Wow. This book was good… Really good. It isn’t your typical romance novel, with your typical story-line, featuring your typical characters- It was deliciously unique and I devoured it in no time- The heroine, Sophie Price is FAR from little miss sweet and innocent. She embraces every ugly quality that’s a part of her, from her selfishness to her manipulation. She’s filthy rich… A boyfriend stealer… An occasional drug user… And the epitome of vain. In the beginning, all of her ugly characteristics took front and center allowing us to see the only girl she ever truly knew how to be. She always kept her walls up and never allowed anyone to see her true emotions, but the emotional thoughts that constantly ran rampant through her head let us get an insight into the Sophie Price that’s buried deep inside of herself… The girl she never even knew existed.
To say that her sentence to Uganda was utterly life-changing would be a complete understatement. The turn that this story took was so breathtakingly beautiful. Lives were transformed in a way that brought tears to my eyes… Especially Sophie’s. We were able to witness a lost girl with no true sense of reality, turn into a beautiful woman who no longer put herself first and had witnessed first hand, the real horrors of this world that so many turn their eyes away from.
"…I turned my head toward the window and let the tears fall freely, the most I’d ever allowed, and the absolutely only time I’d ever cried and had a genuine right to. …Because I wasn’t crying for myself. I was crying for the innocents.” -Sophie
I adored the hero Ian, and truly appreciated the fact that he wasn’t afraid to tell Sophie exactly what was on his mind and what he initially first thought of her. I think it was just the slap in the face that she needed to open her eyes to the real world. I wish I could say more about his character, but in all honesty I found it difficult to relate to him on a personal and emotional level since the entire story was told from Sophie’s point of view. Nonetheless, despite his lack of point of view, the author was still able to let us see the positive effect that his character had on Sophie’s transformation.
I really can’t say enough good things about this story. However, although I did really like this book there were still a few things that prevented me from giving it a higher rating. Personally, I felt that the heroine did a complete transformation way too quickly and easily- Had her character changed gradually and at a slower pace, I think it really would have helped the depth and development of this story as a whole. This book definitely doesn’t touch on light subject matter, and after investing so much emotion into the story I couldn’t help but feel that the ending and many other parts in the novel just felt a tad bit rushed.
As for the romance… Ehhh… It was there, don’t get me wrong. But as an avid romance novel addict, I needed more. The book definitely held a PG rating, so for those of you out there who need a lot of steam in their books, then this one definitely isn’t for you. However, although the lack of steamy romance was a let-down for me it didn’t take away from how I felt about the book as a whole. The journey that Amelie Fisher took us through was heartbreaking and emotional. She really put a spotlight on the real tragedies that go unnoticed way too often in this world. All-in-all, this story touched my heart and I commend the author for showing her readers hope through a girl’s journey of love… Loss… And a healing transformation.
Bio:
Fisher Amelie is the author of The Leaving Series, Callum & Harper and Thomas & January. She began her writing career as a copywriter for an internet marketing company wherein one of their client's said, 'Hey! You're funny. You should write books'. Which in turn she said, 'Hey, get out of here! This is the lady's restroom.' While washing her hands and the embarrassment from her face, she thought they may have had a valid point. So, she took the thousands of hours of writing stories growing up, tucked them into her pocket and began writing and writing and writing.
