Review copy granted in exchange for an honest reviewI'm in two minds about this book. Part of me really didn't like it and another part of me really did like it and I'm not sure I can untangle those two conflicting parts of me to say that this book was anything more - or less - than okay.
Kate - for a good portion of this book - is annoying. She has made a lot of bad decisions but the reasons for making them are unknown, to both Kate and the reader, so she just believes that she is weak willed and likes things that are bad for her. Her mother has taken complete control of her life after her downward spiral and Kate doesn't seem to know who she is.
Reed is described as the bad boy of the town, the player but we don’t see any evidence of that, even before his past is explained. Even then we know nothing of what earned him his reputation beyond he hasn't let any woman close to him in a decade due to tragedy in his past.
I guess what really put a bug up my butt about this book was that people were so judgemental and Kate was just weak. Not because she went off the rails for a bit but because she continued to let people treat her like a delinquent...
Another thing that annoyed me was that there was chemistry between Reed and Kate but it never reached a point that gave me tingles and made me desperate for them to have their happy ending. My brain wanted to see it but my heart wasn't all that fussed.
One I really did like about the book is how Reed and Kate made each other better people. That Reed gave Kate the confidence to stand on her own two feet and take control of her life. He helped her see past all the smoke and get to the cause of the fire that destroyed her and gave her the strength to rebuild her life. Kate pulled Reed from his past and into the future. There was growth and it was nice to see.
I liked how the book came to a natural conclusion, that a happy for everyone was achieved without any square pegs being forced into round holes.
All in all, like I said before, it's an okay book. Not one that I'm going to manically recommend and rave about but not one that I'd discourage people from reading either.
I'd say if you are tired of high drama and rip-you-heart-out angst, then give this book a go as its far easier read than a lot of NA available at the moment.
3 out of 5 starswww.where-did-the-sun-go.blogspot.co.uk