Review: Into the Night Reviews ... The Things We Can't Change Part One: The Prologue by Kassandra Kush
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 08 3, 2013
Into the Night Reviews - visit Web: [...] or Facebook: [...] for great book reviews, new release updates, giveaways and more!!I picked up The The Things We Can't Change Part One: The Prologue in the full knowledge that it is the first instalment of a larger story.  I'd actually read the first chapter on a post on the author's website and was so intrigued I simply HAD to read the rest of the book.  I can honestly say I WAS NOT disappointed.  Despite being short and finishing with a massive cliff hanger I absolutely loved The Things We Can't Change Part One:The Prologue.Kassandra Kush has tackled the very difficult subject of an abusive relationship in a way that is both confronting and informative.  To everyone around her, Evie Parker is 'perfect' - beautiful, popular, wealthy and her boyfriend is the equally beautiful, popular and wealthy Tony Stulls.  They are THE couple in high school.  As is often the case though, appearances are not everything and there is a bleak, dark side to their relationship.  Tony is unbalanced, psychologically controlling and violent.  Evie is terrified: terrified of what he will do to her, of what he will do to himself and of people finding out what she is experiencing.  The simple answer is that she should leave, or she should tell someone, which seems so obvious.  But the flashes of the Tony she fell in love with: sweet and loving, combined with the threats he makes to harm himself make that option an impossible choice for Evie.Zeke Quain is the quintessential bad boy.  But really he's not - his attitude and style are carefully designed to help him keep distance between himself and everyone around him so that he doesn't get hurt again.  With a background that couldn't be more opposite to Evie's, Zeke has to work at the Country Club that Evie and Tony are members at to help support his family.  His younger sister, Cindy, is his kryptonite.  He will do anything for her and in fact does everything he can to ensure she can pursue her dream of dancing.  Cindy is the one person that Zeke can't say no to.  Zeke and Evie go to school together, but they mix in totally different crowds.  Both know of each other, but their interactions are generally filled with derision and disdain.That is until Zeke discovers Evie's secret.  Despite his vow to not care, he takes it upon himself to talk to her about what is happening with Tony and to encourage her to speak up.  The dynamic between Zeke and Evie is just fantastic.  There is no 'insta-love', in fact, they often can't speak with each other without one of them walking away furious at the assumptions being made.  There is an underlying attraction, not to mention Zeke's obsession with Evie's hair, but it seems to me to be more about them recognising things in each other that they share.  For Evie, there's a sense of safety when she is with Zeke.The Things We Can't Change Part One:The Prologue is very well written.  The characters have depth and I was completely engaged from start to finish.  Even the 'support cast' is so perfectly developed that I fell in love with Evie's dad, the self made success story, felt indifference towards her stepmother and felt that I really got to know each of Evie and Zeke's friends enough that they were meaningful characters in this story.  The cliff hanger is massive - for a brief moment I wondered whether the version of the e-book I had wasn't complete and I actually said "Nooooooo" out loud when I realised it was, in fact, the end of Part One.I cannot wait for Part Two.  Apart from wanting to know what happened next from the final moments in the story, I want to see what happens with Evie and Zeke.  It is absolutely not a given that they will be together.  There are so many obstacles to this it almost seems impossible: and yet I'd really, really love to see a relationship between the two unfold.Don't let the prospect of a cliff hanger put you off - you will seriously miss out on a wonderful story if you do.