Book Description:

For Kayden, suffering in silence was the only way to survive. If he was lucky, he could keep his head down, do as he was told, and make it through the day. But one night it seemed like his luck — and his life — might finally end… until an angel named Callie appeared just in time to rescue him.

Callie has never believed in luck. Not since her twelfth birthday when everything was taken from her. After the worst was over, she locked up her feelings and vowed never to tell anyone what happened. Now, six years later, she continues to struggle with the painful secret that threatens to consume her.

When fate lands Kayden and Callie at the same college, Kayden is determined to get to know the beautiful girl who changed his destiny. Quiet and reserved, Callie still fears letting anyone else into her world. But Kayden is certain that Callie has come back into his life for a reason. And the more he tries to be a part of her life, the more he realizes that, this time, it’s Callie who needs to be saved…

My Thoughts:

This is the first book I’ve read by this author and it will not be my last. I really enjoyed this book from start to finish. It touches on topics such as physical and sexual abuse and how it affects the victims long after the abuse takes place. Kayden Owens is the football star of his high school and is physically abused by his father while Callie Lawrence is suffering with the secret of being rape by her brother’s best friend when she was 12 years old.

The story starts out with Callie’s mother sending her into the Owens’ household to get her brother. Callie witnesses Kayden’s dad call him “a fuckup” and “a fucking disappointment” and physically abuses him by “kicking him in the stomach” and “in the face.” To stop the attack, Callie makes up an excuse that someone was looking for him in the kitchen to get him to stop attacking Kayden and it works.

Their paths cross again when they run into each other in college over the summer. Kayden and go out to eat at a restaurant with their friends Luke and Seth and their relationship grows from there. I want to point out that this is a slow building romance story and there is a cliffhanger at the end.  

There were a few things I didn’t like in the book. With Callie’s situation surrounding the rape, I feel as if her parents should’ve asked more questions and really got to the bottom of what was going on with their daughter. “…I don’t tell my mom, because it will crush her. She’s such a happy person there’s no use cursing her with dark thoughts.” She wants to protect her mom because she doesn’t think she can handle the truth about what happened to her. Also, I really wish she would’ve told her regardless instead of letting that secret fester.

With Kayden’s situation, he has 2 older brothers who knew what was going on in the household, and they were abused too. They shouldn’t have just left him in the home knowing the physical pain their father was going to inflict upon him. “…It’s hard not to stare at the scars that crisscross along his stomach and chest.”

I do not want to give too much of the story away. Overall, this is a good read and this book will make you go through a range of emotions from sad to angry to happy and back again.

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