To those who read my story, have you ever wondered if life is fair? Is it possible for love to conquer and heal a lifetime of internal and external wounds? Can a man with a cruel past find not only his soul, but his soul mate? These are my questions; this is my journey from the downtrodden streets and prisons of New Jersey, to the arctic ice of Norway. A dangerous, often dark voyage, which I have grown accustomed to over the past twenty-one years; however, it is not out of choice. Unfortunately, life has simply never gifted me with other options. Or so I thought, until the frigid night, in the heart of winter, when fate brought Amy into my life. In a sense, I rescued her during a brutal winter storm, yet she affected my life on a multitude of levels. Our attraction went beyond all reason, past all of society’s rules and regulations, farther than the boundaries of the institutions that have held me captive for a large portion of my life. However, is this bond strong enough to endure my crimes, my past, and the engrained lessons that have permeated my body and mind? Is it possible for a beautiful, intelligent woman to truly love me no matter the obstacles? Can Amy love me knowing that her love will destroy her family ties, and most likely, her future dreams?
Breaking Cliché: Andrea Ferrell’s second novel is an exposition of love
Admin on Nov 17, 2009 by: Jillian Watson
Nordic Ice
by Andrea Ferrell
Trafford Publishing
$18.89
When I first picked up Andrea Ferrell’s second novel, Nordic Ice, I expected to find a story about young, rebellious love. What I actually found was a captivating and realistic love story that kept me on the edge of the chair until the last 30 pages, when, for me, the legitimacy of the story was broken.
A love story is a love story is a love story. We can all guess the outcome of most situations involving a reformed jailbird who has fallen in love with a rich girl once her father becomes involved in their relationship—which is the driving plot of Nordic Ice. This isn’t drastically new in any way, but somehow Ferrell presents the story in a way that is captivating and exciting, in a way that is familiar, yet new at the same time.
Quintessential members of this familiar story have been given new insightful layers in their personalities. Ferrell tells the story through the perspective of Jessie, the bad boy with anger issues. Jessie was a character that Ferrell understood, and she has captured his essence in a way that caused readers to become attached to him. Readers will easily root for him to win the girl and become an active, productive member of society.
There is no dialogue throughout the entire novel, only exposition. From this we lose the “back and forth,” as Ferrell calls it, and the reader can simply watch Jessie’s movements, his thoughts and his urges. Within this inner sanctuary we see qualities in Jessie, like his artistic talents, that are rare among cliché characters and are charming when he thinks of things in a sensitive manner, like, “It had been way too long since I had some happy images to draw.”
Then we meet Amy, the rich girl from the right side of life. She is in medical school, drives a black Jag and lives in an apartment that most college kids only dream about. But this is only who Amy appears to be. Ferrell has bestowed her with the characteristics of someone like Mother Theresa underneath her clichéd rich-girl exterior. Instead of spending her trust fund to ensure a luxurious life, Amy plans to use the money to open a clinic for disadvantaged children in the poor neighborhoods of New York. Who wouldn’t be in love with this girl?
Things seem pretty perfect, right? They won’t stay that way for long after we meet Amy’s father, Reginald. As the entrepreneur of a computer firm, Reginald has made enough money to keep his family quite comfortable for as long as they wished. On top of being a working stiff, Reginald is also quite the art collector and artist, traits that bring him and Jessie together and seem to reconcile the fact that an ex-con is not only dating his daughter but is getting very close to being a part of his family.
The dynamic of the relationships between these three characters is what I love about this book. Their plight to find their niche in each other’s lives feels real and gives the reader something to hold on to. They seem like people who live down the street, people who are tangible and can be understood by anyone in any situation.
And then I got to the last 30 pages of the book. The homey, could-be-true love story that Ferrell had made so realistic was crushed by this fantastical ending that doesn’t feel true to the personalities of the characters that she created. I’m sure that some people enjoy reading love stories that aren’t tangible or attainable, which would be fine if the entire novel is set up in that manner. But to have characters that seem so true-to-life (spoiler alert!) be kidnapped from a mental institution, taken to an ice castle in Norway and married under false identities, seems like a stark opposition from their usual character instincts. But at least it is a happy ending, I suppose.
Ferrell is already working on her third novel, It Was a Beautiful Day. She says the novel is based on a character that suffers from Multiple Sclerosis, and will look at how her disease not only affects her but also her family and the people around her. Fans can expect to see It Was a Beautiful Day published in 2011.
Nordic Ice can be found on amazon
or straight from the publisher at
trafford.