Thursday, October 27, 2016

Everything I Left Unsaid

I've been on a reading kick again so I feel like I'm flying through books rather quickly. My goal is to really tackle things that are on my bookshelf that I haven't gotten to yet. Mostly so I can justify buying more books as I see them go on sale.

Can we also acknowledge the greatness of used books? It's not just for college, kids. You can find almost all of your books in a used version on Amazon and Barnes & Noble and it's really worth it. I've scored a bunch of books for dirt cheap and even with shipping, it's significantly less than what a new book would have cost me. I'm not snobby about my books because my favorite day of the year is the library book sale and I've found some real gems there, so I love used books. Yippee.

Anyways. Let's talk this book.

Everything I Left Unsaid - M. O'Keefe

I didn’t think answering someone else’s cellphone would change my life. But the stranger with the low, deep voice on the other end of the line tempted me, awakened my body, set me on fire. He was looking for someone else. Instead he found me.
 
And I found a hot, secret world where I felt alive for the first time.
 
His name was Dylan, and, strangely, he made me feel safe. Desired. Compelled. Every dark thing he asked me to do, I did. Without question. I longed to meet him, but we were both keeping secrets. And mine were dangerous. If I took the first step, if I got closer to Dylan—emotionally, physically—then I wouldn’t be hiding anymore. I would be exposed, with nothing left to surrender but the truth. And my truth could hurt us both.


I first heard of this book on one of my favorite book blogs, Herding Cats & Burning Soup, and because Anna (the blogger) loved it, I added it to my future shopping list. Then it sadly sat on my shelf for months until I was looking for a book to read that wasn't part of an organized review and man alive- I feel ashamed that I waited so long to read this!

Granted- I'll be honest and told you I was a little worried when I started the book because it is a little weird until you get into it. Which sounds strange, but it's hard to explain. We have Annie McKay, who is on the run from an abusive husband and she's basically lived an incredibly naive and sheltered life. Everything she experiences since leaving her husband and the farm is a new experience for her and she's trying to figure out who she is at her core. So she finds herself in a really run down, sad little trailer court/campground and is renting an RV turned trailer home that is basically a pile of crap. But it's her temporary pile of crap and she's bound to make the best of it while she makes a plan. Then the phone rings, a phone that's shoved into a hiding spot in the RV, so the natural thing is to answer the damn phone. Someone leaves a cell phone, you answer it like any good citizen would.

Enter Dylan. Dylan sounds like a hot piece of hunk on the phone and he immediately perks Annie up. She gives him a fake name, because she doesn't know who this guy is after all, and at the end of the call he gives her the kind of bizarre task of watching on her neighbor, Ben, but gives no reason why.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out who Ben is but honestly, nobody cares, because this book quickly takes a turn into the phone sex book of all time. What Fifty Shades of Grey did for dirty emails, Everything I Left Unsaid is doing for phone sex. Quickly their "relationship" turns into tasks for Annie to help her discover herself all the while torturing Dylan on the other end. Dylan isn't without demons himself and while we don't figure them all out in this book, you're given enough that you are automatically signed up and ordering book two on Amazon Prime and hoping it actually pulls through with it's free two day delivery this time. Then I realize there is a third book and, so far, it's only available as an e-book and that's ABSOLUTE SHIT because I've gone on an e-book hiatus since my Nook is acting wonky and I absolutely refuse to get another e-reader because I hate them. I have decided I hate them. So there.

Anyways.

So I hope book three comes out on paperback and that book two doesn't end on a cliffhanger like this one does so I can emotionally handle the wait. Because UPS guy is supposed to come tomorrow and you bet your ass I'll be waiting for him. You hear that, UPS? Get here early, none of this 8:00 at night crap.

*sigh*

Overall? Loved the book. It starts off weird and I got nervous, and there ended up being no reason. I don't really normally like characters like Annie because they can be overly whiny but I really felt endeared to her and rooting for her. And Dylan.... oh Dylan. He's like the Beast in The Beauty and the Beast, he's a burn victim locked up in his fortress, away from everyone, and you just want to fix him because underneath the burns he's a good seed, despite his past. I really liked his character, I'm hopeful that book two goes more into his backstory, so again, UPS- hurry the hell up.

I highly recommend it if mama needs a little book lovin. It will serve you well, mamas. Batteries not included. ;)

1 comment:

Anna (herding cats-burning soup) said...

Yay! I'm so glad you enjoyed it even with the weird beginning. lol I need to read book two as well. I skipped and read book three and woo! that book was something! lol