Review: Fantastic Debut Novel!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 15, 2014
From the first page, Anna’s life will break your heart. She had none of the love or support that she deserved from her family as a child, so Anna always felt abandoned and alone.  This left her vulnerable to accept affection in any way possible, even if it came with horrific abuse. Anna went back time and time again, and although this made me angry, it was so heartbreakingly understandable since she had no one she could lean on - and no one to tell her that she didn’t deserve the awful things that a boy was saying or doing to her. She escapes that horror, only later to be taken advantage again.  Anna is still alone, believing the very worst things about herself and even resorting to self-harm to dull the pain.  But with all Anna went through, she somehow managed to move on with her life, find friends, and fight like hell to quiet the demons that followed her everywhere.Enter Jed. Gorgeous, funny, and kind hearted Jed.  Jed is everything Anna always needed and deserved but was cheated out of all her life. He’s someone who sees all she has to offer, the strong quiet beauty that she has inside and out, but can see that something has damaged her more than she’s ready to admit.  Anna starts to let down her walls slowly as she very cautiously lets herself get closer to Jed. Love from Jed is what starts to heal her, and finally Anna starts to realize maybe she’s not all those awful things she was called or deserve the terrible things that were done to her.  But for Anna, the past isn’t all in the past, and she needs to figure out if she wants happiness enough to fight for it.This was fantastic debut novel from Nicki DeStasi. Scenes from Anna’s past are difficult to take because they are so real.  You feel yourself breaking right along with her each time she gets rejected and abused. Jed was a beautiful character, he truly loves Anna and doesn’t push her to reveal what she’s hiding.  He won’t stand for her getting mistreated by anyone, including herself.  What made me love him was how enraged he when he learned about what happened to her.  Someone finally thought she was worth protecting, and I felt more anger at her parents for not caring enough to take that same interest in her all those years ago.  Anna was a tough as nails heroine, but she needed to know what happened to her was wrong, and seeing how someone like Jed could fall for her made her start to realize that could be true.  I was so happy she had a chance to finally see that she was “Worth It.”