Review: More To Life by Nicholas Attanasio

Review: More To Life by Nicholas Attanasio 

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars 

When I read romance stories, I often find myself asking questions about the relationships that form at the center. Did this relationship move too fast? Is the main couple likable? Is there chemistry between them? These questions, while making me come at the story with a more critical eye, help me analyze how the narrative is built and if it works. 

When I first heard about Nicholas Attanasio’s More to Life, I was curious about the direction the story would take. What I found was that the way it went subverted my expectations in a few ways! 

Before I go into any of this in further detail, I want to cover some general thoughts I have about the story. 

Thoughts

When I first jumped into this, I was surprised by the different perspectives carrying the story and I like a few of them quite a bit. However, I think there were certain voices that were not needed because they did not tie into the plot as well. This only happened with a small number of characters, but when it did occur it slowed the pacing down. 

Besides that, I was surprised by the conflict carrying the story. I did not expect the narrative to take the direction it did. There is tension in the main characters’ lives that works to keep the reader invested! I think that might be one of the best aspects of the story to me. 

All that said, let’s discuss the characters!

Characters

Bryce

When I first started the story, I was surprised by Bryce’s narrative voice. He carries himself with a very positive attitude that I did not fully expect. Once the conflict started to rear its head, however, his attitude changed quite a bit. I like that change because it shows how the conflict is emotionally impacting him. He does go through hardship and sometimes needs an outside perspective to help him navigate his experiences. 

The only thing I want to point out about Bryce is that the writing for him surprised me. It’s almost a stream-of-consciousness type of prose where the thoughts are written out as he thinks them. While I don’t often see this in the stories I’ve read, I found it interesting to see how Bryce’s thoughts were structured as his character is further revealed to the reader.  

I think that’s all I have on Bryce. Now that I’ve discussed him, let’s talk about Carly!

Carly

I was interested to see where Carly’s character arc would go. I admit, I was also surprised by some of the things she experiences in the narrative. Like Bryce, she has a very positive outlook and a support system in the form of her best friends. I like this narrative choice because we get to see who she is outside of her relationship with him along with her innermost thoughts. 

I also like the hardships she goes through. Seeing her struggle with the curveballs life throws at her makes her character compelling! I was worried for her once the story disclosed her entire situation and wondered what it would mean for her down the line. That said, the way she handles it shows a clear dichotomy between her and Bryce that I found rather intriguing. While they do have some similar characteristics, they approach negative situations in different ways emotionally. 

Now that I’ve discussed Carly, I think that’s what I have on characters. Let’s move on to the structure. 

Structure

I really like how the story is built! Showing both Bryce and Carly’s perspectives through their own personal narration is a good idea. It allows further insight into who they are and what they want. I also like the switch for the chapters where they are together and third-person point of view is used along with a different writing tense. This allows those sections to really stand out and it may be one of the most interesting aspects of the narrative. 

With that, I think that’s all I have concerning the structure. Let’s move on to the writing.

Writing

The first thing I want to talk about are the different character perspectives. I believe these parts are utilized to flesh out the characters (which is fair), but they also slowed the pacing because too many were focused on. It is okay to flesh out the characters’ motivations and personalities, but there were characters being focused on that didn’t affect the story as much, so I found myself wondering if they were needed. I think keeping the perspectives to Bryce, Carly, and Bryce’s mother Cathy could have helped with this, because it could have kept the pacing at a good flow. 

Another thing I want to point out is that I would have liked some more descriptive detail. When someone is out in nature in the story, the scenery is described as beautiful without saying exactly what makes it pretty. It is good to describe something in an easy-to-digest manner, but I found I couldn’t picture the settings being presented because the writing did not go into what made them beautiful. 

With all that said, I think that’s everything I wanted to discuss. Let’s wrap this up!

Conclusion

I was surprised by this. Like I said, I didn’t expect it to take the route it did, and I find some of the ideas rather interesting. While I did see some things about the story that didn’t work for me, overall, I like the ideas the narrative plays with. I think that – for romance fans – this is definitely one worth looking into!