Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Review of "Finding Willow" by Dawn Robertson

After being forced to give her daughter up for adoption, Star Bloom's life spirals out of control. Eleven years later, she is a successful porn star, a drug addict, and still at the occasional mercy of the man that knocked her up and abandoned her in the first place. After a brutal encounter that leaves her bloodied and bruised that she fortunately has no recollection of due to her drug use, she decides it's time to turn her life around and find Willow, the daughter she was forced to give up, and free herself from Blue's tyranny. Will life have other plans for her?

If you are looking for a light read, save this book for another time. If you need a pick me up, pick up something else. The issues in this book are heavy and intense and I applaud Ms. Robertson for having the courage to write about them. I'm sure it would have been easier to write about situations that are far less common in the real world, but that wouldn't really have been Star's story.

"Finding Willow" is a follow-up story to "Hers" which was released earlier in 2013. Going in to reading this story I knew that I should have read "Hers" first, but I didn't do it, and I actually don't think it matters that much for me because I don't mind spoilers at all in my stories and have been known to read entire series in backwards order before. I truly feel that this book could be read as a standalone novel, just know that it might have some spoilers about "Hers" in it, and if that's an issue for you, then by all means, read "Hers" first.

Star Bloom is not a very reliable narrator, even when she's only telling her own story. There were a few instances where she would make an assertion and then contradict herself two paragraphs later, which is usually a problem for me, but in this story it works. It really seemed to give deeper insight into how messed up she is in the head from years of abuse and drug use.

My only complaint about this book is the ending. It felt very rushed, like it was just time to wrap things up and get to the happily ever after as quickly as possible. In my opinion I think the ending as it is would have worked better if it were set further in the future, but this isn't my story to tell, so those aren't my calls to make. And if I'm being really honest with you, I probably just wanted the story to go on longer.

Overall I give this book 4 out of 5 stars, for the bravery shown in writing about the topics involved and being engaging in spite of the heaviness of the reading. Now I just need to read "Hers" and "Kink the Halls," the Christmas novella that was just released in the last few days. - Katie

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