Reclaiming the Sand

by A. Meredith Walters

[Leah]

When I was offered the opportunity to take part in the blog tour for Reclaiming The Sand, I was super interested. The book sounded really, really fascinating. I love books where bullying is a subject matter and I was quite intrigued to see where Ellie and Flynn's story went. One thing I will tell you is that you probably won't like Ellie. She's the kind of character who pushes you away and keeps pushing, until she does something destructive, so be warned. There is a Prologue that also warns you that you will hate her, and whilst I felt duly warned, it still surprised me to read about her actions during the novel because you just expect someone like her, who has been through what she has, to perhaps not be as bitter and twisted as she is.

I had a really tough time figuring out Reclaming The Sand. I literally have no idea what the title itself means, and the cover doesn't really tell you much about the book either (in fact, I wouldn't have picked it up seeing the title/cover, it was the blurb that had me hooked). What you get inside is quite the story. At first, I really liked Ellie's narrative. I like a tough girl who can take care of herself, who has a bit of a hardass reputation. But I felt Ellie took it too far. She wasn't sticking up for herself most of the time, she was just being downright mean for no reason. The things she does to Flynn, and the way she acts, was spiteful and it sort of felt like she was taking advantage of the fact he didn't have the emotional range a normal person has (because if Flynn did have the same emotional range, he would have run the hell away, fast).

I really, really liked Flynn. Flynn saved the book for me. I will never understand his appeal for Ellie, but that's just me. Like I said, I thought she was mean both before when they were teenagers and again and again as grown ups. You can't try to push away and be angry with someone who doesn't get why you're angry or freaking out, and Ellie spent a lot of time punishing Flynn for things that were her problems, not his. It really grated on me, because there was Flynn doing his best to be friends with Ellie, both before and after, and she was doing her level best to be a bitch. Sixteen year old Ellie drove me nuts. I hated reading the flashbacks from Flynn's perspective because I couldn't understand why Ellie wouldn't just stick up for Flynn, against her stupid friends who were just as dumb as she was. Time and time again, Ellie's friends Dania and Stu and Shane would bully Flynn, and Ellie sat back and watched (or participated) and it made my stomach churn with anger.

Reclaiming The Sand really brought out a lot of feelings in me. Mostly of anger, and hate, towards Ellie, towards her "best friend" Dania and I use quotation marks because best friends don't act the way Dania acts toward Ellie; screaming, fighting, all sorts of nasty stuff; and I was angry at Ellie for not telling Dania to get lost. With friends with Dania, who needs enemies? It was so frustrating to see Ellie time and again go back to her friends who weren't really friends. Especially since the scenes with her and Flynn were so sweet. It was so hard to reconcile the Ellie with Flynn with the Ellie with Dania. It's like they were two entirely different people. I could barely read any scenes with Dania in. She's pregnant, and self destructive and I just couldn't believe how selfish she was towards her unborn baby.

This was a tough read for me. I started out enjoying it, not expecting so much anger and bitterness, from me and from the characters. Flynn was by far the greatest part of this novel, and I liked seeing him open up and force himself to do things he would never normally do. It takes guts, and I will never understand why he chose Ellie. Never in a million years, but there you have it. They had some sweet moments together, don't get me wrong; Flynn most certainly brought out the best in Ellie, it was Ellie's self sabotage that was the issue. Reclaiming The Sand was an interesting read. I can't say I enjoyed it, because I would be lying, but it was certainly interesting.

This review was originally posted on Girls Love To Read