Helllllllo readers and welcome to another review|*cheers*| I made a blunder the first time writing this review stating Rachael Richey wrote The Beauty Thief when in fact Rachael Richtey wrote it! How close are those names, that’s crazy! Anyway back to this review, this is my first review from this author on the back of reading it I really want to read more from her. Brilliant writing and one I think you will utterly adore.
Frontman of the grunge rock band NightHawk, Gideon Hawk has had enough of the rock star life. He is jaded, disillusioned, and haunted by the memory of an unresolved heartbreak. On a whim, he leaves the band in New York and heads to England in search of answers.
After attending the funeral of her estranged mother, Abigail Thomson makes a shocking discovery in her parents’ attic. The still-raw memories that surface, along with even more startling discoveries, force Abi to face a devastating truth that leads to a series of life-changing events. She and Gideon must race against time to reclaim the life stolen from them a decade before.
The book jumps between two periods of time, from 2005 to flashbacks of 1994/5 when both Abi and Gideon were teenagers.
We begin the tale at the funeral of Abigail Thomson’s estranged mother who Abi has not seen let alone spoken to in ten years. Meeting her father again, feelings begin to unravel and when stashes of undelivered letters addressed to Abi are found in the attic, our story really begins. The letters are from Abi’s teenage first love, Gideon Hawk who just so happens to be the frontman of the band Night Hawk, but in an attempt to ditch the limelight after a concert held in New York he sensationally quits the band. The book flits between the burgeoning relationship between Abi and Gideon set a decade before and the present day as we see the two very different lives begin to become parallel once again.
I really enjoyed this lovely little tale; although it may appears to take the stereotypical girl meets rock-star, their relationship crumbles, he attempts to escape the limelight, throughout there is a mysterious secret that builds from the very beginning. Why were the letters undelivered? Why did Abi have to tread on eggshells around her mother? Was her father also involved in the traumatic event that happened? The book twists and turns between the two time periods allowing the writer to give us dribs and drabs causing the story to intensify and made me gabble through the pages.
The characters are written with style and warmth; Abi is a darling character, warm and bright I found her an unforgettable character. Determined, and charming and then suddenly a little helpless I really felt for her. Additionally witnessing her rebellious teenage years reminded me a lot of my own. Telling my parents I would be in one place when I would be stealing away to another. I thought that Gideon was a hot mess; a diamond in the rough, his charming and gentleman like character mixed with his rock-star attributes made me have a serious character crush. Judy and Chris make superb supporting characters who I also found really brilliant to read about.
I only have two little wobbles with the book as a whole; firstly at the beginning the book lacks some pace. It does take a while to get into the book and to be fair the secretive nature of Abi’s dislike at having to attend her own mother’s funeral really pulled me in but the writing could have been snappier and flowed quicker I think. The second I thought that Gideon’s sudden upheaval from the states could have been toyed with more just because it felt a bit quick or overly easy? For me I would have liked to have seen that played with a bit more and in the relationship and the bond between him and Abi in the present tense.
Despite this, I couldn’t put this down. Lyrical writing style, strong characters, a good solid plot-line and a smattering of well-built up characters (main and supporting) this book has everything going for it. A strong tale, one that I really enjoyed and one I think you will to.
Linkkkkkks
mylittlebookblog 