3 out of 4 stars
Share This Review
Heartaches by H.M Irwing
The book is about a college student Anna Walters-Simmons, who grew up in a home, where her step-father abused her mother emotionally, physically and sexually. She found it difficult to know what normal looks like because of the situation she always witnessed at home. She is somewhat in a desperate need to be love and accepted. This is evident where she fell in love with the good looking boy who looked at her in school. She does everything to please him, ‘Matt will love it’ when she brought a very revealing dress which she didn’t even like. She actually called him ‘her savior’, because he shielded her from mock and reproach from her peers. But behind all the charade was a double faced liar, who drugged and gang raped her.
In her despair and shame she came in contact with Rafe Brown, who had his own issues of assault and wanted to help her get justice for what was done to her. They quickly developed feelings for each other and he became somewhat her knight in shiny armor. But their quest was short lived because the authorities weren’t really interested in helping them. The story revolves around the issue of rape and abuse, and how difficult it is for rape victims to get justice. This can be seen when the person (Tess) in charge of that department at the police precinct, handled the cases at her own discretion, in this case Tess wanted to help Anna because of her feelings for Rafe and not because she was doing her job.
The book was didn’t have many grammatical errors and the sentences well-constructed. The story itself was very entertaining and was fun to read. There was no prolonging of the story more than necessary, it went straight to the point and I appreciate that.
However, the message in the story was lost. Rape is wrong, no one should have to go through it, and people who have experienced it never want to relive the memory of it. But the manner in which the writer convey that message was quite different. The character Anna we were made to believe actually enjoyed it. This is made very clear when she said “I get turned on when I think about the ……”. She’s stuck in between admitting that she enjoyed what happened and feeling bad, which ordinarily she should. And the use numerous use of curse words and explicit mature content, down played what really mattered.
I will rate this book 3 out of 4, because it was entertaining and not boring. I think a lot of people who enjoy so much explicit mature content will like it.
******
Heartaches
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
Like RachieOx's review? Post a comment saying so!
