Release Date: June 7, 2016
Publisher: Forge Books; 432 pages
Rating:
At fifteen, Amanda Grace was abducted on her way home from school. 738 days later, she escaped. Her 20/20 interview is what everyone remembers―Amanda describing the room where she was kept, the torn poster of TV heartthrob Chase Henry on the wall. It reminded her of home and gave her the strength to keep fighting.
Now, years later, Amanda is struggling to live normally. Her friends have gone on to college, while she battles PTSD. She’s not getting any better, and she fears that if something doesn’t change soon she never will.
Six years ago, Chase Henry defied astronomical odds, won a coveted role on a new TV show, and was elevated to super-stardom. With it, came drugs, alcohol, arrests, and crazy spending sprees. Now he's sober and a Hollywood pariah, washed up at twenty-four.
To revamp his image, Chase’s publicist comes up with a plan: surprise Amanda Grace with the chance to meet her hero, followed by a visit to the set of Chase’s new movie. The meeting is a disaster, but out of mutual desperation, Amanda and Chase strike a deal. What starts as a simple arrangement, though, rapidly becomes more complicated when they realize they need each other in more ways than one. But when the past resurfaces in a new threat, will they stand together or fall apart?
With charm and heart, Stacey Kade takes readers on a journey of redemption and love.
THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING.
I was in tears from the Prologue. Like big, ugly tears. I had to put the book down to wipe them all away so I could see the damn words. It was not the only time those tears made an appearance.
This book is intense. I think the most frustrating thing for me was seeing how the family treated Amanda once she was returned home. I get it, I do; she’s been gone and you all thought the worst; that she was dead. She went through hell and survived. She has scars, both physical and emotional/mental. They’re never going away but the way they hover; it’s frustrating from Amanda’s POV. How is she ever supposed to try and move forward if they’re all holding her back, out of fear? She wants to cope, she wants to once again have a life, a future, friends even but when her family is doing nothing more than remind her of the darkest point in her life, how can it happen? How can that future come to be if we can’t accept the past and let it be that? The past.
So when she leaves with none other than Chase Henry, it’s eye opening. For her family, for her, for Chase and for us, the readers. At this point, we’re heavily invested in Amanda and her story that we want to have that freedom she so deserves.
Chase is dreamy, I can see why he’s such a heartthrob. But he was walking on glass and it’s bound the cut you eventually. You can test the limits but they only stretch so far. He was really stretching those to the point of where they broke. The entirety of this book, I was pleaded with him to be honest to stop this foolishness. It was hard to watch but it was rewarding at the same time. It shows that someone like him, someone with the fame, with the dark history he has with alcohol, that he’s real and he’s trying.
Their relationship was adorable. It felt slow paced and gradual but when you think about how many days it happened over, it really wasn’t slow but it was true. Real. The amount of time they spent together over that short period, it’s understandable how they could fall for each other. It was innocent, it was passionate, it was everything. It was the step forward that Amanda truly needed.
But boy oh boy, were there so many bumps along the way and you just kept waiting and waiting and waiting for that other shoe to drop. This book had lots of twists and turns and it kept you guessing, while reeling you and splitting your heart open. You will laugh. You will cry. You will throw a tantrum. You will want to shake Amanda; knock some sense in to her. You will feel it all but most importantly, you will walk away with a smile on your face, once the tears have dried.
Thank you so much to Tor Books for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for an honest review.
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