Pub. Date: August 5th, 2014
Publisher: Gallery Books
288 pages
Paperback/ebook/audio
Synopsis from Goodreads:
Aubrey Duncan understands loss. She
knows what rock bottom looks like, and she is determined to crawl back up to
the top after the sudden death of her younger sister. She blames herself for
her part in the tragedy, convinced that she could have done something, anything,
to help her.
In her effort to gain redemption,
Aubrey starts fresh at Longwood University and facilitates an addiction support
group, hoping she can support someone else in the way she failed her sister.
But what she doesn’t count on is an all-consuming fascination with group member
Maxx Demelo, a gorgeous, blond, blue-eyed enigma who hides dark secrets behind
a carefully constructed mask. He only reveals what he wants others to see. But
Aubrey glimpses another Maxx hidden below the surface—a Maxx who is drowning in
his own personal hell.
As Aubrey and Maxx develop an
attraction too intense to ignore, he pulls her into the dark underbelly of the
city club scene, where she is torn by her desire to save him and an
inexplicable urge to join him in his downward spiral. Worst of all, she is
beginning to love everything she should run away from—a man who threatens to
ignite in her a fire that could burn her alive…
Whenever I read a book with characters I feel are
intentionally imperfect and not entirely likeable, I want to give the author
kudos for bravery. So, A. Meredith Walters, kudos. I don’t think I’m alone when
I say that as a reader I want to root for characters. I want to connect with
them. I want to like them. I don’t like not liking the characters I invest my
time learning about. But, this was one of those rare books where I disliked the
characters and disagreed with just about every choice the they made, but I was kept
enthralled by the story, desperate to know how it was all going to end.
What I really liked about the novel was it shows everyone is
fallible. Aubrey knows how quickly
addiction can take over, and take, a person’s life. She saw it first hand when
her sister overdosed. Yet initially Aubrey is pretty judgmental towards people
with addictions, especially her roommate Renee’s addiction to her abusive
boyfriend.
As a reader I got the impression that she felt above being susceptible
to the allure of addiction. I appreciated how Aubrey saw secondhand both a
substance and emotional addiction, before her own vulnerability to addiction is
tested when she meets Maxx. It showed that we might think we understand, or we
may think something like this could never happen to us, but until that is
tested, we truly have no idea.
I felt the juxtaposition of two very different yet similar
struggles with addiction was really well done. There was a level of sympathy I initially
felt innately towards Maxx because of how out of control his addiction had
become – even though he thought he was completely in control – which I just
didn’t feel for Aubrey. I didn’t feel Aubrey the same kind of compassion or
understanding because I felt Aubrey knowingly walked into trouble by becoming involved
with a participant in the counseling group she was facilitating. I felt she was
smart enough to know better. Then I realized I was judging Aubrey in the exact
same way Aubrey judged Renee, and I realized how well Walters weaved together
the seriousness, and all encompassing nature of addiction, no matter the type.
I’m not going to say I enjoyed the reading experience
because enjoyed just doesn’t seem like the right word, but I will say it was a
very powerful read that made me think, and made me feel. I felt so actively
involved in the story while reading that there were moments I literally started
yelling at the characters, and times I covered my face in frustration and fear
over their actions. This was the first book I've read by Walters, but it won't be the last. Definitely recommended.
Rating 4/5
*** I received a copy of the novel from the publisher to
read and honestly review. I was in no way compensated.
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