Journey Within

A Novel by Robert Ross

ISBN # 0-9669588-4-5
242 pgs @ $22.95 Hardcover
Published by MACh/4 Press
405 Glenullen Drive, Suite 2
Pasadena CA 91105

 

Soulmates. The desire of every couple in love, to find validity that their feelings are real, and solid. Predestination that the one you are with is the one you are supposed to be with forever. A soulmate compliments and completes, adds depth to emotions, and makes you want to be with that person no matter what the hardships, no matter what the obstacles, you are fated to be together. Their ying to your yang, they make you whole in ways you never knew you were missing. Do I believe in soulmates? I like to think so; I think I may have found mine. Moreover, if I have, if she is the one that I am to be with forever, there is solace in knowing that we have done this all before, and that if, God forbid, something was to happen to cut short our time this time, we will be together again. I have to admit, that’s a good feeling in which to take comfort.

However, what if the one that you think is your soulmate isn’t, or what if you’re not sure? Or what if you find out that the girl of your dreams is really just a girl you’re killing time with until the real one you should be with comes along, then what happens to your dreams? And while we are supposing, what if you had a chance to relive those past lives and find out the truth? Would it make you stronger, or more vulnerable? Wiser or afraid? With someone regardless, find the right one, or alone?

Those are some of the many questions that I found myself feeling after reading Journey Within, A Tale of Astral Travel by author Robert Ross. Mr. Ross has written a story that touches the heartstrings of the reader, making them feel and question things that they might otherwise left unexplored. His writing is refreshing and different from others out in the market, a style that is embracing to the reader with its lush details and vivid imagery, yet never once boring or dragging down in storyline or action.

The story wraps around Mike and the return of a long ago love. A reconciliation that was nineteen years in the making that is everything he had remembered rekindled, and everything he hoped it would be. He is happy and at peace. However, once he is home from his trip to visit his long ago love, strange dreams and fragments of memories appear. Through a series of visions, he is given the chance to revisit previous lives, to see where and how those around him fit into his life today-or don’t. With each revelation, we gain more insight into the past experiences that make up the present of whom Mike is today. I wish I could have such an epiphany of answers, it would make a whole lot of questions that I have on a whole myriad of topics a lot easier to deal with.

This is the type of story that needs to get out to a wider audience, be it on shelves of booksellers everywhere, or would even work as a Lifetime Network Movie. I would bet that if they did film this, this story would become a perennial favorite among their viewers. It draws you in and keeps you going, and manages to stay with you long after you close the back cover. You ever listen to Crosby Stills and Nash-with or without Young? There is a song called ‘Déjà Vu’, which has a fade at the finish that keeps running through my mind as I think about “Journey Within’, and I can’t think of a better way to end this review as they end their song, with this line…”We have all been here before.”