Saturday 24 August 2013

Review ~ Ruin by Rachel Van Dyken @RachVD

Reviewed by Donna ~ 4.5 Stars

“Don’t give up yet. Sometimes when we think God has written The End, what he really means is The Beginning.”

This is one hell of a beautiful YA read, this book starts as it means to go on…EMOTIONAL!!

Kiersten had lost both her parents and was being brought up by her Uncle Jobob. For years she had been grieving and he was frightened for her, she needed to learn to live again rather than stare blankly at the walls, so he encouraged her to go to college. Kiersten felt out of her comfort zone as soon as she got there, but she had an amazing roommate - Lisa who soon introduced her to her cousin Gabe. The dynamics that these three had were brilliant and at times hilarious! I absolutely adored Gabe, that guy deserves his own book!

“I’d lost the love of my life – my best friend. How many times could people experience loss before they died too?”

Kiersten goes to registration to get all her timetables and ID cards and stuff sorted and she crashes into a big hard wall of…muscle…feeling embarrassed her eyes raise slowly off the floor and she is met with an 8 pack! Now really embarrassed as she has been caught ogling (something she has never done before, she is highly reserved, quiet and of course virginal) she runs off to find her RA advisor. Said wall of muscle is her RA advisor and his name is Wes. He is also the son of the richest guy in America, has an entourage, is an alleged player and is constantly guarded by body guards. He is an enigma to most as he tends to keep himself to himself, there are rumours flying around about him and it is up to Kiersten to pick out the truths.

These two are beautiful together, they instantly become friends, although I think both would have liked more, however Wes is reserved going totally against the rumours and this just intrigues Kiersten more. Is Wes hiding something? Or is Wes just not what everyone perceives? Kiersten, being the little gem that she is gives him the benefit of the doubt, she takes as she finds and so far Wes have given her nothing to be afraid of. In fact BFF are born but will it stay that way?

The way the author pulls you into this book is mesmerising, it is beautifully written, captivating, emotional, extremely funny but most of all you connect, not only to Wes and Kiersten but to Lisa and Gabe too. It is not often that all the main characters in a book become your friends and you can totally see yourself hanging out with them. I felt their emotions, I laughed when they laughed and I cried when they cried. That is hard to do!

Wes was a brilliant male lead, he knew that Kiersten had the same darkness that he did, he had been through similar trauma himself and wanted to help his “lost little lamb” but him being the “wolf” was totally off the mark, he was a lost little lamb himself and it took the constant of Kiersten to bring him back.

“I can tell you have a good heart…” I sighed, opening the door to the outside. “…because the minute I met you, I wanted to fight for it.”

All I can say is that this is a must read, as usual I don’t want to give too much away but this is a story of grief, depression, learning to live, learning to love, support, being strong but most of all never giving up. A tale that life is too precious and you must live for the moment. It does cover a really sensitive subject but the way Rachel Van Dyken took us on this journey it made you believe, it made you live it, feel it and most of all you were praying that all was right with the world at the end. Sometimes these stories never have a happy ever after but with this story you will just have to read and see.

“What you two have – it’s a once in a lifetime – you fight for him sweetheart. Fight for him with every last breath. No regrets, okay?”

“Okay”


I will admit, I was a tad confused with the prologue and ending, I have messaged the author and have had it explained but this is the only reason for my 4.5 else I would have given it a resounding 5 stars. Brilliant book Rachel!

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