I read many reviews on this book prior to selecting it. Many cringed at an older man and the young girl, but what some can’t understand is not everything fits into someone’s box of ideals or box of what’s ok. Even when things might not be, it’s hard not to feel for them. As a women I imagined myself as this girl and I would be lying if I didn’t say my path may have been similar and I found myself understanding why their story happened like it did. If you look at the large picture and the options at hand, maybe that road was the best and safest one. How wrong can the safest path really be? How good are you at suppressing your own feelings and can a human really choose to be alone when they have another option?
A young girl raised in a violent, criminal, drug centered, open-sex rampant world where no one cared about her (or her baby brother) and women already viewed her as their competition – even as a prepubescent child – even her own mother. Not one person tried to protect her from daily mental and physical abuse at the hands of her “parents” until one young adult male, who didn’t ever seem like he wanted to be part of this life either, witnessed an incident and didn’t hesitate to become her wall at that moment and in the future. Protecting her and defying his leader could lead to his death and he knows if he’s gone there really will be no one to watch out for her left.
This story is about the platonic bond of two humans stuck within a dangerous life as they figure out how to stay alive and not cross lines as they become closer and the years pass by.. A maturing girl who’s been “the adult” in her home most of her life later develops growing feelings for her older unrelated protector. A guy in his early 20s who makes sure she gets back and forth to school, eats, and stays safe from her lifelong abusers. His morals don’t truly fit his immoral world, the same world which is all she knows and believes is normal. She now cannot understand how she can love someone so deeply and he can love her back, but she cannot be with him like she wants to be. He refuses to succumb to her extreme persistence. Her persistence to live the adult life she feels she’s ready for with the man she loves. The feelings are becoming more real on both ends and it gets harder and harder to stay apart when the crap around them requires them to stick closer and closer together to remain safe.
The day their world blows up no one can be saved – not really. Things were hard before, but the unpaved road ahead might be too rough for anyone to survive. Even if you’re alive you can still feel like you died.
Who’s sins are worse? I thought there was no degree of sinning and they were all equal. In this vat of sins who’s “right” choices did the least damage and who’s “wrongs” really ruined lives? That’s for the reader to decide at the end of this story.
Do I regret this book? Not at all. Take your open mind and dive into this one.