Review: Being Kalli
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 9, 2013
This book was pretty good. I was drawn to it immediately by the cover - I mean come on, it's hot! The synopsis sounded intriguing, so I decided to give it a go.I had a hard time getting into the book at first. The book blurb gave me a heads up that this was "published in Australian English and includes relative diction." I didn't think that was going to be much of a problem, but truthfully it was harder for me to follow the flow of the story than I thought. I don't know if that is part of the reason I had such a hard time getting sucked into the book or not, but I think it played a part. My other hang up was that I really didn't like the main character at first. Kalli came across as scattered and very self absorbed. The further I read in the story, the more these aspects of her personality made sense. Plus, she really annoyed me with her back and forth flirting, teasing, and then hurting of Nate. Nate was a great character - he was someone I got into really quick, lol.This story was very hard to read in certain parts. There are certain graphic flashbacks of past abuse that will make your stomach turn, but I think these scenes were absolutely necessary to read in order to understand the true depth of how messed up Kalli is. It is also heartbreaking to see the broken family dynamic that Kalli has always lived with. One of my favorite parts of the story was the side story that focused on Kalli's mom and her struggle to stay sober and responsible, and the resulting changes in her and Kalli's relationship.Truthfully, while this book was mostly a love story of a kind between Kalli and Nate, it was also about abuse, drug addiction, family, friends, and growing up and making changes for the better. It wasn't quite the story I expected from the blurb, but it definitely turned out to be a good read. It was the first I have read from this author, and I will probably check out more of her work.