Scratch

by Rhonda Helms

In her DJ booth at a Cleveland dance club, Casey feels a sense of connection that's the closest she ever gets to normal. On her college campus, she's reserved, practical--all too aware of the disaster that can result when you trust the wrong person. But inexplicably, Daniel refuses to pay attention to the walls she's put up. Like Casey, he's a senior. In every other way, he's her opposite. Sexy, open, effortlessly charming, Daniel is willing to take chances and show his feelings. For some reason Casey can't fathom, he's intent on drawing her out of her bubble and back into a world that's messy and unpredictable. He doesn't know about the deep scars that pucker her stomach--or the deeper secret behind them. Since the violent night when everything changed, Casey has never let anyone get close enough to hurt her again. Now, she might be tempted to try.

• ISBN13: 9781617731204
• Publish Date: 30 September 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Out of Print: 25 March 2021
• Publish Country: US
• Imprint: Kensington Publishing
• Format: Paperback (UK Trade)
• Pages: 240
• Language: English

Reviews

[Stephanie]

This review was originally posted on Once Upon a Chapter



Scratch by Rhonda helms was my first new adult romance and I'm so glad I gave this genre a try. The story centers around Casey who is working her way through college as a DJ. Immediately I was interested in Casey and her story and wanted to know more. Then Helms introduces us to Daniel and I was all in.

Casey has a lot of demons to fight and we're kept in the dark as to what they are. Thankfully we have Daniel to fight those battles for us. Casey has some wickedly thick walls. She hasn't let anyone through with the exception of her grandparents. Casey attends classes, gets good grades, and works to help support herself.

I really enjoyed watching Daniel and Casey together. They had believable conflicts and the resolutions weren't always delivered with big bows and flowers. Helms did a great job of writing a tight, clean story. The characters all contributed to the story and there wasn't a lot of excess information.

Once we finally unearthed the big secret, it was a little devastating. I'll admit to tearing up a little. The bottom line is: I really enjoyed Scratch and I will certainly be exploring this genre more.

[Berls]

This review appeared first at Fantasy is More Fun.

I like New Adult, but I’m also cautious about picking a NA book. They can be MORE angsty than YA, thanks to broken heroes and heroines “saving” each other. But Scratch looked like it could be one of the good ones. And it was.

I think the number one indicator that Scratch wouldn’t be weighed down with melodrama came when I met the guy – Daniel. He’s smart, personable, respectful, doing well in school. He’s got his shit together. I think I was giddy when I realized Daniel would not need saving in Scratch. And so I proceeded to fall for him.

As does our main character – Casey. Now life can’t be perfect, or where would the story be, right? So yeah, Casey has some issues. But there were two things I loved about how Rhonda Helms wrote Casey’s issues:
1They are freaking REAL problems (and not of her own making). I don’t want to spoil anything for you – because learning all the details of how she ended up so incredibly scarred (not just emotionally, but physically) is part of the story – but her problems felt seriously legitimate to me.
2Casey is as far as it gets from a cry baby. She’s had a freaking hard hand dealt to her, but she’s living her life as best as she can. She’s working hard at work at school. She’s got something she loves in her music. She has a great relationship with her grandparents who’ve raised her. She’s just very withdrawn – she doesn’t trust easily or much (understandably). Even that, though, is something she’s trying to work on.

So Daniel comes along and Casey starts pushing herself outside of her comfort zones. Thanks to some pushes from him and her roommate, she makes real strides. But Rhonda didn’t write Casey as a girl who needs or wants saving.

And that’s the final reason I really enjoyed Scratch – Daniel’s a great guy, and he’d like nothing more than to save Casey. But that’s not how it works in life – people don’t save you, because it can’t work that way. You have to save yourself – and so does Casey.

Scratch wasn’t perfect – there was some really stupid melodrama with the roommate that just didn’t work for me. In fact, the roommate often didn’t quite fit. But as a whole, Scratch was a really satisfying New Adult romance and I wouldn’t hesitate picking up another book by Rhonda Helms.

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Scratch! It's all about Casey: 21 years old, college senior, DJ, and has a tragic past. Don't let that last one scare you off! While NA definitely tends to be dark and full of angst and drama, Casey has a more optimistic take on life. At least, she's forcing herself to. She pushes her past way down deep, and focuses on moving forward. Then she meets Daniel at the club where she works, and he changes everything for her.

Casey has gone through something completely horrific. It was seriously one of the most disturbing situations I've read about. I just can't imagine someone doing that or going through it. It's been eight years, and Casey still hasn't fully dealt with what happened, but she's also not dwelling on it or letting it hold her back from her goals. However, she isn't really living. She's more of an observer than a participant. Always the DJ, never the dancer. But once she starts dating Daniel, she comes out of her shell. She's letting him see more of her than she's shown anyone before, but her scars are there. The physical ones and the emotional ones. For the most part, things are quite light between them, but then Daniel pushes too far.

The inevitable fight is always something either makes or breaks a NA romance for me, and I think Scratch's was well done. I was fully on Casey's side, since Daniel clearly overstepped her boundaries. His intentions were good, but his methods were so far off! I wanted to hit him! But at the same time, I was mad at Casey for how she handled that situation. Luckily, they talk about their feelings and acknowledged that they both were wrong in a sense, and explained why they were hurt by the other. I love those types of resolutions! Everyone be mature about it!

I really liked Scratch. It still has that darker tone that dominates NA, but it's not so dripping in "woe is me"ness that it feels like every other NA that I've read. It does follow the same formula that's to be expected, but the details and characters make this one different.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.