I would say that my true rating for this book is 3.5 stars,
but it deserves to be rounded up rather than down. This novel is fast-paced
with a mix of action, romance and a meaningful undertone of the importance of
family. The characters all had depth and made me interested enough in their
lives so I would want to read on. I think, the reason for me not saying that
this book is up there with the best is that I feel like more could have been
done with it. Also, some things just seemed a little too easy, whereas in real
life, I imagine they would be harder. If you're looking for a quick read with
high levels of drama, then I would really recommend this book.
***
I feel like the character of Joe is a good place to start
with this review. He was very relatable and managed to voice some of the
feelings that I experience myself. For example, the worried feelings we all
experience when we drop something in public or are wearing something that isn't
considered to be cool and trendy by most of society, were portrayed excellently
by Joe and his actions. Joe was almost a spokesperson of those emotions and it
made me glad that he wasn't written as many people imagine guys have to be; not
self-conscious and confident. Those traits helped me warm to Joe and this was
helped by his interest in music. I think the saying is mostly true that no girl
can ever resist a guy in a band, but this story showed a different side to it.
It demonstrated Joe wanting to find a small escape in music and how music
helped him express himself, especially with his feelings towards Candy after
they first met. Personally, Joe is a
character who I would happily go and meet for coffee or just chat to out and
about and I don't think there are enough characters like that.
This book deals with first crushes, or first loves, in a
very serious way. The clarity with which Joe can remember everything
illustrates the intensity of his feelings perfectly and it was nice to see a
book deal with this sort of romance so differently. As first relationships go,
theirs was definitely not an easy one. I have previously read one of Brooks'
books that dealt with heroin addiction in a much more minor way, but it was
important in this novel that it was dealt with in much more depth. It was
almost hard to read about in some places, because as I have now finished this
book I can put it down and smile as it's only a story, but the harsh truth is
that it's not a story for some people and not all people are as lucky as Candy
was as she was able to get away from that life. Such a dark undertone mixed in
with a romance is an odd combination when you first think of it, but then you
realise that getting over an addiction and having people there to support you
go hand in hand.
The ending of this book felt like it happened very abruptly.
In a way, I don't think I was ready for it to end; I could have happily stayed
reading for a few more hours. Having said that, I think that the ending was
both good and bad. It was good for the high levels of tension and the
anticipation I felt for the characters, yet not as good because I feel like it
shouldn't have been that easy. In my mind, for Iggy to go down, someone else
would have had to go down first, but that didn't happen. It all seemed to go
just a little too well. Still, I guess that even if Candy didn't die trying to
kill Iggy, Joe still lost her because of where she was taken to afterwards.
I think that you have to feel a certain way about a book for
it to get up into the realms of five stars and while there is no doubt in my
mind that this book is a good book, it just didn't make me feel those feelings.
Overall, this is a quick and relatively easy read. It makes me excited to see
what Brooks can do in the future with his writing style as he continues to
improve it even more.
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