The Foreigner by AC Jade turned out to be a very intriguing book. The story unfolds in a rather unusual manner and initially I wasn’t sure whether I was going to enjoy it. Jasmine, a young lady from the Philippines is now living in America and re-training to be a doctor. On the first day at her new job she gets lost and ends up at a place called The Bookstore ~ which isn’t a bookstore at all ~ where she is greeted by a masked stranger, a stranger who haunts her dreams. Despite visiting The Bookstore several times, Jasmine loses sight of this shadowy figure and decides to move on, since wishing for him was not making it happen.
Subsequently, she meets and falls for Stephen Gates, who just happens to live in the penthouse suite of her apartment block, and unfortunately is suffering from a brain tumour. Although he loves her too and they begin a passionate affair, there is much threatening their chance at a HEA ~ not least of which is Steven’s disease ~ and slowly everything unravels.
I struggled a bit with Jasmine’s character, as initially she seemed quite independent and feisty, but later was easily manipulated by Stephen and the rest of his family ~ of whom there are a LOT and who are extremely wealthy. Some of the brothers consider Jasmine a gold digger and make no bones about their opinion ~ their callous assumptions, unfounded and downright hurtful, leaving Jasmine confused and uncertain. To add to the mix, it turns out Stephen has a twin, who Jasmine meets under tragic circumstances, little realising that they have already spoken, but when and how will shock her. So there are quite a lot of twists and turns in the tale. No, I won’t give the plot away ~ you have to read it.
The supporting cast were well written and some deserve their own stories ~ I’d be interested to see whether this happens. The story ends but doesn’t conclude, I felt that there were a few threads still dangling, so I hope AC Jade ties them off in a future novel.
This is a story of love and loss and second chances, of the tenuous nature of life and how happiness so can so easily be snatched away. It encourages the reader to grab life with both hands and dance like nobody’s watching!
Overall this book was definitely worth the read, although I did find some of the language and phraseology a bit awkward. I discovered, however, that The Foreigner is the Jade’s debut novel and that English is her second language, which clarified it to some extent; I am in awe of authors who take that leap of faith to write in a language other than their own.
The Foreigner is available on Amazon
USA: The Foreigner
UK: The Foreigner
Canada: The Foreigner
Australia: The Foreigner