It's one thing to lose a loved one. It hurts, it's hard, and sometimes it comes so suddenly, it's hard to react to it. It's another thing entirely to lose everyone you've ever known, your entire family completely gone. Everyone who has ever loved you and taken care of you is dead. So what do you do? How do you start over? For our main protagonist, Layla Weston, her journey started the day of her Grandfather's funeral. After her parents died in a terrible accident, she was sent to live with her grandparents, although it wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. Her grandmother was ruthless, making her feel guilty for her parents' deaths, and making sure that Layla knew that her grandmother blamed her every single day for the death of her beloved son. It was enough to make Layla lose herself completely, giving up everything that identified her as an individual to take care of her new guardians. She stopped going out with friends, doing the things she loved, anything to make her happy didn't exist anymore. She was stripped of what made her Layla, and with the death of her grandfather, she had to figure out who she was.
The silver lining to her grandparents dying was that she was able to live with her aunt and uncle. Sure, she had never really spent time with them before this, and she did feel a little apprehensive about having to live with strangers, even if they are technically her relatives. But the longer she does live with them, the more she actually starts to feel happy again. They allow her to be a teenager again, they allow her to live her life without having to take care of anyone older than her. They even allowed her to do some of the things that used to be a part of her old life, like reading to her heart's content and getting to know her classmates. She has a new set of friends, and a potential boyfriend who seems to think the world of her and is not afraid to show it. From a life full of tragedy, it finally seems like Layla is back on track.
Of course, not everything is as good as it seems, and although Will seems like he's a modern day Prince Charming, there is a dark side to him that is very reminiscent of his power-hungry father. Layla may not see it right away, but it's there, and if she's not careful to tame that temper of his, things may happen that she can't protect herself from. As sure of herself as she becomes, even to the point of standing up to Will's father and declaring her love for his son, she needs to make sure that his father doesn't take drastic measures to remove Layla and her new family out of the picture for good. Will's father isn't a stranger to... persuasive negotiations, and he has no problem doing it again.
I thought this book was pretty interesting. It's different from losing your sister, like what happened in Love Letters to the Dead. Layla was left with nothing, and had to learn how to live with strangers that was never a part of her life before. She did well, though, and finally learned how to trust her Aunt and Uncle. I also feel like she did end up finding herself again. She wasn't afraid to stand up for herself, whether it was to her boyfriend's father, or just in general to the rest of the students at her school. She was never really bullied at her new school, which was lucky on her end, but she also didn't allow anyone to make decisions for her. She just took her new life in stride, and became friends with a group of kids that really had her best interests at heart. The ending was surprising, but also makes me feel like Will's father had something to do with it, and of course it ends as a cliffhanger because there are two more books in this trilogy to read. I look forward to reading the rest of the series, hopefully this year.
Rated: 4/5 Stars
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