Actual Rating: 3.5
*Thank you to the author and publisher for a free copy in exchange for an honest review.*
At 17-years-old and already in her second year at NYU, Casey Rhodes is a master of fitting in. But she can’t shake the feeling that she doesn’t belong and her boyfriend, a wealthy corporate heir, Marcus Coleman, seems too good to be true. When Casey starts hearing voices in her head and seeing random memories that aren’t hers, she finds herself panicking and running away towards a small town called Avon Shores. She’s never been here, but everything feels so…familiar.
I absolutely love the mash-up of different genres. It has mystery and contemporary romance, some psychological elements, and even hints of fantasy.
I honestly didn’t care that much for the romance — neither Jake nor Marcus really delivered the chemistry that would make me root for their relationship with Casey.
Instead, the main part of this book that made it captivating was the mystery. Plot-wise, the book was just twists upon twists and it threw me off constantly in the best way. In all honestly, the final reveal was not necessarily mind-blowing and might even seem predictable if you look at just the end result, but the way we got to it was such a roller coaster of second-guessing yourself. I wouldn’t have minded if the book was longer so some of the twists had more time to simmer before moving on to the next thing.
The writing style was also decently engaging, at least enough to make this book easy to get through and hard to put down. The one thing I might point is how the flashbacks were written. I’m fine with sporadic insertion, but they felt almost too convenient sometimes, and when it’s only one or two lines it feels less like a memory imposing itself on Casey and more like her just happening to get some necessary information. I also dont know if second-person persepctive was the best choice because it felt less like “you” as in Casey or the memory’s owner, and more like “you” as in me.
Nevertheless, these were definitely not deal-breakers and I would still definitely recommend this to readers of teen contemporary romance! I had a lot of fun reading it and I think a lot of people would find it a quick and engaging read!
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