I received a copy of The Beginning of Everything by Jackie Fraser from NetGalley. The story follows the characters of Jess Cavendish and Gethin Thomas. It’s a friends-to-lovers romance of characters who are in their 40’s. The blurb of the story is something that intrigued me from the start. It is a different kind of romance book.
Jess Cavendish has left everything behind and moved to a new town in West Wales. Her last relationship was toxic, which made her run away to find herself again. She is living in a tent. As it gets colder, a beautiful old house catches her eye, and on finding it empty, she starts squatting there. A few days later, the owner of the house comes back and finds her in his house. Gethin makes her an offer. She can stay in the house, and help him fix it. Jess and Gethin become roommates and start getting along.
Jess is rightly cautious about Gethin but also grateful for his kindness. He goes out of his way to make her feel comfortable with him and in the house. Together, they start making updates to the house and choosing all the furnishings and décor. They get along really well, but Jess is secretive. Her behavior makes sense as we find out more about her past. Their friendship develops naturally, but there is also a feeling of something more than friends in the way they interact. Gethin is getting out of a long-term relationship, and Jess, too, is healing from her past. They find a companion in each other and someone they can talk to, someone who understands.
The entire story of The Beginning of Everything is narrated from Jess’s perspective. Jess is 45, and Gethin is 47; they are pretty upfront about what they want for themselves and play no games with each other. Jess is not a great communicator of her feelings, but you can see they match well. Jess’s life has been difficult, and she wants to find a home. Gethin manages to give her that security which scares her and makes her wonder if it’s temporary. Their relationship builds up slowly, and we get to see very little of them as a proper couple, but it is completely satisfying when they get together.
The narration of the book reminded me of the Before Sunrise and Before Sunset movies. The characters tell us everything most of the time through their dialogues. I feel for those movies it worked well because they were moving, and I don’t think it translated well on paper. It’s definitely a unique style; I haven’t come across books with so much dialogue exposition and so much dialogue in general. It gives a sense of these characters and their motives, but the lack of descriptions, for some reason, bothered me. It took me out of their world at times, and when you read it at a stretch, made it confusing as to who is speaking and who is not. Personally, this narration and writing style doesn’t seem for me.
The Beginning of Everything by Jackie Fraser is a beautiful romance story. The characters are interesting, and I liked the setting of Wales. It’s a character-driven book, and it is nice to see satisfying arcs for the characters. The narration style is unique; sadly, didn’t suit me for whatever reason. Overall, it is a nice friends-to-lovers romance book. I enjoyed reading it once.
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