Author: Melissa Pearl- Published: April 2014 by Evatopia Press
- Category: Young Adult Fiction
Lucy Tate is on the run. After witnessing the brutal murder of her parents, she’s spent five years in hiding — taking on different personas and faking her way through life. The authorities can’t be trusted, so she remains in the shadows, always one beat ahead of the man who is forever hunting her. That is, until she meets Zach Schultz, a senior at Monte Vista High and the one guy she can’t bear to leave. Suddenly her natural instincts to lie, steal, and run are overshadowed by something else…the desire to stay. It’s her one shot at a normal life.
Curious by nature, Zach is immediately drawn to the new girl at school. How can a person look both confident and vulnerable all in the same moment? Determined to learn more about her, he tries to get close, but is thrown into a world of lies and confusion. The only thing that becomes apparent is that discovering the truth may get him killed.
I was given an ARC by Mark My Words Book Publicity in return for my review.
This is a very good Young Adult suspense/romance novel and has much more to it than a typical YA boy meets girl story. There’s lots of tension, emotion and some fairly grim scenes. I was drawn in very quickly.
I like the way the story is split, the present told from Zach’s point of view in the first person, he does make a good narrator. And then the past up to the present from Lucy’s POV in the third person. The author’s way of revealing Lucy’s back story in flashback chapters throughout worked really well.
Lucy’s story is dark and troubling and she has had an awful time, something no young person should ever have to deal with. Her choices weren’t always wise but after witnessing the brutal and absolutely devastating murder of her parents, she was filled with terror and did whatever she had to in order to survive. I couldn’t help but feel for her. The emotional traumas she experiences during the years following her flight are vividly described.
As her feet pounded the pavement, ducking into the shadows at any opportunity, Lucy knew one thing. She was on her own. And if she was going to survive at all, she needed to keep running.
I wasn’t too sure about Zach at the beginning but he develops well as the story progresses. He feels an immediate attraction to Dani (Lucy) and becomes totally focused on helping her although it sometimes seems he’s making matters worse. Zach has a great group of friends with good relationships and interaction between them.
Some of the time I wasn’t totally convinced by Zach’s ‘voice’. For instance, I’m not sure whether an 18-year-old boy would describe things as ‘divine’ but apart from that small point I enjoyed the story very much and now have the sequel lined up in my TBR pile.
betweenthelinesbookblog.com 
Thanks for a great review 🙂
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My pleasure, I enjoyed reading 🙂
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