Book Review: Scratch by Rhonda Helms

Quick Facts

My Rating: 3.5 stars

Series: N/A

Date Read: August 23, 2014

Source: Free review copy from Netgalley

Publication Date: September 30, 2014

Publisher: Kensington Books

Genres: New adult, romance

Summary (taken from Goodreads): The most painful scars are the ones you never see. In her DJ booth at a Cleveland dance club, Casey feels a sense of connection that's the closest she ever gets to normal. On her college campus, she's reserved, practical-all too aware of the disaster that can result when you trust the wrong person. But inexplicably, Daniel refuses to pay attention to the walls she's put up. Like Casey, he's a senior. In every other way, he's her opposite. Sexy, open, effortlessly charming, Daniel is willing to take chances and show his feelings. 
For some reason Casey can't fathom, he's intent on drawing her out of her bubble and back into a world that's messy and unpredictable. He doesn't know about the deep scars that pucker her stomach - or the deeper secret behind them. Since the violent night when everything changed, Casey has never let anyone get close enough to hurt her again. Now, she might be tempted to try.

Review

I'd say this is your average new adult - girl with a damaged past meets boy who tries to fix her. The plot isn't anything super special. Casey is living with a roommate she barely talks to and is especially close to her grandparents, who raised her since a tragedy took her parents and sister. When she meets Daniel, she slowly learns to open up and trust others.

I do think there are parts of this worth noting, though. The music is an interesting part of the book. Casey works as a deejay, and even creates her own songs. I do wish there had been more about that - and about her safe, practical choice when it came to her college major. She took a chance with a lot of things as the story progressed, and she did think about how nice it would be to go into music. It would have been great to see her consider it more, though. Not that she was the type to toss everything else aside - nor should she - but she could have begun chasing her dreams a bit.

Daniel was different as well. He didn't do everything right, like some love interests in books, but he was genuinely a nice guy and his heart was in the right place. I like that he pushed Casey more than she wanted, and that he was willing to fight with her. It was also admirable that he could admit to being wrong.

The one thing that bothered me was their separation. When Casey wasn't around Daniel, she was miserable. Although I do think she grew a lot, I also think she should have depended on him a bit less. While she said herself that she could live without him, I just wasn't believing it. There were hints at her developing her own life and growing comfortable with herself. Maybe there should have been more of that, in order to better show Casey's independence and the fact that she could manage on her own.

Overall, this one was good so long as you aren't looking for something way different. If you know what you're getting into, I don't think you'll be let down. I definitely wasn't.