Fault Line by Christa Desir
Genre: Young Adult Contemporary
Release date: October 1st 2013
2 STARS
Goodreads Blurb:
Ben could date anyone he wants, but he only has eyes for the new girl — sarcastic free-spirit, Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him too. She’s everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want.
But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone.
Now Ani isn’t the girl she used to be, and Ben can’t sort out the truth from the lies. What really happened, and who is to blame?
Ben wants to help her, but she refuses to be helped. The more she pushes Ben away, the more he wonders if there’s anything he can do to save the girl he loves.
My Review:
After shocking intro, readers are taken 6 months back in time. You will witness how Ani and Ben met and how they grew close only to be driven apart after one ill-fated night. Ben watches Ani change and wants her to be this cheerful girl she used to be. But can he save her? And most importantly, does she want to be saved???
My Ben and Ani:
I loved how they met for the first time, how feisty both main characters were and how much fun their happy banters were. I really liked narrator's "voice" at the beginning. If only it lasted for more than first couple of chapters...
This story deals with heavy topic - rape. I have to admit that approach to this topic was quite original. Instead of "victim" POV, readers see everything through her boyfriend's eyes. But once shock from what happened faded away, everything felt forced and not realistic at all.
So what ruined this book for me? Unstable "performance" of the hero and narrator. While I liked him at the beginning, I grew confused and didn't understand him at all by the end. Plus I wasn't rooting for the main couple at all.
Faul Line is weird story in which both main characters are depicted as quite bad people, making terrible choices, behaving badly and selfishly. Who to blame? Only themselves and their decisions.
If this book was supposed to leave some kind of message or affect me, it didn't... I was just weirded out with so many things... But at least I was never bored when reading it. I am glad I finished it, even though it left me with very confused feelings. Still, I wouldn't recommend it to my friends.
*ARC provided by publisher as an exchange for honest review*
