Review: Fantabulous!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 4, 2014
Susan Mac Nicol has become one of my must read authors and this is because her books delve into the dark side of life and take the reader on an emotional tsunami of a read that I personally embrace.Worth Keeping is one such read and touches in the delicate matter of child abuse and how the survivor copes with overcoming said abuse to try and achieve a semblance of normality in their life afterwards.Nick Mathers has suffered an extreme abusive childhood with no one to protect him. In fact the one person he should expect to protect him was one of the instigators. How could he ever overcome such depth of despair?The story picks up much later in Nick’s life where he is living a relatively sedate life as a Lighthouse guide on the Norfolk coast. He has his good days but then he has his dark days when his thoughts turn to how to stop the darkness. It was on such a night of contemplation that he found himself on the beach only to come across Owen Butler who has been washed ashore after he himself had turned his thoughts to drastic measures.Owen had suffered a great loss and had found his days becoming unbearable, hence him being in the sea but for him it was also a turning point when he was washed ashore on Nick’s beach. The story then evolves of both coming to terms with their new found understanding of themselves and each other.For me this was a meeting of two lost souls and even though at times I was frustrated at them both going from high elation and acceptance of each other to total rejection, it also was a joy to read of the relationship development. It was mainly Nick that instigated the break ups or arguments but after all he had been though then this was understandable and Owen was looking for someone to fill the void his loss had given.However it’s not all darkness and woeful, there are some humorous parts especially involving Socks who is Nick’s pet monkey. This was a welcome surprise and an original addition. He was so darn cute with his pen knife (which came to be a major saviour later in the story!) The secondary characters also added to the blend of darkness and light, especially Justin (who needs his own story please Ms Mac Nicol?) From the smugglers who dared to bring ashore their booty onto Nick’s beach late at night which turned out to be sex toys ha-ha to the lovable Don, Nick’s adoptive father and his ultimate saviour. As in all good reads we need a villain we love to hate and in this book there is none so hateful than Nick’s ex-boyfriend (loosely termed) Brad. He was absolutely vile and hateful, he had me wanting to punch the kindle. What made it worse to read was to know that there are people out there in our World that exist who are just like him. But that’s also what I loved about this book – it took me from the greatest highs and joy to the lowest of despair and sadness.It is not an easy read for sure but one I would not have missed for the world. I read this as soon as I received it and I have found myself reading snippets and then the full book again just last week. It had that much of an impact on me. I was also so pleased that the author is donating some of the proceeds to NSPCC (National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children) a major UK charity which I strongly support.This is an absolute five star read for me and one I would wholeheartedly recommend. It delivers everything a good book should – the emotion of love and loss, the humour of life and some serious romance and hotness interlaced. A definite page turner and one not to miss.