Can love save them?
After her father commits a crime that shatters her family, eighteen-year-old Delaney Cross is tired of pretending everything is all right. Packing up her car, she sets out to find the people her father hurt. Her search leads her to places she’s never been—and into the arms of Adrian Westfall.
To the outside world, Adrian is a sexy, charming ladies’ man. But his playboy persona is just an act. Secretly his soul is tortured by a memory too painful to share. Only Delaney seems to see through his façade to the real man underneath. And for the first time in his life, Adrian feels he can begin to open up about his past.
Together, Adrian and Delaney share a passionate love they never expected to find. Yet both still harbor their own secrets. When the dark truth is finally revealed, will it bring them closer together—or tear them apart forever?
I liked this. A lot.
Facade hit the mark for me with a story about two young adults learning to deal with loss, only in this second book in the Games Series, the circumstances are not exactly typical. Both are working through an incredibly painful situation, and the reader gets very close to their agony in this book.
I personally like the deep point of view that we get from Adrian in this book, although it is sometimes hard to take because his wounds are so very raw. When drugs,alcohol and all night parties no longer provide the release from his pain (more like avoidance, really) his struggle intensifies. Then he meets Delaney. At first he’s just looking for a one-night stand, but as their relationship progresses she starts to mean something to him. He also doesn’t know how Delaney is linked to him, setting up for a huge moment in the story.
Delaney is dealing with loss too. Her family has fallen apart and all she has is her brother, Maddox, who tries to help her realize that she can’t fix the situation they are in. But Delaney doesn’t listen, and she falls for Adrian, knowing that it will probably mean heartbreak for her when he finds out the truth. I loved Delaney’s innocence and her belief that she could somehow make a difference. (ps. I wanted to smack her mother upside the head.)
This is a very poignant story, full of heartbreak and sadness, so if you choose this be prepared. There’s a bit of repetition of their thoughts, but it didn’t bother me because it seemed natural for their circumstances. If you’ve ever experienced this level of grief, you know that it just doesn’t go away, and it come back to haunt them both, over and over. That might be cryptic, but I don’t want to spoil. I wasn’t expected the big reveal from Adrian near the end, and it made his situation all the more heartbreaking.
It was good to see Cheyenne and Colt in this story as well, and I was thrilled to read that Maddox will be featured in the next story, because that boy has some issues he has to deal with as well. So it was a nice setup for the next book in this series.
This was a beautiful story of how people can accept and move on from really bad things that happen to them and how you can learn to live with the consequences of the past. In the end, I thought Delaney did make a huge difference in Adrian’s life and she helped him move to a better place. The book ends on a very upbeat note, making this journey all the more sweet.
If you like deep, emotional stories this might be for you.
Thanks to Forever (Grand Central Publishing) and Netgalley for providing a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
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