Review: Deep & Dark!!!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 10 23, 2013
I was asked to read Slow Hand Quickens by Allie Mathews for review.  I received the book and saw the cover and was a little nervous, I must say.  The cover is a little scary which in turn made me a little anxious about the storyline.  The book does come with a warning about dark themes and it is definitely needed!  Poor Kristen Weatherly!!!  This girl lives a life of pure hell.  She is the daughter of Travis and Clara, two young parents that got involved in drugs a few years after Kristen was born.  Travis and Clara (Kristen’s terms of endearment for them as she can’t call them Mom and Dad anymore) are much too involved in their own lives to be loving parents to Kristen.  As Kristen ages and develops into a cute teenage girl, Clara actually becomes jealous of her daughter and the attention that she is now getting from their loser friends and berates her for it!  What child should have to hear their mom call them a Slut?  And Kristen catches the attention of one friend in particular, John, who is practically a mainstay at the Weatherly home.  And if Kristen’s life was not already so sad and torturous, she then has to endure the very unwelcome advances from John for the next 3 years of her life; experiences that no child should have to go through.“He always collected his dues and his favors.  Always.  With interest.”Kristen is finally in her senior year of high school and is just counting the days until she will graduate and she can move away from her current life.  She lucks out in getting a job at the library and thankfully finds her one and only friend in Mila.  Mila knows that Kristen is hiding something, but she tries to break her out of her shell and help her experience some normal teenage experiences.  Also to fall into Kristen’s life is Chris Emerson…Mystery Eyes as per Kristen.  Chris is super smart, quiet and reserved in school and is never really seen talking to anyone.  Kristen and Chris have more in common than they realize at first, but thankfully they both are able to let some of the past go in order to move towards a future.  Will John just let “his Krissie” live a normal teenage life with her new friend and boyfriend?  Can Chris come to grips with his horrific past that he is not ready to share?Even with the dark subject matter in this book, I loved it!  As a parent of 2 daughters, I will admit that reading some of the interactions between Kristen and John made me cringe, but they were needed to make you feel the story the way it needed to be told.  I felt so sad and so sorry for Kristen almost to the point of tears and was so relieved when she let Mila into her life and even happier when she found Chris.  This girl deserved to feel love and happiness.  I was, however, left wondering the answers to some questions at the end of the book.  An epilogue was not included and I don’t feel a sense of closure.  With that said, definitely worth the read if you can handle some dark subject matter!4 well-deserved stars!!!