More at My Blog: http:/pinkpolkadotbookblog.blogspot.com

Sara's brother committed suicide and now Sara's mother tells her they are finally leaving her abusive father. She tells her to pack a bag and that she'll pick her up at school during lunch. Only her mother never shows. And when she gets home that evening her father is sitting in the dark alone. He tells her that her mom went out of town for work... instant panic!!!! Does this mean he found out about the plan? Or did her mother just tell him that so she could go get things set up for them somewhere? Sara chooses to believe the latter because otherwise her mother must be dead. She goes through the next week hoping upon hope that her phone will ring and it will be her mom.... it never is. She tries to keep the guy that's crushing on her at arms length because she doesn't want to involve him in her mess... but that's kind of hard when he's so wonderful. The more time passes the more panicked she feels and the less the chances that her mom will ever come home. With her dad being BFF's with the police in town, she knows her only option is to figure things out for herself...

This book!! It was part mystery, part heartbreaking abuse story, and part romance. I just loved the M/C. She was so in denial, yet she was really smart and actually had great instincts. I loved how she twirled her ponytail, played in the band, and could come up with answers for everything. She wasn't afraid to lie to whoever to get to the truth about her mom... even if she kind of already knew the truth, just didn't want to believe it.

Alex was too cute! I thought it was nice to see a guy who didn't really care about anything (although there is a reason for this) come on so strong to a girl. He liked Sara and made it known. This why I love YA... High School love is awesome!

I definitely could've used a smidge more in the ending I wanted the dad in JAIL!!! Now Sara is going to feel guilty about what she did to him for the rest of her life and she doesn't deserve that! Couldnt he just have been wounded??.

Overall though I LOVED it... I love a book that makes me fly through it because I want to know all the answers!!

( )

This is one book that while the subject matter had me cringing, I couldn't put it down. The writing was fantastic and I felt pulled into the story from the beginning. I would have loved to seen more of Alex and Sara, seen how they developed after the end of the book. i was left wondering about Sara's brother Matt, and while it was uncovered throughout the book, I would have loved to have more than just a few flash backs from Sara.
The subject matter is one that was hard for me to get through, and I am sure that it may turn a lot of people off, but it is well written and while the basics are there, it doesn't get into a ton of detail so it is an easy read. ( )

Well, not bad, but a few plot inconsistencies and I got annoyed at Sara's lack of courage. She had to be rescued by Alex, the love interest, but where did he come from? Mmmm... ( )

This started well, but went downhill, especially near the end at the cabin. I liked Alex and Zach, but Sara started to annoy me with her inability to stand up to her father. Personally, I prefer a feistier female protagonist. ( )

This was a book I found in the Young Adult section at my local library, yet, to me it read more Juvenile. I really had a hard time reading it. I felt the story dragged and what could have been said in one chapter was said over and over again in several chapters.I was really disappointed and thought it could have been done much better. There was lots of potential with the plot but the author missed the memo on this one that readers do not enjoy repetition. ( )