Derrolyn Anderson
Yum! Loved the in-depth and well-written portrayal of the main character.
 |
| My Rating: FOUR stars! |
Summary (from Goodreads):
Country girl Cali has been kept a secret her entire life, raised in isolation by two very troubled people. Despite her parent’s disturbing fits, Cal is perfectly content, living at one with the nature that surrounds her, and finding adventure inside the pages of her beloved books. When an awful tragedy tears her away from her remote cabin in the woods, nothing she’s ever read has prepared her for a world that she knows very little about.
Girls and motorcycles are what bad-boy Cal’s life is all about. Brought up in a raucous party house by his biker brother, he’s free to do as he pleases, going through the motions on his final days of high school. Aimless, Cal stopped thinking about his future a long time ago.
Attacked by a gang of thugs while running an errand for his brother, Cal is in serious trouble until a fierce girl appears out of nowhere to intervene. She chases off three grown men, sparing Cal a brutal beating before disappearing into the night like a spirit. He can’t stop thinking about his mysterious rescuer, and when she turns out to be the weird new girl at school who goes out of her way to avoid him, he can’t contain his curiosity.
He’s never met anyone like her before, and the more he learns about the unusual girl who shares his nickname, the more he wants to know. Cal can’t help falling for Cal, but can he keep her from falling victim to a dangerous enemy from her parent’s tragic past?
My thoughts:
I loved this main character, Cali. The author did a smash-up job portraying a girl who has lived her whole life without electricity, heat, hot water (oh, the horror!), and friends. Living off the land, completely secluded, with just her parents and the occasional visitor. Imagine her confusion and insecurity when she's plopped into an urban setting. Cali is vulnerable and alone and naive...yet she can kick some serious ass! She is so real and life-like that if I was to meet someone in Cali's situation, Cali is exactly what I would imagine this person being like.
I didn't like Cal as much...at first. He's a player through-and-through. He can get the girls with a wink of an eye, and he knows how to use his assets (hee hee) to his advantage. Again, this character is so real in his portrayal that you have to give the author props. The games people play, what they're thinking, what they're after...all extremely well done.
It got to the point where even *I* started to believe Cal's feelings for Cali (I have to admit, I don't blame her for being wary). What the summary doesn't get in to is Cali's unnatural ability to see people's auras, so she knows what they're feeling...hard to slip a lie past this girl.
My favorite part of this story was when Cali was telling Cal how she killed a mountain lion with a jack knife. Shocked, Cal asked her what her parents did about it. Cali's response was hysterical: "They got me a bigger knife." What made it so funny is Cali has no idea how completely insane and out-of-the-park that concept is. She's so unassuming, she thinks all girls would have done the same thing. She didn't think twice about it. Loved it!
I think I would have preferred a little more focus on the supernatural aspect of the story and a little less on the 2 characters coming together...which is a good 75% of the story. The story really got exciting when the evil mastermind started to get involved, but by that time the story was almost over, and, for me, there wasn't enough time spent on building up a suspenseful ending. It just kind of happened quickly with a lot of unresolved issues in the end...which made the ending feel a little flat.
But the story continues in the next book, and I will keep reading this series.
No comments:
Post a Comment