4 out of 4 stars
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Caught Inside by Jamie Deacon is a captivating young adult novel. Luke just wants to go on a vacation with his girlfriend, Zara, at her parent’s vacation home. He never got to have those type of experiences growing up. His mom worked multiple jobs just to support them. He’s expecting to spend time relaxing and hitting the waves with his surfboard. Then Zara’s cousin Theo flips Luke’s world upside down. Luke finds himself experiencing feelings for Theo that he never would have expected. He soon finds himself facing the reality of who he really is. Accepting these feelings, he grows closer and closer to Theo as the summer goes on. Afraid to hurt Zara, they hide the blooming relationship from her. But at some point, they’re going to have to tell her, and they’re afraid it won’t be pretty. Add in a few other friends that aren’t helping the situation, and the reader is in for a great tale.
This book had me drawn in as soon as I opened it. I literally could not put it down. I haven’t been this involved in book for a long time. Told in the first person, present tense from Luke’s point of view, this book takes the reader on an emotional roller coaster. The emotions throughout the book were so powerful. I found myself laughing and crying as the moods changed. I felt like I was watching the story as it happened.
The character development was on point. The character pool is fairly small, so the reader really gets to know the personalities of each person. The love triangle in this story adds to the character development and kind of makes it a little biased. I constantly found myself looking at Zara as the “bad guy” even though she didn’t really have a lot of “bad” qualities. She was a typical teenage girl who wanted to spend time with her boyfriend. As she feels their relationship falling apart, she keeps trying to fix it. Because I was seeing everything from Luke’s point-of view, it made me think of her as annoying and clingy even though she really wasn’t. I have never had this happen to me while reading a book, and I found it very entertaining.
The plot of this book runs along the lines of being a typical young adult novel, but it has a few twists. The fact that Luke is falling in love with another boy made the love triangle unique. I have to say that I have never read a book like this one. It was also paced really well. I never found myself disappointed or wishing that a part was over like I have with other books. I also felt like the fact that it was written in present tense helped move the plot along. Another aspect of the story that I really liked was the addition of a few flashbacks. Some were in conversation, and some were events that Luke remembered throughout the story. Both types really added dimension to the book.
The editing in this book was perfect! I commend the author for this. I didn’t see a single error throughout the book. I loved that there were no interruptions because of grammatical errors! Also, the author did a great job of keeping the book in the present tense. I know how difficult it is to write in this style, so I am really impressed with this author.
If you can’t already tell, I loved this book. I’m going to have to give it 4 out of 4 stars. I can’t even think of anything negative to say about it. I think that this is a great book for teenagers and even adults to read. It has all of the romance they could want without being explicit, and it takes the reader on a fantastic emotional ride. It is definitely one of my new favorites.
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Caught Inside
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and interesting. I'm not really sure if this is my type of book but your review makes it seems like something I would enjoy. Great job on the review. Congratulations to Jamie Deacon on such an obviously well written book.
