4.5 heartbreaking stars
Quick thought- Lost young girl is used by an older man, without family support she suffers years of issues and has to learn to let them go and trust again. Sounds simple but it's not at all.
I am having a hard time with my thoughts on this book. I connected with the young woman and felt her pain deeply. She was used, an innocent child by a predator who claimed to love her. She was needy, left alone by her disfunction family, unable to ask for advice or help. She was at a manipulator's mercy, and he gave her none. She walked through life, humiliated, bleeding, and fearful, her armor hardened and always in place. Her life is on a track assigned by her family, and as a good girl she follows it.
Enter the man who will upset all her safe set plans and change everything. Crank, is a young man with more responsibly than most grown men. He helps take care of his brother who has Aspergers, he works hard to get his band going and pay his bills. He has issues, and scars, a mother gone, a father distant and a lot of anger. He is everything Julia doesn't want in her life.
This is a bittersweet romance. The story touches on some very ugly moments. it is very realistic and that makes it more heartbreaking. I really liked these two and enjoyed that they were a couple I could cheer for, two very good souls.