exploration. 6-hours 59-minutes and 182 pages, but reads longer with the twists, turns & detail written into it. I was given an Audible copy of this book & am voluntarily reading & reviewing it. Wendy Wolfson’s narration and accent add to the book’s enjoyment. I look forward to reading more from this author. (RIP Marley January 20, 2014 – July 24, 2018).
Derelict by J.E Rowney is a story about a woman exploring the hobby of Urbex (urban exploring), whilst at the same time dealing with the crumbling and decaying remains of a once happy marriage. The title and plotlines are a metaphor for one another, and although it may not be a subtle metaphor, it works. This is a story told countless times across the world in real life, but in truth, this is the first time I have read one in such detail in a book.
I struggled a little with the main character. Although I liked Eva and her dedication in trying to fix her marriage, I found that there was little in terms of her development. We went round and round the same topics at times and it made the plot feel a little linear and exhausting. She was so focussed on one thing that we didn’t get to know her on a deeper level, meaning she became a little plain and undistinctive. That being said, it was clear that we were meant to dislike Mark from the start and Rowney certainly achieved that. I was unsure at first but I grew to despise him and his brother, and in turn felt sorry for their parents (and Eva) who don’t deserve adult children acting like stroppy teenagers. I found Mark and Craig to be emotionally abusive and self-centered men who blame others for their own shortcomings and fail to acknowledge their own flaws. This in turn made me a little more sympathetic towards Eva, and I am glad the story ended for her the way it did. At times I could sense her dejection and hurt, and this warmed me to her a little.
The plotline is a little generic and, bar the ending, there is very little drama. Conflict is skirted around rather than addressed and things like Eva’s work and meeting with her friends felt like a get-out clause to break up some monotonous parts. When she returned home, however, we were quickly faced with the same scenario that had been left unchanged. This may be accurate for the marriage itself, but for a story it grinds the plotline to a halt. Some parts also felt a little contrived, such as the therapy session, where straight afterward Eva feels that everything is fine. Although things soon returned to normal, some of the leaps felt a little too far.
The writing style was good in general but it felt a little disjointed. A lot of this I feel comes from a lot of subordinate clauses and improper comma use (i.e. Mark clattered down the stairs, this week dressed in a crisp shirt and dark denim jeans, a far cry from the contrived casualness of the week before’). I also found that Eva having three names was a little distracting and having her referred to as Evie in both dialogue and the narrative threw me a couple of times. These things brought the otherwise good pace to a bit of a standstill, however, these things are fixable and do not affect the grading of my review.
This book feels like it covers well-trodden ground. I enjoyed reading it and I really liked the ending, however, it felt a little predictable and slow in places, and the characters did not get me invested as much as I would have liked. Still, there are a lot of positives to find and I look forward to reading more of Rowney’s work in the future.