Review: Great debut, can't wait for more!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 2, 2013
Maddison (Maddie) is just trying to not be noticed and make it through graduation.  Two days after she graduates, her eighteenth birthday, is the days she will escape from the life that she hates.  After her mother dies leaving her with just her stepfather, who is involved is some pretty bad stuff, her life has been hell.  Everyone knows what happened to her and what she has done and won't let her forget how awful she it.  Until she literally runs into Jase.Jase is different than the rest of his peers.  He doesn't listen to the rumors and has decided that Maddie is some is someone worth learning more about and befriending.  Despite her efforts to push him away so he won't be damaged by her life, Jase sticks with her.  He doesn't push her about sharing her life so she keeps her secrets.  She lets Jase keep his secrets so.  When the secrets all come to light all bets are off for Maddie and the only person to case for her after her mother died.Maddie was SO messed up.  The life that she lives and the things in her past have caused her to be a VERY damaged soul.  All that she can focus on is finishing high school and getting away.  I felt so bad for her.  There were times in the novel where her pain was palpable.  I could understand, not only why she didn't have friends (I was in high school once, I know how awful kids can be!), but why she didn't try harder to make some.  Anything that might keep her from wanting to leave was a definite no-no.  I loved how she coped with her emotional pain, it may not have been the most conventional thing, but it was far less dangerous or unhealthy than what many people in her same situation would have done.Jase, in a word, was perfect.  Perfect looks, perfect acceptance, perfect timing in everything that he did.  He was truly her savior, more than once.  He was so strong and supportive to Maddie, it was nice to see her have that sort of person in her life.  He was able to bring her out of herself and help her see that she was worth more than she believed she was.  When his secret was revealed I didn't know what to think.Her Love Ran Crimson is different than a lot of books in this same genre.  What Maddie was involved with, through no choice of her own, was not anything that I would have expected from a YA novel.  It was refreshing.  I truly enjoyed the ride that Zoey sent me on in the telling of Maddie's story.The book had some darker themes running through it, but no explicit details.  As much as I like the morbid details I think that it would not have been in keeping with the rest of the book.  I would recommend this book to someone who likes a taste of the dark, but isn't in for all the raw evil that so many books with darker themes have.  Her Love Ran Crimson is not a cliffhanger, for all of you cliffy haters