A review by arizona_foster
The Beginning of Everything by Jackie Fraser

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful inspiring reflective medium-paced

4.0

This was a beautiful story about starting over and finding happiness. 
 
Initially, Jess doesn’t reveal much about her terrible relationship with her previous boyfriend, but its effects are apparent throughout the story. She hesitates to receive help from anyone, constantly worries about being a burden, and finds it hard to trust others. 
 
Gethin was amazing with his endless patience. It was like he had a sixth sense for Jess and knew not to push her into discussing anything that made her feel uncomfortable. He supported her in every possible way and was an all-around great character. 
 
The amount of ellipses used throughout the book felt a little over the top. While I understand a majority of it was to help with depicting the flow of conversations, difficult conversations in particular, it broke up the reading flow and sometimes felt unnecessary. 
 
But I loved that the story reads like you were hearing Jess’ thoughts or maybe even reading from her diary. It would start with her mentioning her thoughts and feelings about a particular time or scenario and then place the reader in that time point and conversation. It helped make me feel connected to the main character in a way that Jess didn’t feel comfortable revealing herself to those around her. 
 
Thank you, Jackie Fraser, Random House Publishing - Ballantine, and NetGalley, for the opportunity to read and review! 
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