The Other Side of Beautiful in Aussie Readers

Jul 03, 2021 Helen rated it it was amazing

Shelves: review-copy-from-netgalley

This is a brilliant story it is filled with so many emotions, all of the emotions rolled into a story that I found very hard to put down I loved getting to know Mercy Blain and feeling her struggles as she journeys on a road trip to find the other side, the side she used to be on before everything happened.

Mercy鈥檚 house has just burnt to the ground, what on earth is she going to do now she hasn鈥檛 left it for two years, there is just her and her sausage dog Wasabi, her anxiety levels are rising a ...more

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Jul 10, 2021 Shelleyrae at Book'd Out rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: arc-are, netgalley-reviews, aussie-author

The Other Side of Beautiful is a wonderfully engaging contemporary novel from Kim Lock.

鈥淚t was almost midnight. It was the eve of Mercy鈥檚 thirty-sixth birthday. None of these things鈥攏ot the orange flames nor the agog neighbours, not the birthday nor the deafly ringing ears鈥攚ere Mercy鈥檚 biggest problem, either.鈥�

Watching her home burn to the ground, her pet Dachshund, Wasabi, cradled in her arms, Mercy Blain fights to hold herself together. Panic attacks have prevented her venturing further than h The Other Side of Beautiful is a wonderfully engaging contemporary novel from Kim Lock.

鈥淚t was almost midnight. It was the eve of Mercy鈥檚 thirty-sixth birthday. None of these things鈥攏ot the orange flames nor the agog neighbours, not the birthday nor the deafly ringing ears鈥攚ere Mercy鈥檚 biggest problem, either.鈥�

Watching her home burn to the ground, her pet Dachshund, Wasabi, cradled in her arms, Mercy Blain fights to hold herself together. Panic attacks have prevented her venturing further than her driveway for two years, and now she is standing on the road, surrounded by neighbours and emergency service personnel, her sanctuary destroyed. Desperation forces her to turn to her not-quite ex-husband as a temporary refuge, but his new live-in boyfriend is not exactly welcoming, leading Mercy to impulsively purchase a vintage (read small and dingy) camper van. With no desire except to be anywhere else, Mercy impulsively decides to leave everything behind, and drive from Adelaide to Darwin.

鈥淪he wanted it to be over鈥攕he wanted to be on the other side of it all.鈥�

While Mercy鈥檚 journey is an impulse, it鈥檚 a brave move to drive the 3000km+ from southern to northern Australia, anxiety or not. Having left Adelaide with not much more than the clothes on her a back, Wasabi, and, rather unexpectedly, the boxed cremains of a stranger, she has no choice but to endure the stress of interacting with strangers to source supplies. The route is also popular with 鈥榞rey nomads鈥� and other travellers, and though the camper van, adorned with a message 鈥楬ome is wherever you are鈥�, provides Mercy with privacy, she鈥檚 rarely truly alone. Her road trip 鈥榗ompanions鈥� are charming, kind and persistent, and eventually Mercy responds when they reach out.

鈥淎 panic attack was her body preparing to run for its life. Digestion halted, all rational cognitive function ceased and she became a helpless passenger in a runaway body.鈥�

Panic disorders are often misunderstood. When not in the middle of an attack, Mercy, a doctor, is aware her fears are irrational but she feels powerless in its grip. her crippling ordeal with anxiety, triggered by three traumatic incidents which occurred in a single week, has an authenticity which is borne of the author鈥檚 own experience. I found Mercy to be a very sympathetic character, especially as I learned more about her circumstances, and I was invested in both her emotional and physical journey.

鈥淥r she could find somewhere in that great in-between, that place of nuance and clarity and balance. That place where she could do her best, do what she needed to do, and not let the fear of pain and hurt, all the infinite what ifs, crowd her mind until she could do nothing鈥�.鈥�

Written with heart, humour and compassion, I enjoyed being a passenger on this journey through Australia鈥檚 stunning interior landscape, alongside a character I really came to care about, and her sausage dog. The Other Side of Beautiful is genuine, gracious and entertaining. ...more

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Jul 06, 2021 Tien rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: own, australian-author, for-review, australia, kindle, net-galley

An adorably beautiful cover for an adorably beautiful novel. I always look forward to each new novel by Kim Lock because I know that I would love it. I always find myself smiling unconsciously when reading her books; I don't know how she does it. That is not to say that her novels are happy or funny but that there are happy & funny moment in amongst the detritus that is life. Trust Kim to always get into the heart of things.

The novel opens as Mercy's house is on fire and we meet Mercy as she sto An adorably beautiful cover for an adorably beautiful novel. I always look forward to each new novel by Kim Lock because I know that I would love it. I always find myself smiling unconsciously when reading her books; I don't know how she does it. That is not to say that her novels are happy or funny but that there are happy & funny moment in amongst the detritus that is life. Trust Kim to always get into the heart of things.

The novel opens as Mercy's house is on fire and we meet Mercy as she stood in the middle of the street in her jammies. She was understandably confused and trying very hard to hang on to the last shred of her sanity. Her house, the only place she felt safe in, is burning down and she is forced to take her first step onto the street after 2 years of hiding. Then the only person she could turn to is her not-quite-ex-husband, Eugene, but he couldn't shield her either. If she can't hide, maybe she can run... and as fate has it, her mode of transport is right outside.

"Bending over, she howled into her hands. She couldn't take this anymore. She couldn't take the feeling of her body in a constant state of anxiety, everything tensed like a rabbit awaiting a fox. Unrelenting guilt ate at her, acid sloshing her insides. The waiting, the endless waiting. For what?"

I have no idea what panic attacks are like. I just know that they are supposed to be absolutely terrifyingly bad. From reading this novel, it does feel that author has done her work in research but this is a novel and should be read as such. Mercy's journey as she faced down her troubles is heartachingly beautiful but again it is fiction and should not be used as basis of advice.

"The world wasn't safe.
Nothing was safe;
nowhere was safe.
I couldn't even human."

Mercy may have begun her journey with only the van and her faithful dachshund, Wasabi, but there was a community of travellers out there. I loved this community and especially Andy, being the one she opened up to & tell-all person. Their acceptance, non-judgemental, and generous attitude towards others and life is delightful; something for us all to emulate.

"Be here now, and know that whatever now is, is transient."

I may have started reading The Other Side of Beautiful with a tiny bit of trepidation because her last novel, The Three of Us, was rather hard-hitting (I rated that one 5-stars too) and I'm really not in the mood for that sort of read. However, The Other Side of Beautiful proves to be such a balm in the midst of a lockdown. Being in Mercy's shoes while she traversed the great Australian landscape, it was truly an escape that I vicariously loved.

My thanks to Harlequin Australia via The Book Stack for this聽paperback copy of book in exchange of my honest thoughts ...more

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Jan 23, 2022 Kim rated it really liked it

Shelves: libby, contemporary-fiction, fiction, australian-fiction, act-library, 2021-aus-release, romance

I wouldn't have thought that a book about a woman suffering terrible anxiety and her house burning down, then running away from it all on a road trip, could be described as delightful, but it is delightful. Even becomes joyful as the kilometres and time tick away from Adelaide to Darwin, stopping at camp sites and scenic places along the way. The books sections are actually divided into the number of Kms from one stop to the next.
A very good read. ...more

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Jul 07, 2021 Bree T rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: arc, australian, mental-illness, cultural, aww2021, road-trippin, trauma

This was a beautiful story!

I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this even before I read it because I knew someone that had read it and loved it and from what they said, I felt like it would contain a lot of things that I enjoy. Living in Melbourne, I spent a lot of last year in lockdown, and during that time I got into watching people living #vanlife on YouTube. So when I realised that this book contained a road trip up the centre of Australia with the main character in a van, I was pretty sure This was a beautiful story!

I had a feeling I was going to enjoy this even before I read it because I knew someone that had read it and loved it and from what they said, I felt like it would contain a lot of things that I enjoy. Living in Melbourne, I spent a lot of last year in lockdown, and during that time I got into watching people living #vanlife on YouTube. So when I realised that this book contained a road trip up the centre of Australia with the main character in a van, I was pretty sure that it was definitely going to be something I would enjoy. But I didn鈥檛 just enjoy it for that.

Mercy Blain, the main character, hasn鈥檛 left her house for 2 years before it burns down and is considered to be uninhabitable. Although her ex-husband offers her a place to stay at his house, that for Mercy (and perhaps others) isn鈥檛 a workable situation and Mercy finds herself buying a van and just鈥�..leaving. With Adelaide behind her she makes the decision to drive north all the way to Darwin, straight up the middle of Australia. It鈥檚 a popular route with 鈥淕rey Nomads鈥� 鈥� retired singles and couples who have bought a caravan and are road trippin鈥� their way around the country.

But Mercy is reluctant to join the camaraderie that ensues at each overnight resting/camping spot. She has been living a very solitary lifestyle and even the thought of doing things that others find simple, such as buying groceries or filling up the vehicle with fuel, incite anxiety and high levels of stress. Interaction with people is the same and the more people it seems the more stress this brings. At first Mercy rejects any overtures of friendship, hiding in her van. The further she travels though, the more she seems to unfurl a little, and the trip brings about a way to face her demons, deal with the event that triggered this way of life for her. I adored some of the people she met along the way, particularly Bert, a retiree who is always looking to round Mercy up for 鈥渉appy hour at ours, silver Cruiser and Jayco鈥� and who doesn鈥檛 ever take it personally that Mercy doesn鈥檛 turn up. He continues to turn up at the same stops Mercy is at, continues to invite her and eventually Mercy, due to a few incidents, is drawn into the group and togetherness of people doing this trip, accepting of help when she needs it.

I loved being along for Mercy鈥檚 journey, all the up and down moments of it. Although Mercy flees in a moment of panic when she realises her house, her sanctuary, isn鈥檛 liveable anymore, it takes courage and bravery to keep going, especially when you鈥檙e someone who hasn鈥檛 been out of your house really, in two years. It involves having to interact with people, to deal with them face to face 鈥� can鈥檛 order everything online to your van! And it鈥檚 quite a trek to undertake on your own (with a dog for company), to drive from Adelaide to Darwin. There are often long stretches where there鈥檚 no fuel or place to stop, so sometimes planning is necessary. Mercy鈥檚 van is a character, not quite capable of the top speed on these outback roads, so she has to calculate for that too. I really enjoyed being along for the ride, as Mercy negotiates challenges and finds the courage to stand up for herself, as well as face what is coming back in Adelaide. I thought Mercy鈥檚 reactions to things that challenged her in the beginning were so well written, so believable. And as the story went on and I pieced together why she had not left her house in almost two years before the fire, I could understand.

I enjoyed every page of this 鈥� it definitely made me want to make this trip one day (although I fully admit I鈥檓 a bit of a princess, so I鈥檓 definitely going to need a more luxurious set up than the one Mercy had!). I appreciated the time and care taken to show Mercy鈥檚 struggles and how she tries to overcome them out of necessity and how she gains strength through her trip. You couldn鈥檛 help but cheer for Mercy with her every victory and hope for her with every kilometre. Kim Lock is a wonderful writer, who has definitely become an autoread for me.

***A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for the purpose of an honest review*** ...more

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Jun 06, 2021 Nikki Sims-Chilton rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

What do you do when your house burns down and not even your ex-husband will have you? If you鈥檙e Mercy Blain, you go on a road trip 鈥� from Adelaide to Darwin accompanied by Wasabi, the sausage dog. But, how will Mercy cope in the outback with very few supplies as well as her agoraphobia, anxiety and panic attacks?
This is a story of Mercy鈥檚 journey in the literal and metaphorical sense. Travelling through the middle of Australia, she comes across a range of people and challenges. The descriptions ...more

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Feb 26, 2022 Janine rated it it was amazing

What an excellent book this one was. After losing her confidence as a doctor, Mercy shuts herself away in her house for 2 years, that is until, after an electrical fire burns her house to the ground.
With nowhere else to go she embarks on a journey from Adelaide to Darwin in a vintage van with her dog Wasabi. Its a journey of discovery in more ways than one for Mercy and the people she encounters on the road.

A brilliant description of how something can change who you are and cause a breakdown an ...more

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Sep 13, 2021 Rhoda rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Thank you to @harlequinaus for sending me a copy of this book to review!

When Mercy鈥檚 Adelaide house burns down, it is a double disaster for her: she has not left her house in two years. Now homeless and with only her dachshund Wasabi and the clothes on her back, the only option available to her is to stay with her ex-husband and his new boyfriend, which after just one night, Mercy realizes she just can鈥檛 do.

When her ex-husband鈥檚 elderly neighbour talks Mercy into buying his tiny ancient camper ...more

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Jun 19, 2022 Kalliste rated it liked it · review of another edition

In the beginning, I found Mercy incredibly frustrating. Perhaps it was that all we saw of her was the anxiety and learnt almost nothing about the 'why' behind it for a very long time... other than her house burning down of course.
I started to enjoy the book more as Mercy's story was explained, but it took a long time to get there. I was also preoccupied with how Mercy had been on the road, in the heat and the red dust for days, had pushed herself to go into the supermarket, but hadn't had a show ...more

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