Still Missing by Chevy Stevens | Book Review

Still Missing by Chevy Stevens

Reading Group: 17+ (Sensitive Subjects ~ kidnapping, rape, etc.)

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: On the day she was abducted, Annie O’Sullivan, a 32-year-old realtor, had three goals—sell a house, forget about a recent argument with her mother, and be on time for dinner with her ever-patient boyfriend. The open house is slow, but when her last visitor pulls up in a van as she's about to leave, Annie thinks it just might be her lucky day after all. 

Interwoven with the story of the year Annie spent as the captive of a psychopath in a remote mountain cabin, which unfolds through sessions with her psychiatrist, is a second narrative recounting events following her escape—her struggle to piece her shattered life back together and the ongoing police investigation into the identity of her captor.

Still Missing is that rare debut find--a shocking, visceral, brutal and beautifully crafted debut novel.

Cover: The cover of this novel shows part of a face and some shattered glass.  I think the shattered glass is a nice addition to the cover because if something like this were to happen to anyone, their life would be shattered.  There is no way someone can completely come back from an experience like this.  The title of this novel also plays on the idea that even when you're found and returned home you can't pretend the past year never happened.

My Review: I originally read this novel for my Psychology class.  However, once I started reading it I just couldn't stop and ended up finishing it in less than 24 hours.  This novel was gripping and the plot twist that the mom set up the whole thing floored me.  I wasn't expecting it at all!  How can a mother do something like that?  Annie was taken for a year and during that time she was continuously raped and even had a baby.  I was heartbroken when that baby died.  Especially because it wasn't exactly clear how she died.  And that her body was never found was so sad.  And when the duck gets shot.  This book is just a roller coaster of emotions.  However, it was over too soon.  I wanted to know what happened between her and the detective and what happened with her mom and stepdad in more detail.  I never wanted this book to end.  This book isn't necessarily one that people can relate to.  If you can, I am so sorry, but I would also love to sit and talk with you.  But this book does have some parts that we can kind of relate to.  Annie does whatever she needs to do in order to survive in the cabin, and it was kind of interesting to think how I would react.  Obviously it's impossible to know until you're living it what you would do, but it still raises interesting questions.  Also, I think we can all relate to family problems in one way or another.  Not as extreme as Annie's case, but we all know what it's like for a family member to do something involving us that we don't like in order to get something for themselves out of it.  I would definitely recommend this book, but only to people who can handle reading about this sort of thing in detail.  Annie is kidnapped, raped, and then somewhat manually unstable for a while afterwards, which is sensitive to some people.  But to anyone who can, read it.  It was amazing.

Have you read this book?  What parts broke your heart into a million pieces?

My Review:

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Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout | Book Review

Scorched by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Reading Group Rating: M for Mature (sexual content and sensitive subject matter)

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

Given Summary:Sometimes life leaves a mark...

Most days, Andrea doesn't know whether she wants to kiss Tanner or punch him in the gut. He is seriously hot, with legit bedroom eyes and that firefighter body of his, but he's a major player, and they can't get along for more than a handful of minutes. Until now.

Tanner knows he and Andrea have had an epic love/hate relationship for as long as he can remember, but he wants more love than hate from her. He wants her. Now. Tomorrow. But the more he gets to know her, the more it becomes obvious that Andrea has a problem. She's teetering on the edge, and every time he tries to catch her, she slips through his fingers.

Andrea's life is spiraling out of control, and it doesn't matter that Tanner wants to save her, because when everything falls apart and she’s speeding toward rock-bottom, only she can save herself.

Sometimes life makes you work for that happily ever after...

Cover: I don't even know where to start with this cover.  So it's obviously Andrea, looking almost like she's in pain or frustrated or crying.  All of which could have to do with her depression and anxiety.  She is also on a bed so maybe she's trying and failing to fall asleep.  She does have trouble sleeping and has to take medication so that is possible.  Or maybe she never went to sleep at all.  There does seem to be a bright light coming in from her side.  Maybe it's the sun, coming as a way of saying that it's a new day, a new start, and everything is going to be okay.  Or maybe it's headlights.  There do seem to be little sparkles around the edges, maybe those are stars.  It could be representing her accident.  Also, really the only color on the cover is her red hair.  Red is a color to show love and anger, two things Andrea battles with when it comes to Tanner.  It also shows superhuman heroism to the Greeks.  Andrea was able to be her own hero when she finally agreed to get help and then stayed in her rehabilitation program longer than necessary to make sure she was okay.  Red is also the color of fire.  Which leads me to the title of this novel, Scorched.

Sorry about how blurry this image is.  That happened because it had to shrink to fit in the post.

Scorch means (1) burn the surface of something with flame or heat.  Andrea (not to be too cliche, but I'm going to be) was like an onion in this novel (*cringes*)  and every once in a while you saw through another layer.  A layer would burn away and you would learn something new about her.  However it was still only the surface compared to what was to come.  She didn't completely burn and shed her skin until she was in that car accident, until she was finally able to admit that something was wrong and she needed help.  You could look at it from her and Tanner's relationship as well.  Tanner had no idea what he was getting into when he fell for Andrea.  He knew who she acted to be, but he didn't know her thoroughly.  He had to scorch the surface of her to do that, which he did entirely wrong and induced a panic attack from her, but he had to know who she was.

Scorch also means (2) move very fast.  Everything Andrea did she did at 180mph.  She was constantly changing her house around.  She drank quickly so she could get drunk.  When a panic attack was coming she quickly put it out or it quickly tore her apart.  She was driving fast when she was in the accident.  Even her and Tanner, one second they're throwing insults at each other, the next second they love each other.

And also, when you think of the word scorched, you probably think of fire.  And Tanner was a firefighter.  He was trained to deal with fires and he knew how to put them out.  He is the only one who would be able to handle Andrea and love her for who she is, even if part of who she is involves some pretty pretty frustrating issues. 

My Review: You guys!  This book, let me tell you.  First of all I found it because of Amazon recommendations and when I read the summary I was like, okay it's your typical romance novel, boy and girl love each other but they don't tell each other until they've already broken up and then they live happily ever after.  WRONG!  So all of that stuff does happen in this novel, but it so much more than that.  This novel covers topics about depression and anxiety and alcoholism and how they all correlate and can be happening to someone who you love and you may not even fully understand the levels of it.  This book was amazing.  I read it from cover to cover without putting it down.   I give an accurate time it took me to read because for some of it I had the TV on so I was only reading during the commercials.
I think because so many people with serious issues like depression and anxiety and drinking, even if it seems only like binge drinking and maybe that's not as serious as all the time drinking (P.S. It is) this book can really hit close to home.  People also suffer with not being so secure about their bodies. And people suffer from massive crushes on people they think they have no chance with, even if they already are in the same friend group.  Those issues are real and sometimes one person feels them all at once, just like Andrea.  I think her story shows that it's okay if you have those problems, but don't wait until you almost kill someone or yourself to get help.  The people you surround yourself with care about you, they want what's best for you and for you to be happy and healthy.  And if they don't care, you deserve better people in your life.  Jennifer Armentrout does a beautiful job of relating sensitive topics to a normal girl in this novel while still being able to make it a funny, lovable book.

P.S. After writing this I went to put it on my GoodReads account and this is the second book in the series!  Second!  The first one is called Frigid and it's Sydney and Kyler's story.

Quotes:  Having depression didn't make me think less of her.  Honestly, if anyone thought less of someone because of that, they could go fuck themselves. 

The thing about alcoholism and depression, I was learning, was that it wasn't a one-person problem.  At affected everyone you came into contact with, sometimes in ways you didn't even know, and not necessarily negatively either.  People wanted to help you.  You just had to let them. 

Smile!  I'll talk to you soon!xxx

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