Roxy's Reviews: Review + #Giveaway: Girl Lost by Nazarea Andrews #GIRLLOST

GIRL LOST by Nazarea Andrews

Contemporary Romance

Northern was supposed to be a fresh start—a place where people didn’t know who I was or how I had spent years in and out of mental institutes. People didn't know about my parents death or the island no one heard of. But when Peter sits next to me in lit class, I can’t stop the memories, and I don’t want to. He looks too much like the boy from the island, and despite my best intentions, coaxes my secrets from me.

He’s gorgeous, irresistible, a little mad, and completely lost—we are a pair of broken cogs in a world neither of us truly fits into. He is somehow gentle and fierce, heartbreaking in his devotion and savage in his defense.

When Belle, his best friend, shows up, pale and lovely and sick, Peter pulls away from me, a startling withdrawal. It’s a relationship that scares and confuses me. She is at times warm and friendly, and other times is violent and unpredictable.

Peter says that he wants me, but refuses to let himself get close. And there are secrets, surrounding both of us, that border on nightmares. As the memories close in, as Belle gets sicker and more violent, I’m torn between what is true and what I believe, and what this magical boy knows about my mysterious past

*Suitable for 17+. A romantic contemporary retelling of the boy who never grew up.

REVIEW

This book has to have been my most highly anticipated read of the year, thus far. A re-telling of Peter Pan! How freaking exciting is that!!?? I was so eager to see how Andrews would incorporate the magic and fantasy of J.M. Barrie's classic into a Contemporary Romance, and each time I took part in a reveal or saw a new teaser for Girl Lost, I was captivated, wanting and needing more.

Gwen’s story was interesting, dark and quite harrowing, but I loved how the idea of the Boy and the island were drawn into the story as a hallucination of sorts that saw Gwen being subjected to years of psycho-analysis, and people thinking she was just plain crazy. Throughout the story we get to see snippets of what happened years before, and are able to draw our own conclusions over whether or not the island and the Boy are real, or just Gwen’s imagination.

Things really started to liven up when Peter, a strange but charming and compelling guy enters Gwen’s life. There was obviously something going on. Between the weird fraternity that Peter had such a hold over and the way he was so similar to the Boy, I had to wonder if Gwen wasn’t quite as delusional as everyone made her out to be. With the arrival of Belle things just got stranger, although the pieces finally started to fall into place.

I wasn’t completely blown away by this book. I will admit that I was expecting more of a magical element to the story, which I did not find, and I didn’t quite connect with the characters. But it was still an enthralling read. I loved the parallels drawn between certain characters in Girl Lost and those of Peter Pan. They were subtle but there and were like little gems thrown into the story.

I’m not sure if there will be a sequel novel, but I really do hope so because the ending was quite abrupt, and although it allowed me, once again, to draw my own conclusions, I felt there were too many loose ends that needed tying up. If there is a book 2, I will be the first in line to grab a copy.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nazarea Andrews is an avid reader and tends to write the stories she wants to read. She loves chocolate and coffee almost as much as she loves books, but not quite as much as she loves her kids. She lives in south Georgia with her husband, daughters, and overgrown dog.