Luke Price’s life has always been about order, control, and acting tough on the outside. For Luke, meaningless relationships are a distraction-a way to tune out the twisted memories of his childhood. He desperately wishes he could forget his past, but it haunts him no matter what he does.
Violet Hayes has had a rough life. When she was young, she was left with no family and the memory of her parents’ unsolved murders. She grew up in foster homes, living with irresponsible parents, drugs, and neglect, and trying to fight the painful memories of the night her parents were taken from her. But it’s hard to forget when she never got closure-and she can’t stop dreaming about what happened that tragic night. To make it through life, she keeps her distance from everyone and never allows herself to feel anything.
Then Violet meets Luke. The two clash instantly, yet they can’t seem to stay away from each other. Although they fight it, they both start to open up and feel things they’ve never felt before. They discover just how similar they are. But they also discover something else: The past always catches up with you . . .
Bio: The New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Jessica Sorensen, lives with her husband and three kids. When she’s not writing, she spends her time reading and hanging out with her family.
SOURCE: Publisher
MY THOUGHTS: Absolutely Loved
Violet has been shuttled around from foster family to foster family after her parents are murdered and she finally falls in with a drug dealer and his wife. Not much older than 18 year old Violet, her foster father forces her to deal drugs and run scams for him. Once college is out for the summer, she plans to live at his house, but when he comes on to her, she runs. She runs right into Luke. Luke doesn’t have a much better beginning in his life. His mother, pretty much stays drugged and his father has left and gone to California to live with his boyfriend. He asks to come stay there, but his father has no room, so it is either living on the streets or back with his mother.
Luke tries to numb his pain by getting into fights, staying drunk and having meaningless sex, while Violet uses the rush of dangerous situations to control her panic attacks. So when two other friends offer to split rent, Luke and Violet move into together, although not sharing the same room. It also comes out that the investigation into the murder is being reopened and it begins to cause major issues for her. She has a stalker, she has a noisy reporter and now the detective on her. The boys that share the apartment at first don’t care for her, but now get to know her and become protective, as a sort of family she never had.
Sigh. Yes, this one made me cry a few times, but at the same time it was very sweet and I didn’t want to put it down. I really thought I had this whole plot figured out and then WHAM! I was hit with a twist. This is one that you can easily read in one sitting. I didn’t read this story in order and just started Callie and Kayden’s story, so the history of those two will be interesting to figure out since they are both roommates of Violet and Luke at school. Again, this is probably not for younger teens since there is violence, drug culture, language and sexual situations.
