Save Me

by Natasha Preston

[whisperingchapters]

I received an eARC in exchange for my honest review.

Lately, I am reading books that I relate to a lot, which makes me have a special connection with the book and the characters—in this case with Tegan. Tegan loses her dad during her teenage years and she takes it harder than the rest of the family because she was the closest to her dad. Her way of coping through this situation is sex and alcohol. Tegan keeps drowning her sorrows in alcohol but having sex with random guys stops once she meets Kai.

I loved Kai as soon as he was introduced. He had this kind of bad-boy look to him but a complete sweetheart. He is very sweet but has such a dirty mind and I love the mixture of the two :D Lucas, on the other hand, I didn’t like. I really didn’t like him…that’s the only thing I have to say and since I didn’t like him, I won’t talk about him (sorry, not sorry).

There were times where I would get frustrated with Tegan A LOT, especially because it would feel like she was playing Kai (she wasn’t, but it’s how it felt like to me). I just wanted her with Kai throughout the whole book in a relationship, not just as friends.

I loved how Kai was ALWAYS there for Tegan when she needed someone. He cared for her deeply, more than friends and Tegan was too blind to see that. Kai was there through the roller-coaster ride she had for a life, even knowing she had a boyfriend that she “loved”. Personally, I don’t think she ever really was in love with Lucas. I believe she thought she loved him but not for real. Her true feelings were always for Kai (I’ll keep telling myself that, but it really feels that way because she is always asking for Kai when she is down or just wants to hang out with someone).

All in all, I enjoyed the story because it doesn’t only focus on her relationships—although it is a mayor part of the story—but it also focuses on family loss, how a person gets lost in a self-destructive “coping” mechanism and sometimes people turn a blind eye to that. Also, instead of helping, they cause more damage by watching the person 24/7, seeing if the person will fall back into the same destructive mechanism, which is what happened with Tegan, especially after she was taken to the hospital for…doing something that could have lead to her death (This part was personal to me. If you have read the book, you will know which part I am talking about and yes, I did went through that. And just as Tegan, I was watched all the time).

For being the FIRST story written by this author, I think she did a great job, especially voicing out these situations that Tegan is put in. I believe it would help the reader to expand their horizons to some of the knowledge that goes with learning about the problems that teens and adult go about in their lives.

Review posted on October 10 at GenGen's Book Blog