Alexandra Florence Books: Live Me by Celeste Grande

I received this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review in any way.

Evangelina Ricci is trapped in a world that's a never-ending nightmare, a constant ache in which consumes her every breath. Unable to bear the torture any longer, she does the one thing she can to take back control.

With her best friend Jace in tow, Evangelina attempts to escape her darkened past by leaving for college and diving head first into an aggressive schedule, determined with everything she is to make a name for herself. There's only one problem - she can't run away from the demons she struggles with. The demons that'll forever be there, locked inside, battering her soul. Hiding behind a flawless facade, Evangelina faces her ghosts until her world is turned upside down, invaded by... him.

Blake Turner. Sweet, witty, flirtatious and drop-dead gorgeous, he finds Evangelina at every turn. Scared he'll uncover the truth she keeps so well guarded, Evangelina tries her best to put on her act, deterring him like she has so many times before - only this guy's different. He's relentless. Utterly, absolutely and completely relentless. He sees her and he wants her and won't stop until she's his.

Will Evangelina succeed in pushing Blake away? Or will he break down her walls and be the person to make her realise life is worth living?

I'm going to be very blunt and say that I did not like this book. At all. In fact (I read Live Me while on holiday, it's just taken a long time to transfer review from notebook to laptop) I spent a long time critiquing it in detail to my sister in the swimming pool. I'm going to go into further detail as to why I disliked this book, but I'm going to state straight away that this book may trigger some people, so be aware of that before reading.

Plot Development

This book developed way too quickly! Evangelina has known Jace for what seemed like a matter of minutes and love is being professed. Now I understand an author choosing to set a quick paced plot to keep readers engaged, and perhaps moving away from a slow burn romance. However, this wasn't that. This was love declared almost instantaneously upon knowing each other. I'm really not a fan of instal-love, so there's the first check against this book.

Language

Pet names such as "love" and "babe". Saying "trust" to one another and repeating it, and "live me". Ew. this was incredibly annoying, a serious turn off and had a huge impact on the overall reading experience. There was also quite a lot of lines thrown in that were just insanely cringe;

"And in a little while, I'm going to bury myself so deep inside you, you're going to think you grew a new body part."

The Ending

So I had to sit through the whole book, I endured through THE WHOLE BOOK, and I get a flipping cliff hanger?! A "The End... For now"??? Yes I hated the book, but I wanted to get to then end and find out what happened. But oh no, I wasn't granted that. If I want to find out what happens to Evangelina and Blake then I have to buy the next bloody book?! No thank you! I do not want to have to go through a second book, and therefore I won't be!

The Sexual Abuse/Rape

I am not critiquing this book for the inclusion of sexual abuse, I have read and loved books that tackle this horrible topic, however the portrayal of it within this novel did not sit right with me. My major issue with this area of the novel was the fact that Eva had not told anyone (which I understand is something that many victims find extremely hard) and that she was putting herself in situations in which Damon (nas-tay) was present. She didn't want to tell her family, I can understand that, but I can't understand why she put herself in this horrid man's presence.

Live Me by Celeste Grande | Review

Plot Development

Language

The Ending

The Sexual Abuse/Rape