Review: An emotional wrecking-ball
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 22, 2014
From the tragic opening of this book, I knew I was in for an emotional ride of devastation and heartache, but one filled with love and hope as well. This was a long book. A story that could have easily become boring because of its length, but Owen did such a brilliant job of capturing my attention that I couldn't put it down for a second. It was well paced, with characters who reached into my soul, and latched onto my heart.Tally's life was filled with one tragic event after another. She was forced to make difficult decisions; life changing decisions that may have cost her all the success she so obviously deserved. She also had to deal with lost love, all the while trying to keep her head above water. The teen we're introduced to in the beginning of the story transforms into an amazing, strong woman. She's always been determined and quite fierce, but the occurrences in this story forced her to grow up quickly, and she seemed to lose a bit of herself each time. She showed tremendous strength and perseverance, though. She could have easily become an emotional mess, but she held it together pretty well. That's not to say she wasn't having an internal emotional meltdown. She just seemed to always find a way of soldiering through it all.Each love story (yes, there are more than one, and each has it's own complexities) was wrought with pain and heartache, but again, there was plenty of hope that everything would work out in the end; even for those characters who were clearly not meant to be together. The few love triangles in this story were not of the cringe-worthy kind. They were actually quite fascinating.This story was filled with mixed signals, missed opportunities, and power struggles as each player of this game called love fought to win the ultimate prize. Some may have gone about it the wrong way, while others manipulated it to best suit their needs. In the end, when something is real, nothing can stand in the way of it. This book was a stellar read.