I received a review copy of this book for my stop on the blog tour at Donnie Darko Girl.
I wasn't sure what to expect from Pieces of Autumn after reading the synopsis. I remember feeling intrigued to find out who this girl was and what happened to her. Told from two different characters' POV, this novel was so much more than the synopsis leads you to believe.
Hints are dropped here and there that the world has gone to hell and now only the extremely wealthy have luxuries such as running water and electricity. Society didn't collapse too terribly long ago; Autumn, the main character, can still remember vividly what life was like before the collapse. I've never come across this in a dark romance before, and it made for an interesting backdrop to the story.
Spending several years living homeless, Autumn became desperate to stay one step ahead of the man searching for her. With her life in jeopardy from both the man searching for her and the dangers of living on the streets, she decided to trade safety for freedom. It's been said that you can't have both - to be safer, you have to give up some freedom. Autumn gave up all of her freedom for only a small bit of safety.
Autumn is given to a man named Tate, also known as the Viper. Their relationship is dark and twisted but also has moments where they understand each other better than anyone they've come into contact with for a very long time. I didn't understand why Autumn was so attracted to Tate right away without knowing him, and even she questioned herself time and time again. She saw something in him that he didn't want her to see, and he did his best to hide it but it was too late. She already knew it was there.
I haven't thought of people as all good or all bad since I was a little girl. I know we're all a mixture of both with some of us having a little more of one or the other. Admittedly, that's a terribly simplistic way of explaining my view on human nature, but we're bad or good in degrees. Even people whom we see as truly evil started out as innocent babies. Pieces of Autumn forced me to examine not only the dark side of humanity but my own as well, and it was uncomfortable at times.
Pieces of Autumn couldn't have been a better title for this book. Autumn was in pieces at the beginning, and I'll leave it to you to find out if she's still in pieces by the end. This novel gave me much to think about while at the same time delivering a story that won't be forgotten anytime soon, if ever.
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