Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Review: Live Me by Celeste Grande






Broken… 
Shattered… 

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. 

Run. 

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 façade, 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 realize life is worth living?



4.5 Stars
Review by Jen Skewes

Live Me is Celeste Grande’s debut novel.  This book was recommended to me by a few friends and after reading the blurb I knew it was a book that I just had to read.  While reading this book there was one thing that kept going through my head; is this really her first book?  Honestly if you told me that Ms. Grande had written many books before this one I wouldn’t have been surprised.  For her debut novel she did an amazing job. 

Eva is a very broken girl.  She actually had a good childhood and parents who love her.  But she has been keeping a big secret from everyone, a secret that only her best friend Jace knows.  Something happened in her past that completely shattered her.  She moved to NYC to go to college, with her best friend by her side in hopes of starting over and putting this secret behind.   Jace is an amazing friend who loves her and will do anything to protect her.  He knows what she has been through and he wants her to live again, to become the girl he once knew.  But it isn’t until Eva meets Blake that she begins to feel again. 

Blake is everything that a girl could want in a guy.  He is loving, caring, hot and just a genuinely great guy.  He is not sure what it is but there is a connection that he feels when with Eva.  He is drawn to her in ways that he cannot explain.  He wants to get to know her and and while he knows that it may be fast, he is falling for the broken girl who has so many walls up that he is not sure he can break.  Eva feels that Blake does not deserve her and her baggage, that he deserves someone that can give him what she can’t.  But Blake is very persistent and no matter how many times Eva wants to run away, he won’t let her.  But how many times can a person run before someone gives up on them?  Will Eva be able to open up her heart and realize that she does deserve love and the happiness that comes with it?

Live Me is about a very broken girl who is trying to move on and put the past behind her.  When you go into a book that deals with the subject matter that this book deals with, there is one thing that I always want and need from that book.    And that is to feel with the characters.  I want to understand and feel what they are going through.  I want to feel as if I was there experiencing the pain and hurt with them.  I love to feel like you are a part of their world and you want to be there with them to comfort them.  And Celeste Grande managed to do all that.  Her words written on each page were beautiful and very detailed.  I don’t mean detailed in the sense that it was too much description and not enough dialogue.  I mean that the characters had depth to them.   When you read this story you are not just reading words on a page, you are feeling them.  You are experiencing the emotions that these characters are going through. 

Eva had been through so much and my heart broke for her.  While we did not know the whole story at first you have an idea as to what she went through.  But through the drama and the angst there is also a bit of suspense that Ms. Grande throws in as well.  As the reader you are trying to figure out the who of it all and what will happen when we finally find out the truth?  I found myself on the edge of my seat at times biting my nails because I was not sure what would happen next and was afraid for Eva.  At times I wanted to cry with her, to be able reach in and give her a big hug and tell her it was ok.  And then there were times when I wished Blake was real J  

I absolutely loved this story and all the feels that when along with it.  I think my one issue with the book and my reason for it not giving it 5stars is in the beginning while I loved Blake I had a little bit of a hard time with him, but not in a bad way.  I just think that at times some of the things he said or did may have been a bit over the top.  And I found myself wondering if men really do this or say that.  So that part of it threw me off a bit.  But otherwise I loved him and his cute and sexy ways.  He was a romantic at heart, and I loved how much he cared for and loved Eva.  Their first date will make you swoon and you too will be wishing you had a Blake in your life.  And I cant forget about Jace, Eva's amazing best friend.  I hope he gets his own book because I loved him.  


Celeste Grande did an amazing job with this book.  Again the writing is beautiful.  I am patiently waiting for the next book to see what happens, because Ms. Grande managed to break my heart, piece it back together only to kill me once again, leaving me wondering what will happen next. 


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