Blog Tour Review: Bleed Like Me by Christa Desir

Today on WinterHaven Books I am participating in the blog tour for Bleed Like Me by Christa Desir!

Bleed Like Me by Christa Desir
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: October 7th, 2014
Purchase: Amazon / B&N

From the author of Fault Line comes an edgy and heartbreaking novel about two self-destructive teens in a Sid and Nancy-like romance full of passion, chaos, and dyed hair.

Seventeen-year-old Amelia Gannon (just "Gannon" to her friends) is invisible to almost everyone in her life. To her parents, to her teachers-even her best friend, who is more interested in bumming cigarettes than bonding. Some days the only way Gannon knows she is real is by carving bloody lines into the flesh of her stomach.

Then she meets Michael Brooks, and for the first time, she feels like she is being seen to the core of her being. Obnoxious, controlling, damaged, and addictive, he inserts himself into her life until all her scars are exposed. Each moment together is a passionate, painful relief.

But as the relationship deepens, Gannon starts to feel as if she's standing at the foot of a dam about to burst. She's given up everything and everyone in her life for him, but somehow nothing is enough for Brooks-until he poses the ultimate test.

Bleed Like Me is a piercing, intimate portrayal of the danger of a love so obsessive it becomes its own biggest threat.

My Thoughts:
This was a very tough read for me and not because of what you might think.  Yes it is sad and I hated that Gannon felt like she had to cut herself, but my issue was her parents and their lack of parenting.  I think this was a goal of the author, but for me this overshadowed Gannon and her own personal problems.

The story is tough like I said.  We have Gannon who cuts herself and then we have Brooks who becomes addicted to Gannon.  This is all a recipe for disaster with just those two simple characters, but then you throw in parents who haven't been their in five years, a foster kid who just doesn't know where he belongs, and a relationship that is built around hurt and you basically get an explosion.

Gannon wasn't tough for me to like.  She was really rough around the edges, but having to grow up with her parents I get why she was the way she was.  She didn't have anybody looking out for her because both her mom and her dad were too wrapped up in the three boys they adopted from Guatemala.  Yes that was a very heroic thing to do, but these boys were not disciplined at all and caused so much ruckus that both parents just basically forgot about Gannon unless they needed her to help wrangle the boys in.  When I say ruckus I mean down right mean, violent, and aggressive behavior.  They needed help and I was so irritated that her mom thought she could do it all on her own.  This whole adoption put a strain on her parents marriage and just made a happy home fall apart. I am not saying I wished the boys would have gone away, I am saying they needed help.

Gannon was left to figure life out on her own and when she meets Brooks her life turns upside down.  Their relationship was abusive in a different way then you would think and at first I thought Brooks would be good for her, but things happened and when a certain scene happened I knew she needed to get away.  Well as you would guess things went from bad to worse quickly and Gannon finds herself in a situation that she doesn't know how to get out of.  I was a little shocked at the lack of involvement from the adults around her, but I can see where the author was choosing to go with the story.  It wasn't pretty and sometimes people need to see what's beyond the rainbows and butterflies.

The ending left me with an unfinished feeling though.  I have a hard time grasping what happened and even though I know what happened was inevitable I just don't know how I feel about it.   I wish things could have been different for Gannon and even though I like the whole not wrapped up in a bow sometimes it is just hard for me to swallow and this is one of those times.  I wanted more for Gannon and I really wanted more from her parents.  With all that being said though I can accept where the story went and I can tie my own bow for Gannon in my heart.

3.5 snowflakes

 

About the Author

I’m Christa Desir and I write young adult novels. I am an avid reader and have been in love with YA books ever since reading Judy Blume’s FOREVER (while hiding between the stacks in the library).

My first success with writing came at the age of five when I wrote a story about my sister and our neighbor Andy “kissing in the dushes.” My parents were so proud of this work, they framed it and showed it to every visitor who came to our house. My sister still has not forgiven me.

I live outside of Chicago with my awesome husband, Julio, and our three children. When I'm not writing, I am an editor of romance novels. I am also a feminist, former rape victim advocate, lover of coffee and chocolate, and head of the PTA. It is a rare day when I don’t humiliate myself

somehow, and I frequently blog about my embarrassing life moments.

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