Review: Impulse read turned into an instant favorite! 4.5 stars!
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 14, 2014
Mia has never had a normal life. Being raised completely by her drug-addicted father, she was pulled into his dark world at a very young age. By eight years old she was doing her father’s dirty work to support his habit. Now nineteen, she’s had enough and it’s led her to do something that makes her a fugitive on the run. With pretty much nothing to her name, she hops on a bus heading as far away from her old life as possible.“I’m Paige. Paige Cassidy,” I reply.The pseudonym rolls off my tongue easily.But that’s who I am now.Mia Lee was a victim.But Paige Cassidy is a survivor.Landing in small town, Virginia, Paige (Mia) soon makes some unlikely friends. Hank, “Grandpa,” gives her a place to stay and some work at his motel. She meets Tabitha and Tristan at the local diner, then there’s Quinn. This is where things get even more interesting… Quinn is a bit of a mystery to Paige for some time in the book. He shows up at the most random times and they have these intense moments.I don’t say that lightly, this book has quite a few of those moments, you know, the ones that give you chills and make you stop reading afterward for a second and just say, “Whoa.” It’s not all about sex or pick up lines either, some of them took me by surprise by how deep they were. Don’t get me wrong though; there is some MAJOR SEXUAL TENSION! It was seriously the sweetest torture, exactly what I love about romance. Thank god for no insta-love and hopping straight into the sack!“We both have secrets, things we both wish we could take back, but can’t. And that’s okay, because when I’m with you, those secrets don’t rule me, they don’t define me…”I loved every moment of Paige learning to have friends and people who cared about her and vice versa. It’s one of my favorite misfit made families I’ve ever read about. It was like she was a baby deer learning to walk for the first time, completely nave to how friendship works. She has had it so rough and her past is very dark but in so many ways she owns it. I just loved Paige/Mia. She was a refreshing heroine, not all whiney about her past or trying to hide it from the reader. We know the whole time what she’s done and exactly how she feels about it and that was so nice to see. Just brutally honest and raw."This is the first time in my entire life I have felt something other than… well, nothing."The suspense and mystery was balanced really well, we know a lot of what’s happening yet there so much we don’t know at the time that sneaks up on you. The last 20% or so had me completely glued to my kindle, madly flipping the pages to see what would happen. I was shocked more than once and had to pick my jaw up off the floor at one point. The ending is killer. It hurt, it was exciting, it was shocking, and I think it was exactly how it had to be. Some leading up to the ending did feel slightly rushed, but as far as where it ended all together, it was fitting for the story.Overall, this was such a pleasant surprise. What started as a completely random, impulse read turned into a book I haven’t stopped thinking about since I finished it weeks ago. The writing was strong and everything felt very thought out, flowing really smoothly. I fell in love with the characters and was hooked the entire time. All I can say is, October better come quick because I NEED the next book!4-4.5 stars