Top critical review
3.0 out of 5 starsA simple read. Easily forgettable. Not a book that you will think about time and time again
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 March 2024
It's a very basic and over done story. A damaged girl meets damaged boy and they lose touch. Damaged girl then meets another damaged boy, they have a series of traumatic events. Damaged girl becomes very self aware and leaves damaged boy eventually running into the arms of the other (less so) damaged boy.
It took me 7 months to really give it a go, picking it up 2 or 3 times before I commited. Slow to start, reads like a GSCE level story. I don't know if it gets better as the book goes on, or if the story took my interest. It was an easy read with hard subject matter.
The characters sort of developed but sort of didn't. I could see she was trying but felt she never really managed to get it to it's full potential. There are some attempts at erotic scenes that are just meh, there are attempts at violent scenes that just read like actions without really portraying then feelings behind them. We're told to believe that these two were deeply in love, without actually knowing anything about their relationship. The finite details that make a story such as this so addictive and stomach churning just weren't there. I gave it 3 stars as it was a simple read. A holiday book perhaps, it's not very taxing nor does it evoke deep thoughts or the need to "read just one more page". I won't be buying book 2.