Review: More Than Meets the Eye
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 24, 2013
3.5 starsIt's been a little hard for me to gather my thoughts on Selling Scarlett, because honestly, this wasn't the book I was prepared for. This is actually a good thing. What I thought I was getting was a simple story of a young woman who is auctioning off her virginity for money, as if that's simple at all. And I'll admit, while the idea of auctioning virginity definitely squicks me out, I was curious. I was hoping the author could sell me on the idea of a woman who would do this. But, that is only one aspect to the story. Selling Scarlett was also a story of corruption, greed, manipulation, and sacrifice.Okay, I don't really like to rehash the story in my reviews, but to get understand why I'm saying Selling Scarlett is not simple and much more than it seems, I kind of need to. And let me also say, the first few chapters of the story were iffy for me. I felt like I was put into the middle of a story with no idea who these characters were and why they were acting as insanely as they did. But I kept going, and was quickly invested in the story.Moving on... Elizabeth DeVille has had a years-long crush on Hunter West. Elizabeth and Hunter both grew up in affluent families, but Elizabeth's family has lost most of their fortune. One night, Elizabeth and her friends, Suri and Cross, go to a party at Hunter's house. Elizabeth inadvertently spies Hunter in a very intimate position with another woman, then has an encounter of her own with him, then sees him acting very, very strangely. She's flustered to say the least, and has an awkward conversation with Cross, followed by a tragedy. This leaves Elizabeth in the position of needing money, and a lot of it, to help her friend, and thus, you have the circumstances of why Elizabeth would auction her virginity. It sounds weird, I get it, and it's not something I could ever see myself doing, but there you have it. And it actually makes for an interesting story.Alright, so I said Selling Scarlett was more than a virginity auction. Here's where that comes in: Hunter West is really and truly effed. This is a guy who has more money than he knows what to do with, but is completely unhappy. Oh, and he's being bribed and manipulated by a bitch of a porn star. I know, right? It's completely crazy, but that's how these rich people roll. Well, apparently Hunter and his family have some skeletons in the closet, and this evil chick is going to destroy him unless he does what she wants. But, there's a whole lot more at play than just Hunter's secrets, and this goes all the way to illicit affairs, politicians (of course), and human trafficking. The mystery was elaborate and intricate and I was consumed with finding out who was responsible and how everything goes down.So among all of the WTF-ery, Selling Scarlett is also a love story. It seems that as much as Elizabeth has been pining for Hunter, he's been wanting her too. The story is full of push-and-pull between the two, with Hunter knowing that he's just no good for her, and with the extremely shady business going down in his world, he wants to keep her safe. I know it seems unlikely, but the love story between them was very endearing. Hunter and Elizabeth both make some big sacrifices and hard choices to help the other. And I have to say, that despite the odds, they were a great pair.Selling Scarlett is a great choice if you're looking for a book that is definitely more than meets the eye, and will keep you on the hook and guessing until the very end.