Chasm

by L.K. Kuhl

Taylor Vine thinks she can fight off the demons of her past when she moves back home to Estill Springs, Tennessee, but it doesn’t take long to see that things aren’t quite that easy. The bumps she hears in the night soon escalate, keeping her up at night, and it isn’t long before her most precious possessions, her children, get abducted. She finds herself in a race against time to try to find them before it’s too late. One wrong move and the outcome could be disastrous.

Kindle Edition

Published May 5, 2016

About the author

L.K. Kuhl lives in Nebraska with her husband Gene of twenty-nine years, young son, Nathan, and Greg, their Black Lab dog. She has two older daughters, Morgan and Brittani and son-in-law, Trevor. L.K. has been writing for over twenty years. She first began writing children’s books and poetry, moved on to writing music, and is now writing Young Adult and Adult novels. She loves spending time with her family, vacationing, writing, reading, and taking long walks. It’s the characters who write their own stories in her novels, and she is just their messenger, sharing it with the world.

My brother-in-law had passed away about 6 months before I began writing Everlasting. One night he came to me in a dream. He stood right beside my bed and I was able to ask him questions about what life after death was like. I asked him about 5 or 6 questions and his answers came back to me so real and lifelike that I felt he was really there. Thus, Everlasting was born. I knew I had to incorporate his answers into a book. Although it is a work of fiction, some of his answers from my dream are here and I think you’ll find it intriguing.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

L.K. Kuhl hit the ball out of the park with this one! Chasm was certainly darker than her last work and it was very, very good. Her characters were very complex as they negotiate life and love in a small town contending with family dysfunction, adultery, and addiction. Sometimes they are not all that loveable but they are certainly relatable. Tying all of this together is an intricate plot centering on an unimaginably terrible accident in the past. The author grew up in the same tiny Nebraska town as I did. A town that was a rail center for the trains and crews that would relax and eat in the bars and cafes of downtown. We listened to their stories of the long, lonesome and sometimes tragic incidents with their travels across the country. This book is very good and will stick with me into the future. I hope she has a sequel in mind!

[Staci Cahis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was somewhat difficult for me to read; first of all, from what I read online, I thought it was more of a drama based on a real life train accident, but it turned out to me more of a romance novel, and generally speaking I don't typically read either of those categories of books (I prefer fantasy or historical fiction above all else). Secondly, I grew up in a small town and moved to a larger one and absolutely love the contrast; many of the themes in this book reflect the reasons why I detest living in small towns and only served to reinforce my belief that that particular lifestyle is not for me, and reading about how the main characters in this novel behaved made me shudder in an unpleasant way many times. Those two points being made, I honestly believe that the author was attempting to (at least initially) make me hate the main character (and honestly almost all of the lesser characters) of this book; in this she succeeded thoroughly and I won't go into more details because I don't want to spoil the end for anyone. I also felt that the ending was a little too complacent, with all of the pieces of the puzzle assembling themselves too neatly for my taste. However, the writing was good, and if you do like romance novels with some twists, then this might be the book for you. This book also served as one of my 2018 Reading Challenge Prompts, "A Book By A Local Author," and as this book was written by a woman who lives in the same city as me, it fit perfectly. Thank you so much for providing me with a free copy and I look forward to reading more of what you have to offer!

[Luna Lovebooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received a free copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.
Likes: One of the qualities of a good book is the setting. Kuhl hit the success button with this novel. The symbolic desperation and gloom that fill many of the characters’ lives is also symbolically represented by the setting. I did like the characters. Their emotions were described with gut-wrenching detail and seemed very honest and very real to me.

Dislikes: The plot and sub plots were not brought to satisfying conclusions to me. It almost seemed like the author knew where she wanted the story to go but it fell short and seemed like there was still something left to be settled. While I did like the characters, they seemed to make the wrong decisions even after talking themselves out of making it in the first place. There were spaces in the story that were oddly verbose and overly descriptive.

There was so much going on it this one that I was both intrigued and deterred by everything that was going on. For this reason I give the book 3 rocking horses.

[Carol Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admittedly read more YA than adult fiction, and not usually this kind of gritty contemporary genre with crime, death, blood, and alcoholism involved. When I started reading the opening pages, the prologue felt cluttered with adjectives and descriptions, hampering the flow and making it sound a bit melodramatic or overwritten. After I reached Chapter 1, however, I was glad to see it settle down for a smoother read. From that point on, it was fascinating and gripping in a stark, harsh way. The characters were well-drawn, and I can’t decide if they were sympathetic or pathetic—probably a combination of those things. I think the characters’ emotions were described with gut-wrenching detail, very honest and real. The book did have some overly violent and gross moments for my taste, but if you’re not bothered by excessive drinking, bloody fighting, broken marriages, mentions of abuse, and a bit of self-harm, then you’ll be fine.

I won’t rate this lower because I prefer a cleaner and less graphic read (which I do), but rather I’ll rate it based on its genre. The characters were interesting, and they had understandable motivations to act the way they did…even though I as a reader shook my head every time the main character made a poor decision—which she did a LOT. I didn’t find the ending believable, even though I probably secretly wanted it to end that way. But considering the degree of the characters’ mental and emotional traumas/baggage throughout the story, in my opinion it didn’t end very realistically (except for the LAST line—whaaaat? Haha, great twist).

[The Book Junkie Reads . . . · Rating 4 out of 5]

I work to look at a story as just that one telling me a story. I must also admit that my views of that work sometimes is hampered by my views on life in general and not so general. The excessive abuse, violence, drinking, and such was a bit much for me but I could also see how it all fit in to the small town that was being portrayed in the story.

There was so much going on it this one that I was intrigued and deterred at the same time by all that was presented. The characters were a bit flawed and that lent them an air of realness. This was a serious drama filled, suspense ridden, psychological intense, read that was gripping and revolting at the same time. The twist made for an interesting read. I was thrown off by the ending. I found it a bit difficult to grasp and hold on to. Making work for my mind was not working.
**This eBook was provided by L.K. Kuhl the author in exchange for an honest review.**

[InD'tale Magazine · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the tools authors have in their arsenal is to make the setting a character in the story. L.K. Kuhl did it here and it successfully brought a more heightened awareness of the environment that her protagonists - Taylor and Cole - lived in.

Read full review in the 2016 September issue of InD'tale Magazine.