Overall Rating: 4 Stars
Title: How to Save a Life
Author: Emma Scott
Series: Dreamcatcher #1
Format: Audiobook purchased from Audible
Synopsis:
Josephine Clark is trapped. A harrowing past haunts her every time she looks in the mirror, and she can’t escape the violence of her everyday life. More and more, her thoughts turn to Evan Salinger, the boy she knew in high school. The boy they called a mental case. A loner. A freak. The boy who seemed to know things no one could know. For a few short weeks, Jo had found perfect solace in Evan’s company, sneaking every night to meet him at the local pool. In the cool of the water and the warmth of Evan’s arms around her, Jo had tasted something close to happiness.
Cruel circumstances tore them apart, and four years later, the sweet memory of their time together is dissolving under the punishing reality of Jo’s life now. Evan seems like a fading dream…until he reappears at the moment she needs him most. Guided by Evan’s strange intuition, they flee her small Louisiana town, and Jo begins to suspect there is something more to his sudden return than he admits.
Over twelve days across America’s heartland, deep secrets come to light, buried pasts are unearthed, and the line between dreams and reality is blurred as Evan and Jo fight to hold on to their soul-deep love, and discover that there is more than one way to save a life.
Review
After reading Emma’s Full Tilt series, I knew I had to read more books by her. I’m very excited to be meeting her at Shameless Book Con in Orlando this October, so I figure the more books I could read by her the better.
Unfortunately this one didn’t resonate with me as much as the first two I read (Full Tilt series), however, Emma once again proved how well she creates damaged characters.
It was almost unbearable to me (someone who tends to shy away from super angsty novels because I get too emotionally invested and it makes me miserable in every day life – I wish I was exaggerating) as these two characters went through hell… but what made up for it were those moments they had together.
The reason this book is 4 stars instead of 5 is because though I really, really enjoyed the first part of the book, the second part lost me. It got a little too intense to the point where it wasn’t entirely believable.
Anytime a book ventures into crime and getting the criminal justice system involved, particularly when the main characters are escaping the system, the believability plummets significantly for me. I find myself questioning the validity of their actions and how in the heck they’d actually get away with it in the real world rather than enjoying the story itself.
The chemistry between the two main characters is undeniable and saw me through even the parts of the book that took me out of the story.
What’s funny is that there is a hint of mystical or magic in this and I found that more believable than the fugitive side of the story. Again, that’s definitely a personal preference for me, so for others they might not mind it at all.
Also, side note, does anyone else think it’s weird when books are titled after famous song titles? That was kind of a turn off for me right in the beginning. I can’t put a finger on why, though. Maybe it’s the unoriginality? Hmm…
Audiobook Performance: 4 stars
Butterfly Rating: 3 Stars
Re-read Worthiness: Nah
Bookshelf Placement: Nah
Book Boyfriend Rating: 4 stars
