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The Edge of the Earth
Charlotte Rowe organizes messes for a living. She’s darn good at it, but her orderly and controlled life leaves her wanting more. When an aged linguist contacts her, needing her assistance to save her grandfather’s dying language, Charlotte sees an opportunity for adventure. But as soon as she meets Dr. Will Mayfair, the other linguist on the project, she realizes she’s in over her head. Her research partner is far younger and sexier than she’d been led to expect. As if that isn’t enough to shake her up, they are forced to work in a remote Caucasus village where local political tensions are on the rise.
Charlotte and Will race to translate a rare document, but their work is stymied by the subtext of attraction whispering beneath every word they say. Then war breaks out and a tragic ordeal sends both their lives into a tailspin. Like the hero of the mythological tale they study, they are forced to battle for love and healing, and make a perilous journey back from the edge of the earth.
Charlotte and Will race to translate a rare document, but their work is stymied by the subtext of attraction whispering beneath every word they say. Then war breaks out and a tragic ordeal sends both their lives into a tailspin. Like the hero of the mythological tale they study, they are forced to battle for love and healing, and make a perilous journey back from the edge of the earth.
198 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 1, 2012
4 people are currently reading
105 people want to read
About the author
Molly Joseph
8 books51 followersMolly Joseph is the “vanilla” counterpart of New York Times and USA Today bestselling BDSM romance author Annabel Joseph. Annabel and Molly both love to explore deep and complicated relationships on the pages of their books, except that Annabel’s couples have BDSM dynamics, and Molly’s couples don’t.
You can learn more about Annabel (and Molly) by visiting annabeljoseph.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter to stay current on upcoming releases. You can also find Annabel/Molly on Facebook (Facebook.com/annabeljosephnovels), and Twitter (@annabeljoseph).
You can write to either Molly or Annabel at Annabeljosephnovels@gmail.com.
You can learn more about Annabel (and Molly) by visiting annabeljoseph.com, where you can sign up for her newsletter to stay current on upcoming releases. You can also find Annabel/Molly on Facebook (Facebook.com/annabeljosephnovels), and Twitter (@annabeljoseph).
You can write to either Molly or Annabel at Annabeljosephnovels@gmail.com.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 13, 2013
I decided to read this because I liked her BSDM series Club Mephisto under Annabel Joseph. I saw many were labeling this her vanilla book. I don’t consider this a vanilla book due to the extreme subject matter than happens. This happens in the middle of the book and took it in a whole other direction than what the beginning of the book was. I struggled with how to even rate or review this. So I will break it into 3 pieces.
First part of book: Charlotte Rowe organizes other people’s life for a living. She like order in her life and doesn’t understand those that live in chaos. But she is becoming bored. One day she is contacted by an old man who is a linguist. He begs her to help transcribe a old dying language that her grandfather taught her. After realizing she would like an adventure she decides to go to a remote Caucasus village that is on the brink of war. When she gets there she is not only shocked at the condition of the country but is not met with open arms from the research partner Dr. Will Mayfair. He wants her to return home as where they are is no place for a woman. He was expecting a man and tries very hard to get Charlotte to get back on the plane but she refuses. The two end up having to share a shack together with the spoiled and pampered Charlotte struggles with along with the many creepy crawly critters. As Will and Charlotte begin to transcribe the book the two of them find themselves very attracted to each other and eventually give in even though Charlotte struggles every time they do. These two were extreme opposites. She a southern girl with a thick accent who likes her sweet tea and he a Brit.
Then the horror happens. The country breaks out in war and Charlotte is taken by a evil general and tortured in many ways. After thinking that Charlotte is dead Will returns home. But she wasn’t she endured month of unspeakable things.
Last half of book Charlotte being rescued but she is damaged. She wants nothing to do with Will. There is also another issue she is going through that I won’t spoil but it’s another horrible situation. Will doesn’t desert Charlotte – he decides he is going to stay in the US and support her anyway he can even if she wants nothing to do with him. It takes many months of therapy and Will’s support but Charlotte finally comes back emotionally and these two are able to start back on the journey to a HEA that was started at the beginning of the book.
First part of book: Charlotte Rowe organizes other people’s life for a living. She like order in her life and doesn’t understand those that live in chaos. But she is becoming bored. One day she is contacted by an old man who is a linguist. He begs her to help transcribe a old dying language that her grandfather taught her. After realizing she would like an adventure she decides to go to a remote Caucasus village that is on the brink of war. When she gets there she is not only shocked at the condition of the country but is not met with open arms from the research partner Dr. Will Mayfair. He wants her to return home as where they are is no place for a woman. He was expecting a man and tries very hard to get Charlotte to get back on the plane but she refuses. The two end up having to share a shack together with the spoiled and pampered Charlotte struggles with along with the many creepy crawly critters. As Will and Charlotte begin to transcribe the book the two of them find themselves very attracted to each other and eventually give in even though Charlotte struggles every time they do. These two were extreme opposites. She a southern girl with a thick accent who likes her sweet tea and he a Brit.
Then the horror happens. The country breaks out in war and Charlotte is taken by a evil general and tortured in many ways. After thinking that Charlotte is dead Will returns home. But she wasn’t she endured month of unspeakable things.
Last half of book Charlotte being rescued but she is damaged. She wants nothing to do with Will. There is also another issue she is going through that I won’t spoil but it’s another horrible situation. Will doesn’t desert Charlotte – he decides he is going to stay in the US and support her anyway he can even if she wants nothing to do with him. It takes many months of therapy and Will’s support but Charlotte finally comes back emotionally and these two are able to start back on the journey to a HEA that was started at the beginning of the book.
September 25, 2012
God, I really had no idea what to expect when I started this, but I really loved it. More angsty than I was expecting. And although I enjoy her BDSM works a lot, the sex was just right for the story.
May 22, 2019
Heartbreaking and beautiful!
March 18, 2017
Ok book.
April 4, 2013
Yes, I will follow Molly Joseph to The Edge of the Earth and anywhere else her stories take me. Molly Joseph is Annabel Joseph's vanilla counterpart. Or as vanilla as an Annabel Joseph counterpart can be. Either way, sign me up cause this author can bring the heat both with the sexiness and the intricacies of the story itself.
The Edge of the Earth is not a light story, which may be hard for some people to deal with. It might have triggers for some people. However, I thought that it was nice to see serious life situations being dealt with in a romance novel. Especially because it was dealt with in a realistic way that honored the love between the main characters, the culture of the Caucasus village where the story was set and how that affected the way the characters were treated by the locals. It felt authentic and rang true to how I would have expected some things to happen in that context. That's not to say that the story was predictable. There were some turns that the story took that I did not expect at all and it threw me for a loop, made me cry and turned my stomach into knots worrying about what was going to happen next!
What I love about this author is that I never feel the need to skip ahead to the sex scenes. The story is always so enthralling that I want to savor it and take my time and everything develops in due time and flows perfectly along. The Edge of the Earth is no different - the flow was perfect and the characters drew me in right away. Charlotte and Will's chemistry sizzled right off the page as soon as they met. They clashed, they fought and taunted, and they learned each other and developed respect, affection, eventually love... It was a beautiful progression. A pleasure to read. And, of course, the learning process included some intense lovemaking that ranged from playful to raunchy with a sprinkle of light kink to downright sappy, but always hot.
I give this book a full five stars and recommend it to anyone who likes romance, with the one caveat warning of possible triggers due to some non consensual scenes that were heart-wrenching. There's something here for everyone - the romance, the light touch of kink, an alpha hero and a tenacious, strong heroine who perseveres, strong storyline and if you enjoy other cultures and learning something new you get that here too. Read it, savor it, re-read it. And, let's be real, when I say savor, I mean try to stretch the book over at least 24 hours as opposed to blocking the world out completely and figuratively forgetting to chew...
To read more of my reviews go to haydeereviews dot blogspot dot com.
The Edge of the Earth is not a light story, which may be hard for some people to deal with. It might have triggers for some people. However, I thought that it was nice to see serious life situations being dealt with in a romance novel. Especially because it was dealt with in a realistic way that honored the love between the main characters, the culture of the Caucasus village where the story was set and how that affected the way the characters were treated by the locals. It felt authentic and rang true to how I would have expected some things to happen in that context. That's not to say that the story was predictable. There were some turns that the story took that I did not expect at all and it threw me for a loop, made me cry and turned my stomach into knots worrying about what was going to happen next!
What I love about this author is that I never feel the need to skip ahead to the sex scenes. The story is always so enthralling that I want to savor it and take my time and everything develops in due time and flows perfectly along. The Edge of the Earth is no different - the flow was perfect and the characters drew me in right away. Charlotte and Will's chemistry sizzled right off the page as soon as they met. They clashed, they fought and taunted, and they learned each other and developed respect, affection, eventually love... It was a beautiful progression. A pleasure to read. And, of course, the learning process included some intense lovemaking that ranged from playful to raunchy with a sprinkle of light kink to downright sappy, but always hot.
I give this book a full five stars and recommend it to anyone who likes romance, with the one caveat warning of possible triggers due to some non consensual scenes that were heart-wrenching. There's something here for everyone - the romance, the light touch of kink, an alpha hero and a tenacious, strong heroine who perseveres, strong storyline and if you enjoy other cultures and learning something new you get that here too. Read it, savor it, re-read it. And, let's be real, when I say savor, I mean try to stretch the book over at least 24 hours as opposed to blocking the world out completely and figuratively forgetting to chew...
To read more of my reviews go to haydeereviews dot blogspot dot com.
April 15, 2013
I feel a bit bad giving this three stars, because I already knew that the only vanilla romance writer who works for me is Georgette Heyer. Yes, the author writes BDSM romances under the name Annabel Joseph, but this one is correctly marketed as mainstream. I'm really kind of puzzled by the people who say it isn't vanilla - maybe they're not aware how much violence can be found in mainstream romance?
First, the good news. I think it must be a romance convention that the hero must let the heroine down badly at some point, precipitating a hell of a crisis, and unfortunately this spoils most of Annabel Joseph's novels for me. You do NOT want your dom taking out his frustrations on your limits. But in this case, the hero is great in the crisis, which comes from outside the relationship.
The bad news is, I had to stop reading a few times (about a third of the way in) because I could not cope with the idiotic way the hero and heroine were acting. Yes, they do know by the end of the book that they were being idiotic, but honestly. I wasn't so happy that he was basically taking out his temper in nasty remarks, but I couldn't believe the way she would have great sex and then throw a tantrum because she regretted it. Once was bad enough, but again? Sheesh.
Since my field is linguistics, I should also add that the author gets stuff right for the most part. I have never heard the terms "lens" or "lingual system", but she does capture what it feels like to work with native speaker consultants and dusty manuscripts. Of course, in the real world you would just photograph the hell out of the manuscript AND run a digital recorder every time you sat down with your consultant, but then we wouldn't have the required crisis.
If you like torrid romance with a volatile heroine, a glowering hero, a touch of role-play and plenty of non-hero violence, I'm sure this will work fine for you. But be prepared for the heroine to suffer extreme violence and trauma.
First, the good news. I think it must be a romance convention that the hero must let the heroine down badly at some point, precipitating a hell of a crisis, and unfortunately this spoils most of Annabel Joseph's novels for me. You do NOT want your dom taking out his frustrations on your limits. But in this case, the hero is great in the crisis, which comes from outside the relationship.
The bad news is, I had to stop reading a few times (about a third of the way in) because I could not cope with the idiotic way the hero and heroine were acting. Yes, they do know by the end of the book that they were being idiotic, but honestly. I wasn't so happy that he was basically taking out his temper in nasty remarks, but I couldn't believe the way she would have great sex and then throw a tantrum because she regretted it. Once was bad enough, but again? Sheesh.
Since my field is linguistics, I should also add that the author gets stuff right for the most part. I have never heard the terms "lens" or "lingual system", but she does capture what it feels like to work with native speaker consultants and dusty manuscripts. Of course, in the real world you would just photograph the hell out of the manuscript AND run a digital recorder every time you sat down with your consultant, but then we wouldn't have the required crisis.
If you like torrid romance with a volatile heroine, a glowering hero, a touch of role-play and plenty of non-hero violence, I'm sure this will work fine for you. But be prepared for the heroine to suffer extreme violence and trauma.
September 5, 2013
Deeply moving but difficult to take in other parts. The first part of the book concentrates on our two main characters, Charlotte and Will. They are together 24/7 and their story is very moving. . Once Charlotte was back in the states, the story picked up again and focused on Charlotte and Will. The ending, well the ending had me bursting into tears it was so...... beautifully moving, one of the most touching endings I think I have ever read
October 21, 2012
Molly/Annabel Joseph knows how to tell a story. This was very different from the other books I have read by her. At first it felt as the female lead Charlotte would fit into a chick lit novel, as well as the male lead Will. Then the tone of the story changed. It became angsty gritty which also moved on to a HEA. This is very good story!
September 4, 2014
at about 15%, and slightly hung up on the unusual use of the word "buggered". strange thing to notice, perhaps- but as an Aussie that uses the word rather a lot, it sticks out a bit. We definitely don't use it to mean 'bothered' :) (and as far as I know, neither do the Poms)
actual review to come
actual review to come
September 8, 2012
This was a beautiful, heart wrenching novel. I loved it!
February 18, 2013
Not sure what I thought of this book....The only thing I know for sure, it wasn't a vanilla story! Will have to think about this one and update this review at a later time.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews