Scratch

Publication: 30th September 2014

Publisher: Kensington

Pages: 240

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Age Appropriate: New Adult

Buy It: Amazon + Barnes & Noble + The Book Depository

The most painful scars are the ones you never see. 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.

My Thoughts.

Scratch is a compellingly written new adult contemporary romance, that is emotionally heartbreaking, devastating and sure to have you in tears, but it's not all doom and gloom, it's about a girl who finally learns to let go of her guilt and anger that she has held onto since she was thirteen.

Casey is an introvert, the only time she'll leave her apartment is for classes, her deejaying job on the weekends and her weekly dinners with her grandparents, she doesn't really have any friends, emotionally closed off ever since the incident that changed her life all those years ago, she also suffers panic attacks quite regularly as well.

Then one night while on a break at work, Daniel a guy from her Philosophy class starts up a conversation with her, and it's from this moment that she starts to come back to life, with neither unable to stop thinking about the other, they with reluctance from Casey go out a few times, mostly these times out together don't exactly end on a good note but Daniel perseveres, so when the relationship starts to get serious and Casey still hasn't told Daniel her secret it will start to drive a wedge between them, can she trust Daniel to not look at her with pity once he knows, and how can she possibly move on with her life when she still hasn't let go of the past, of her anger and grief which is slowly killing her inside.

Casey's past made for such a tragic back story, her life was shattered and torn apart at the age of thirteen, and the girl that she was died that day and in her place was a hollow shell of the girl that she used to be, Daniel so easy-going was able to help her live again, and while things were worked out at the end between these two, I would have loved and epilogue just to see where these two end up and where they are in life.

But that's just a tiny thing, all in all I adored this book, I read it in one sitting, I just couldn't put it down, Rhonda has herself a new fan, I will read anything she writes.

A fantastic story, one I'll definitely be re-reading.

I give this 5/5 stars.

Rhonda Helms started writing several years ago. She has a Master's degree in English and a Bachelor's degree in Creative Writing. She also edits for Carina Press (an imprint of Harlequin Publishing) and freelance edits.

When she isn't writing, she likes to do amateur photography, dig her toes into the sand, read for hours at a time, and eat scads of cheese. WAY too much cheese.

Rhonda lives in Northeast Ohio with her family.

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Rhonda lives in Northeast Ohio with her family, dog, and a very loud c