Review: Overall amazing
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2014
Favorite Quote(s):“‘Some horses will never be tamed,’ Grandpa used to tell me. ‘The only way you get through is to earn their respect. You’ve got to learn what they’re so scared about, because the wildest ones…Well, those are the ones that are the most scared of all.’”“Imagine how different life would be with someone holding you like this every day, doting on you. Caring. You could do anything, knowing you had a partner, somebody to rely on.I’ve only ever been able to rely on myself.”Favorite Character: Hunter. Sa-woon.First Line:(Hunter–prologue)“My grandpa trained horses his whole life.”(Brit-Chapter 1)“It’s Friday night in Beachwood Bay, which means there’s only one place to go: Jimmy’s.”My Musings: Unafraid by Melody Grace was a novel that I was looking forward to. I absolutely loved Melody’s debut, Unbroken, and I was super excited to read about Emerson’s younger sister, Brit. So when I got the invite for this blog tour, of course I had to sign up! And boy am I glad that I did!Unafraid chronicles Emerson’s younger sister, Brit. Brit has always lived life on the trouble side, ever since her mom and dad walked out on her. People would always talk, so she gave them something to talk about. And this came her reputation as the town’s bag girl and slut. But one night three years prior, one boy sees through her facade. Hunter Covington. Hunter struggles with a few demons of his own, and they find solace in each other. But the next morning, Brit leaves. When Hunter returns to Beachwood Bay to stay, he’s determined to win Brit’s heart–no matter what it takes.I really enjoyed this novel, even more so than Unbroken, I’ll have to say. Something about this novel just pulled me in. The main characters in both Unafraid and Unbroken were, well, broken, but something about Hunter and Brit just appealed more to me. They struggled with some pretty tough things, but they were able to get through them with each others’ help.Something worth mentioning is that this novel is written in dual point of view. It written from both Hunter and Brit’s perspectives. I feel as if this really adds some depth to the story, because you are able to experience just how much baggage and hurt each of them are carrying. It really enables the read to sympathize with both of the characters and to understand why it is they do the things that they do and why it is they are who they are at this point in time. And sometimes dual points of view can take away from the story, but in this novel, I feel as if it was an essential strategy the author used.“He sees right through me.I can’t fight it with a quip of a barbed comment. I can’t break away. His eyes demand everything from me, and I have no choice but to surrender. I feel naked, stripped bare, like all my fears and dreams and insecurities are right there for him to see. The worst of me, my darkest secrets.Still, he doesn’t look away.”Brit was an amazing character. Not everyone may say that because of how she acted, but I understood her on a personal level. I know how it feels to be the topic of not-so-good conversations. I know how it is too fell as if you’re alone and no body really cares. How it feels not to have a partner in crime when everyone else in your life is paired off. And it sucks. But Brit is a very strong character to be able to deal with it. Yeah she may have reacted in a not so healthy way but to each their own. She was headstrong and didn’t take crap from anyone who treated her badly. She stood up for herself. And she was broken. She was wounded from her family’s past. But yet she went on. And Hunter definitely helped.“He sees it in me, what I sometimes can’t even see in myself. That man, who could have anything and anyone, wants me. For some crazy reason, he wants me, and he doesn’t show any signs of quitting yet.”Like Brit, Hunter had problems of his own. He had this confident persona about him, but there were cracks in it. Hunter was the ‘golden child’ on his vacations in Beachwood Bay–rich, smart, hot–all the things that you could want in a guy. But he wasn’t happy. he had problems with this parents, and later on Hunter experiences heavy guilt over something I’m not going to share because I’m not going to spoil it for you. He isn’t perfect, regardless of what it seems. But he was determined. Determined to find solace in Brit and to have Brit find solace in him. He really really cared about her, and her him. It was really cute to see them together–the ‘good’ boy and ‘bad’ girl.Unafraid was just an overall amazing novel. A heartfelt story about a girl with a sad past and a boy with a troubled present, it’s a novel that will tug on your heart strings until the very end.