Author: RaShelle Workman
Date Published: May 14, 2013
Publisher: Polished Pen Press
Source: ARC
Genre: Contemporary Romance, Young-Adult
Rating: ★★★★★
Links:
Goodreads
Amazon
Book Information:
Maddie Martin's first weekend at college is nothing like she's used to. It's wild, like the wilderness on which the University of Bellam Springs sits. Roped into going to a fraternity party, she literally runs into Kyle Hadley. The boy she's loved since she was nine. The boy she promised all of her firsts to. But that was before his father killed her parents.
Determined to stay away from him, she throws herself into her music. Practicing piano eases her heavy heart, calms the sadness, and pushes away images of Kyle's face.
Until it doesn't.
Her music professor asks her to play a duet for their annual Winter Gala. Doing so means she'll be assured another full ride scholarship. It's an opportunity she can't pass up.
But Kyle is the other half of the duet. And that means hours and hours of practicing.
Weeks of seclusion - just the two of them. And it's more than just music. It's passion like Maddie never believed was possible.
The inevitable happens. She falls in love with him all over again.
But, will loving him be enough to erase all the hate in her heart for his father? Can she look at him, and not see the evil in his family tree?
And maybe it's all a set up. Maybe Kyle is only pretending to care so he can finish what his father started, and kill her too.
Review:
This is one of those books which has great premise but lacked a lot in execution.
Maddie is a level-headed girl on the outside. To most people, Maddie is mature and responsible, someone who has a bright future ahead of her. But on the inside, Maddie is completely out of sorts, and the only thing that keeps her grounded is pain. She keeps a plethora of tattoos signifying the seven stages of grief under her clothes to remember her parents and her horrific loss.
Then there's Kyle, her first everything. Maddie knows that she should avoid Kyle because he reminds her of the grief she felt when her parents were killed. But then fate had other plans for the two of them.
Story-wise, RaShelle Workman has mentioned that this story was inspired by true events. I'm a little amazed by this because of how the story actually turned out in the end. And you just have to read the story to actually find out why I'm sort of amazed.
Anyways, the development between Maddie and Kyle seemed a little unnatural. I do understand that they had history and chemistry, but the romance aspect between them seemed bland. I also found the writing a little unrefined because some of the scenes were merely put into the story for the sake of having a scene, and not because it's in any way significant.
At the last quarter of the story, that's where everything fell into place and where the loose ties were finally fixed. It was a little unexpected, but nothing that really blew me away.
All in all, the reason I gave this story three stars is because it was inspired by true events, and because of the ending twist which I really didn't foresee.
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