Pub. Date- October 2013 Publisher- Clean Teen Publishing
Pages- 278 Genre- Contemporary/New Adult Rating- 3.5 Stars
I received this courtesy of Clean Teen Publishing through
Netgalley in return for an honest review.
Goodreads - Book DepositoryShe's broken with guilt.
He harbors a chilling past.
It's safer if they keep their distance...
But, the echoes that linger connect them.
Returning to Hidden Pines is the last thing Allie Collins wants to do during her final summer before college. For her, the family cabin she spent her youthful summers in, now holds a dark memory that has haunted her every day for the last year.
While struggling to forget her past , Allie runs into Damien the local rebel with secrets of his own. He's dark, dangerous and he keeps showing up when Allie least expects him to. She has every reason not to trust him. So why does she find herself opening up to him in a way she hasn't been able to with anyone?
As pieces of Damien's identity emerge answers to a rumored mystery begins to unfold. By the time Allie unearths the secrets of Damien's past, she realizes just how intricately they are connected. Now she is causght in a dangerous battle that threatens her life and those she loves.
New Adult as a genre over time has become very similar to Young Adult only with the characters being slightly older and maybe going to University or College, It always usually containing a lot of sexualised content but not this story. This was completely different, yes there was still the boy meets girl and they have a connection but they didn't jump into each others pants which was refreshing.
After having the worst summer imaginable the year before Allie has been brought back to the place it all happened by her Dad to try and move one. Accompanied by her Dad's new wife and her son and his best friend. Allie is left to try and fit in while constantly being pushed to face her biggest fear by everyone including Brooke a new friend she made. Allie first notices a weird guy who seems to chase her night and then Brooke sees him supposedly stalking which then leads to meeting leading man Damien.
Allie and Damien aren't the best main characters but the emotional aspects of this book make some their funky traits less messed up and hard to read. Take Damien for example he had some serious stalker tendencies and hides some very important things from everyone. Allie also does completely stupid things like running off on a the dark stormy night, going to a random slightly elders boys house without really knowing him. I say slightly elder there because it's brought up in the book constantly the Damien is so much elder then Allie. He's 19 and she is 17 not see the crazy age difference there which was a pet peeve of mine. All the other side characters were really interesting with more positive traits than negative. I really enjoyed Brooke she was the prefect mix of crazy, fun-loving and just trying to be a good friend.
Allie and Damien aren't the best main characters but the emotional aspects of this book make some their funky traits less messed up and hard to read. Take Damien for example he had some serious stalker tendencies and hides some very important things from everyone. Allie also does completely stupid things like running off on a the dark stormy night, going to a random slightly elders boys house without really knowing him. I say slightly elder there because it's brought up in the book constantly the Damien is so much elder then Allie. He's 19 and she is 17 not see the crazy age difference there which was a pet peeve of mine. All the other side characters were really interesting with more positive traits than negative. I really enjoyed Brooke she was the prefect mix of crazy, fun-loving and just trying to be a good friend.
Every emotional element was very well intertwined throughout the whole story, nothing ever felt forced. The real sense of guilt and grief that followed Allie around really got to me at stages through the book. The plot never felt stalled because of this, it flowed along nice and smoothly. I enjoyed the writing style a lot through the story everything was smooth and you never really need to think about what was happening because you could just picture it perfectly.
Like most Young Adult novel this is a love story and following the usual pattern there is a love triangle. It was never very well developed with Aaron being presented as the brothers friend that has a hard-core crush on Allie that's vaguely hidden under the guise of 'if you were one of my sisters I'd tell you this to' but it never goes further than that I felt, which left me feel like that story arc was incomplete. There were many of these moment were brought up but I was later left thinking what was the point of that, or why was so much emphasis placed on that when it's never mentioned again. A few unexpected twist happened through out the story but it was mostly an enjoyable easy to figure out contemporary.
Like most Young Adult novel this is a love story and following the usual pattern there is a love triangle. It was never very well developed with Aaron being presented as the brothers friend that has a hard-core crush on Allie that's vaguely hidden under the guise of 'if you were one of my sisters I'd tell you this to' but it never goes further than that I felt, which left me feel like that story arc was incomplete. There were many of these moment were brought up but I was later left thinking what was the point of that, or why was so much emphasis placed on that when it's never mentioned again. A few unexpected twist happened through out the story but it was mostly an enjoyable easy to figure out contemporary.
Have you read this? Let me know what you thought in the comments.
If you haven't will you add it to your tbr or maybe one day pile?
Great review as always Katie, I've yet to start reading my copy. I'll be interested to see what I think of some of the things you mentioned here.
ReplyDeleteI'm really curious as to what you think of it as well, you'll have to let me know when you read it.
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