Review: Powerful and Beautiful
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 11 30, 2013
Sanctuary of Mine was one of the most powerful, descriptive and emotional books I’ve ever read.  My eye’s leaked continuously for the first half of the book, but don’t let this deter you from reading the book.  The ending will make it so worthwhile!The book details the struggles of Mackenzie (Mack) Deeks with a horrible eating disorder she has suffered since her parents divorced at age 13.  Her father is her hero and his absence is more than she can handle.  On top of that she overhears an argument with her parents where her mother makes a thoughtless statement wishing Mackenzie had never been born.  The one thing that she can control is her eating and purging and it is her sanctuary.I have never read such a descriptive story before.  The details of her eating disorder are incredibly graphic, down to the taste, the feel, the sound.  The author makes a statement that “thin downy hairs cover my abdomen. I know it is a side effect of not eating enough..”.  These are things that I never knew about the disease and it made it so much more powerful.  The emotions she suffers, the lengths she goes to, to hide the disease from her mother, I felt like I was inside the story.  So many times you read a book and feel like an outsider, like you can’t connect with the character.  The writing in this book took me to a completely different level where I was in the story, I felt like I was Mackenzie Deeks.The book is broken up into 3 parts – part 1 takes place in high school, part 2 are letters written between Mack and Tyler, when they are separated  for a year and a half, and part 3 takes places after high school when they are finally reunited.In part 1, Mackenzie is in the 11th grade and a loner.  She has never had any friends and likes it that way.  She meets a new student Levi one day when he is bullied by 2 of the school jocks.  They become inseparable and Levi becomes one of her closest friends and confidants throughout her life.  Tyler Redding, a 12th grader, and the hottest boy in school, actually comes to Levi and Mackenzie’s aid and we find out that he has been watching her for some time. He knows about her struggles because his sister Kelly suffered from the same disease.  He couldn’t save Kelly but he wants to save Mackenzie.  The build of the relationship between Mack and Tyler is slow, realistic and beautiful.  Things seem to be going well between the two, but take a turn for the worse when Mack discovers the truth about Kelly and feels that she is Tyler’s “pet project”.  At the same time she cuts herself off from Tyler, he finds out that his father has accepted a job in another country and he is forced to move.In part 2, Mackenzie and Tyler rebuild their relationship through a series of letters spanning a year and a half.  I loved this part because we not only see how Mack is finally battling her disease and repairing the relationship with her mother, but we see how the two are falling in love with each other even though they are so far apart.In part 3, Tyler returns to Australia and they are now faced with the reality of physically being together and dealing with the day to day struggles of University, jobs and just life in general.  A horrific tragedy towards the end of the book almost knocks Mack back 10 steps in her recovery, but with the love and support of Tyler, they will find their HEA.I had no idea what to expect when reading this story. I know Shelly Pratt but I have never read a book by her before.  After this experience, there is no doubt that I will be adding all her books to my tbr.  I’m a slow reader and I literally could not put this down, reading it in less than 24 hours.  All readers should give this book a chance and I sincerely hope they have the experience that I had when reading it.