Inside Out - Off the Map # 3 - Lia Riley

OFF THE MAP #1

If You Never Get Lost, You’ll Never Be Found

Twenty-one-year-old Natalia Stolfi is saying good-bye to the past-and turning her life upside down with a trip to the land down under. For the next six months, she'll act like a carefree exchange student, not a girl sinking under the weight of painful memories. Everything is going according to plan until she meets a brooding surfer with hypnotic green eyes and the troubling ability to see straight through her act.

Bran Lockhart is having the worst year on record. After the girl of his dreams turned into a nightmare, he moved back home to Melbourne to piece his life together. Yet no amount of disappointment could blind him to the pretty California girl who gets past all his defenses. He's never wanted anyone the way he wants Talia. But when Bran gets a stark reminder of why he stopped believing in love, he and Talia must decide if what they have is once in a lifetime . . . or if they were meant to live a world apart.

OFF THE MAP # 2

It was only meant to last the summer . . .

Talia Stolfi has seen more than her share of loss in her twenty-one years. But then fate brought her Bran Lockhart, and her dark world was suddenly and spectacularly illuminated. So if being with Bran means leaving her colorless NorCal life for rugged and wild Australia, then that’s what she’ll do. But as much as Talia longs to give herself over completely to a new beginning, the fears of her past are still lurking in the shadows.

Bran Lockhart knows that living without the beautiful girl who stole his heart will be torment, so he’ll take whatever time with her he can. But even though she has packed up her life in California and is back in his arms for the time being, she can’t stay forever. And the remaining time they have together is ticking by way too fast. Though fate seems determined to tear them apart, they won’t give up without a fight—because while time may have limits, their love is infinite . . . 

OFF THE MAP # 3

When Talia first moved from California to Australia to study abroad, she never dreamed she'd find the love of her life. Bran understands her like no one ever has before. And despite the numerous challenges they've faced, they've always managed to figure out how to stay together. But this time they'll face their toughest hurdle yet. Is their love strong enough to keep them together?

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Inside Out è l'ultimo capitolo della serie Off the Map di Lia Riley.

Confesso di non aver letto i primi due romanzi, ma non è stato difficile capire dove erano rimasti i due personaggi principali, Natalia e Bran al termine del secondo libro, o come era nata la loro storia raccontata nel primo.

Prima di iniziare con la recensione, è importate avvisarvi della presenza di SPOILERS, per questo ho pensato fosse saggio inserire all'inizio di questo post le trame dei romanzi precedenti.

Quando tutto sembra essere deciso e prevedibile, può essere divertente e coraggioso provare a cambiare strada, invece che percorrere quella che ci troviamo davanti a noi. Si possono fare delle interessanti avventure, conoscere persone nuove e, perché no, cambiare per sempre il corso della nostra vita! 

Natalia ha deciso di entrare a far parte dei Peace Corps in Africa, come insegnante di inglese in scuole disagiate per bambini con scarse possibilità di un futuro. E' per questa ragione che ha deciso di fare il grande passo, fare qualcosa per cambiare la situazione attuale. Mettersi in prima linea per portare a termine un cambiamento sostanziale che potesse confermarle le sue capacità. Levare per sempre l'etichetta d'inetta che si era appiccicata da sola sulla fronte.

I think deep down inside I believed something would shift in me, in my life, like I'd wake one moring and it would be a whole new world. Instead, I'm still me. Just here, in Africa, teaching English as a second language in a rural school.

Durante il suo soggiorno però qualcosa di brutto accade, contrae la malaria ed è costretta a tornare a casa, non dopo aver rischiato seriamente di perdere la vita. Una volta scampato pericolo e ricevuto il nulla osta a partire da parte dei medici, torna in California. Ma non ci torna da sola. Bran, che si trovava in in mezzo all'oceano a salvare le balene, ha lasciato tutto e tutti per starle accanto. C'è stato un momento in cui la paura per i sentimenti che prova per Natalia l'avevano convinto che fosse stato meglio separarsi, ripensandoci poco dopo e chiedendole una seconda opportunità. La ragazza, innamorata di Bran alla follia, non ha potuto negargliela anche se consapevole che servirà del tempo per sistemare le cose tra loro. 

I've seen Bran at his worst, know his best, and somehow reconcile the two.He's brody, unpredicable, and twists my brain like a preztel, but my love for him isn't a word, it's an involuntary, instinctive act, like breathing. Our connection is the one thing I trust in this far-too-fragile world.

Questa volta Bran prova un diverso tipo di paura, che gli aprirà gli occhi sulla vera forza dei suoi sentimenti.

I remember the sucker punch in my solar plexus when I learned a mosquito infected Talia with malaria's worst strain, plasmodium falciparum.

I love Talia more than my next breath, and I hurt her worse than any enemy. I can't do that again. Her place is in the sun.

My lips cover hers, and then she's returning my kiss with such fierceness my breath stops and I hear colors. Our bodies entwine and I inhale deep like she's a wildflower that blooms only for me as my fingers trace the delicate skin beneath her jaw. Each touch is an ode, a secret sonnet, composed just for her. I caress in lieu of words, want to give her myself at my most basic-my body-blood and bones. Everything, every damn thing I am, or ever will be, is hers now and forever.  

Tornati in California insieme, devono affrontare non pochi problemi. Innanzitutto, non avendo altro posto dove stare, si ritrovano a condividere la casa del padre di Natalia e della nuova compagnia incinta di 8 mesi, sono entrambi senza lavoro e confusi su come fare a trovare una soluzione.

Natalia affronta un periodo di forte depressione in quanto si sente sconfitta per non essere riuscita a portare a termine il suo impegno in Africa. Insicura di natura, ha cercato di affrontare ogni sua paura ed insicurezza mettendosi alla prova imbarcandosi in questa enorme avventura. contrarre la malaria non era ovviamente  nei piani. Trovare la forza per rialzarsi, capire cosa fare della sua vita, non sarà semplice. Tra alti e bassi, momenti di sconforto e di entusiasmo, troverà anche lei la sua strada anche se questo significherà andare fuori dal percorso prestabilito dalla Mappa.

Bran, è di Melbourne quindi molto lontano da casa, ma non ha nessuna intenzione di abbandonare Natalia da sola. L'errore di averla lasciata andare è stato già fatto una volta e non vuole, e deve, ripetersi. E' faticoso starle acconto, sopratutto le prime settimane di rientro dall'Africa, quando per Natalia niente si sarebbe sistemato, e il suo fallimento non poteva essere dimenticato. Ma questo non lo demoralizza, le sarebbe stato accanto e dimostrato che persona magnifica, stupenda e in gamba fosse. 

After all she's been through , I want her feeling safe, adored, to understand no matter how bad her darkness gets, I will always believe in her light. I don't speak these words though. Sometimes, touch makes for better communication. Words only go so far.

In questo periodo, Bran si rende conto di quanto sia giusta per lui questa ragazza. La paura degli errori del passato non devono impedirgli di vivere accanto a Natalia e apprezzare quotidianamente la sua bellezza. Anche per lui ci sarà un percorso interiore da intraprendere, verso la consapevolezza e accettazione dell'amore e dei sacrifici che esso comporta.

No matter how much stupid shit I've done in my life, I've done something right to earn this girl. She makes me feel thinks I never knew I was capable of. My heart was a geode. Plain. Gray. Cold. Hard. She drove her sweet blade into my center until I craked and discovered a hidden beauty. 

Per quanto si tratti di una serie di romanzi New Adult, si potrebbero anche classificare come romanzi romance di formazione. Leggiamo in modo accurato e a tratti poetico di come crescono i nostri protagonisti, ognuno con le loro insicurezze e demoni da affrontare. Con la perfetta dose di passione e numerosi, forse anche troppi secondo la mia opinione, capitoli di aiuto analisi, giungiamo infine alla più perfetta delle conclusioni.

Lo stile della scrittrice è a dir poco strepitoso, spesso utilizza similitudini che sfiorano la poesia, mai letto niente di simile. 

E' con piacere che ho scoperto, solo recentemente, che i diritti del primo romanzo sono stati acquistati dalla Newton Compton Editori, non ci sono ancora informazioni dettagliate sull'uscita prevista in Italia, si sa solo che il titolo sarà " ho imparato ad amare", vedremo che cosa ne sarà della bella copertina della versione originale. Ringrazio il blog Insaziabili letture per questa informazione.

Sono davvero lieta di questa notizia, perché è una serie molto valida e il pubblico italiano merita di poterne godere, tanto quanto quello straniero.

You'll never believe such beauty exists-not really-not unless you have the guts to brave life, go off the map, and find your own way there.

“See how I want you.” His agonized whisper is barely audible over the water lashing the tiles. His hips lose their slow, lazy tempo. He pounds himself deeper, harder.

An intense ache spreads from my belly through my breasts. I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be turned on. Muscles tighten within my sex. I’m fast remembering.

“Want. You. So. Bloody. Much.” He always sounds like this right before he comes, as if it hurts, like I’m pressing on a wound that’s too much to bear. “Damn it, Talia.”

I can’t look away as he loses himself in a blaze. I’m a prism, refracting his light. His features spin through a kaleidoscope of emotions starting at brutal need and ending with an unexpected vulnerability. My fear about the future disperses so quickly it’s hard to believe only minutes ago it felt inescapable. Bran isn’t some scary what-if. He’s a fact, a truth to hold on to against all life’s uncertainty. Why have I been so afraid he’ll see me as a walking disaster? He knows what it’s like to mess up, to feel like a failure. I need to reframe my question. Rather than asking what if Bran gets sick of me, maybe I should ask, what if we’ve worked our asses off, and finally have a shot at a real forever?

He falls to his knees and grabs me before I can take a breath or do anything but throw my arms around his lean shoulders. Water soaks through the white cotton of my pajama pants until I might as well be naked too.

“Show me the way back to you.” He buries his face in my neck, drags his lips to the place behind my ear, the headwaters for all delicious shivers.

“I want that so much.”

“I’ll do whatever it takes, go off the map.”

“You will?”

“We’re already there.”

He’s right. We’ve been explorers for some time. During the last little while it’s as if a blizzard descended, we were stuck in a whiteout, so close, but the snow made everything indistinguishable. At last, the storm’s abating and he’s right there, and I’m over here. Suddenly, we can see each other.

Within us is the way forward. We each possess half of the compass and must join together to find the right direction.

“You’ve got to know how much I need you.” A lock of his wet hair twists in a boyish curl.

I go to smooth it down, but my fingers tangle in the thick waves, and instead draw him closer.

He bows his head, still panting a little. “You can’t check out on me like that again. I can’t live this bloody life devoid of you—”

I brush my mouth over his lower lip, that reddening mark where his teeth left imprints. “I won’t. I’m so sorry. I-I’m ready to try. Thank you for believing in me.”

“I’ll never stop.”

We rest our foreheads together, holding one another upright. Droplets fall from his hairline onto my cheeks, joining fresh tears. He’s water, I’m water, and our flotsam and jetsam fit in a way that’s strange, yet familiar. I have no idea where we’re going, only that the way out is lined with broken feathers, bloodstains, marrow ash, and the serrated teeth of sharks.

This journey will take all I’ve got, a small price to have everything.

And that’s exactly what this guy in my arms is.

Lia Riley writes offbeat romance. After studying at the University of Montana-Missoula, she scoured the world armed only with a backpack, overconfidence and a terrible sense of direction. She counts shooting vodka with a Ukranian mechanic in Antarctica, sipping yerba mate with gauchos in Chile and swilling XXXX with stationhands in Outback Australia among her accomplishments.

A British literature fanatic at heart, Lia considers Mr. Darcy and Edward Rochester as her fictional boyfriends. Her very patient husband doesn't mind. Much. When not torturing heroes (because c'mon, who doesn't love a good tortured hero?), Lia herds unruly chickens, camps, beach combs, daydreams about as-of-yet unwritten books, wades through a mile-high TBR pile and schemes yet another trip. Right now, Icelandic hot springs and Scottish castles sound pretty sweet.

She and her family live in Northern California.

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