Book Review: The Thunder Beneath Us by Nicole Blades

I’m still looking up at the constellation when I hear the thunder. Only it’s not clapping through the blue night skies. It’s under our feet. – The Thunder Beneath Us by Nicole Blades.

How I Got This Book

I got this book for free because I am a member of the Blades Brigade on Facebook. I signed up for the closed Facebook Group in late 2016 after I saw the announcement for members to join on Blades’ page. I expected the group to be more online chat and book talks and fun little GIFs etc. I was not expecting ongoing Facebook live chats and ongoing interactions including videos of the launch party for the The Thunder Beneath Us.  The Blades’ Brigade is still up and running and there is a call for new members so feel free to join in on the fun.

What was especially sweet was days before the book launch, Nicole and her assistant Brit, asked for persons to submit their addresses to get a Best Kit and so along with some sweet little book swag, I also received a copy of the Thunder Beneath Us.

Thanks Nicole and Brit for sharing this fantastic piece of women’s fiction.  So here is my honest review on The Thunder Beneath Us.

Book Review 

 The Thunder Beneath Us is a compelling story of drama and emotions. I had a serious time liking the novel’s protagonist and narrator, Best Lightburn.  Best was negative and selfish. And I struggled with reading her story. And yet, afterwards, Best is stuck in my head. And now, I feel a deep sympathy towards her and her journey.

At the centre of the story is Bathsheba “Best” Lightburn, a magazine writer. Best has sought for over a decade to craft a perfect fabulous life for herself by hiding and ignoring her childhood trauma.  Her brothers Bryant and Benjamin died in a tragic accident ten years prior to the main activities that the book explores. From the very beginning, I shared the opening paragraph from the book’s prologue at the start of this review, there is strong crisp voice of the storytelling that I enjoyed.

The book explores themes of identity, adult friendships and family and self-esteem and love. At the core of the book is relationships and how we navigate these relationships especially when we have deep internal struggles. Best Lightburn is in need of love, and she is seeking it and at the same time repelling it by her own self-loathing and struggle to heal and forgive herself.

The love is among friends, Best and her best friends Tyson, Kendra and Lindee (Kendra and Lindee are twin sisters). There is also strained relationship between Best and her on again/off again movie star secret boyfriend Grant.

And one of the most interesting relationship studies and love explored in the novel is between Best and her parents.

Best has recast herself as an only child. She is burdened by loss, shame and survivor’s guilt.  The death of her brothers is something that she holds onto, and cannot let go off.

A quick little side note that made this book fantastic for me personally was that the sprinkling of Caribbean flavours throughout the book. Best’s father is Trinidadian and her mother is from Barbados. The Caribbean vibe is picked up through small references to family visits to the region, food and the way Best parents speak to her and each other.

Nicole Blades does an amazing job of crafting flawed characters that will rub the reader the wrong way. And yet in her masterful storytelling and vivid descriptions Blades engages the reader so much that you feel compelled to see this take through to the end. And trust me if you stick with Best and all her ups and downs and the dramatic twists of her life you will not be disappointed. The Thunder Beneath Us is simply a brilliant piece of women’s fiction.

The Thunder Beneath Us Book Description

To the world, Best Lightburn is a talented writer rising up the masthead at international style magazine James, girlfriend of a gorgeous up-and-coming actor, and friend to New York City’s fabulous. Then there’s the other Best, the one who has chosen to recast herself as an only child rather than confront the truth.

Ten years ago, on Christmas Eve, Best and her two older brothers took a shortcut over a frozen lake. When the ice cracked, all three went in. Only Best came out. People said she was lucky, but that kind of luck is nothing but a burden. Because Best knows what she had to do to survive. And after years of covering up the past, her guilt is detonating through every facet of her seemingly charmed life. It’s all unraveling so fast: her new boss is undermining and deceitful, her boyfriend is recovering from a breakdown, and a recent investigative story has led to a secret affair with the magazine’s wealthy publisher.

Best is quick-witted and headstrong, but how do you find a way to happiness when you’re sure you haven’t earned it—or embrace a future you feel you don’t deserve? Evocative and emotional, The Thunder Beneath Us is a gripping novel about learning to carry loss without breaking, and to heal and forgive—not least of all, ourselves.

The Thunder Beneath Us  was published by Dafina, an imprint of Kensington Books in October 2016. The book is  320 pages long and is available in paperback, and on Kindle.

About The Author: Nicole Blades 

Nicole Blades is a writer and journalist who has been putting her stories on paper since the third grade. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, by Caribbean parents, Nicole moved to New York City and launched her journalism career working at Essence magazine.

She later co-founded the online magazine SheNetworks, and worked as an editor at ESPN and Women’s Health. Now a freelance writer, her features and essays have appeared in MORE magazine, Cosmopolitan, NYTimes.com, WashingtonPost.com, MarieClaire.com, SELF, BuzzFeed, and BlogHer.

You can find Nicole Blades on Twitter, Facebook and on official her author website.

Where You Can Pick Up A Copy 

See more reviews of The Thunder Beneath Us on Goodreads.