Review: Two tortured souls in The Waiting Game
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 06 8, 2013
First Impressions- I kept thinking I was reading a second book in a series like I somehow missed the first book when she was kidnapped. I kept going to goodreads to be sure I wasn't missing something. Nope, it is a debut novel.I have been reading a lot of new adult books lately and realized that I enjoy adult books a little better. The F word isn't plastered everywhere. Just sayin...We start off 5 years after Brooke Bennett's kidnapping and torture. Her kidnapper has just been released from prison early for being a model prisoner so he could get out early and finish what he started. Her kidnapper, Spinks, is a narcissist, and wants Brooke as his living art work. He is Sick, Sick, Sick!!! Did I tell you he was Sick? Well, he is. We don't see a lot of him. We just get bits and pieces of his whereabouts and thoughts. But something else doesn't add up in this story. I figured out part of it early on. But that's all I can say about that.This book is called The Waiting Game for a reason. Because for most of the book, we are all waiting. Waiting for him to make a move. Waiting for it to be over. Waiting for something to happen. Waiting for Brooke to run when she needs to. Waiting for the guilt to go away. Waiting for her life to come back and to live it. That gives it a lot of suspense and I liked it.Brooke is only living to eat and breathe, which isn't really living. She is broken. She used to be a famous singer and composer. She doesn't even write anymore. She can't. She is in France living a solitude life with only her former manager knowing where she is. Or so we thought since Cameron (her former bodyguard) just shows up at her door to wisk her away because she is no longer safe alone. There is some chemistry between the two but Cameron makes it appear to Brooke that he is only doing his job. He feels guilt at her being caught under his guard before and he won't, no- can't, let that happen again. He tries to keep her at a distance but it is just too hard for both of them. Every time you think they will get past his guilt and her humiliation at being scarred and marked, he pushes her away. He thinks that she can't choose him (whatever that means) until she is free of him forever. She just gets to the point where she just wants him and she falls in love with him. He remains with guilt for, uh, well I guess you have to read it to find out how long that happens. I loved watching both of them grow and learn and move past obstacles.Brooke has moments of flashbacks and panic attacks. Brooke didn't know whether she was a survivor or a victim. She wanted to be a survivor. She wanted to run away often from everything. She knew that several times she was in a fight or flight situation and for most of them, she just froze, even though she knew she needed to run. I don't know what I would have done in her shoes. I probably would have shriveled into nothing of a human being! She really was a survivor to me.Her manager, Steven, is a lowlife, a pathetic thing for a human being!! I didn't care for him at all. Her friend, Megan, was a gem. I only wish we could have seen more of her. Cam's other security personnel were dedicated to their job and loyal to Cam.There is a lot of suspense, action and a mystery to be solved as well. In the end, you get that happily ever after and I get that sigh of reading a good book.