Scratch

by Rhonda Helms

[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 She’s just very withdrawn – she doesn’t trust easily or much (understandably).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.