Wistful YA ~ KEEP YOU FROM HARM by Debra Doxer

This week's Wistful YA brings us a newer YA/NA read hosted by 

Before I begin, I want to reiterate an admission I shared with you a few weeks ago. 

Although I LUV helping other authors promote their work and themselves, I've decided to veer away from so much promotion on Writer's Alley, gearing a little more towards personal posts about the writing life and helpful posts to live the writing life. Graffiti Promotions is still going strong, and will. I'll just be thinning it out a bit.

In saying that, please finish reading this post. This is a book you all must read! 

~Meet the author~ 

Debra Doxer has always loved to write. She also loves to read, often finishing several books a week. Debra works as a writer in the network and software security field. For fun, she writes fiction novels.

Debra lives with her family outside of Boston and is currently working on her next book. BLOG | TWITTER

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Title: KEEP YOU FROM HARM
Author: Debra Doxer
Genre: Mature YA/New Adult Paranormal Romance
Released: September 27, 2013
Pages: 320

I'd like to thank the author for supplying me with an eCopy of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Favorite Lines/Passage: "I don't care. Okay? You're the one who set the tone between us. I'm sorry I didn't notice you in class that first day. I was a little distracted by my screwed up life. When I did notice you, you were a silent, glaring ass to me. So don't stand there and tell me that I don't want you. You don't know the first thing about what I want because your pride was too wounded to ever give me a chance." With that, I jump out of the car and stomp around to the driver's side.
     Lucas is on me immediately. "Wait a minute," he demands. "What does that mean?"
     "You're a smart guy, " I snap. "Figure it out."

Description: Secrets… 

They weigh you down. I’ve kept a secret all my life. It’s my mother’s secret, too. I inherited it from her along with a unique ability that only we possess. She’s gone now, another victim of addiction. If her death isn’t enough to bring me to my knees, her betrayal flays me to the bone. Because the secret my mother and I have been keeping is just one of many she’d kept. She never told me I have an older brother. And now he’s here, eager to be my guardian.

There is no one else. So I move across the country to live with this stranger, my brother. But experience has taught me that most situations are temporary and forming attachments only leads to hurt in the end. That’s why I’m determined to keep to myself in this new place, struggling to seem aloof while I’m quietly breaking apart.

Then I meet Lucas…

His magnetism is hard to resist, and most girls at school aren’t resisting. I don’t fall so easily though, especially not for guys who use their good looks as a weapon. From the start, our interactions are tense and volatile. I know it’s because I’m denying the unwelcome desire that grips me when he’s near. I think he feels it, too. He looks at me with an intensity that threatens to unhinge my resolve. Soon he’s trying to break through the walls that past hurts have built.

But I’m not what I appear to be, and it wouldn’t be fair to get involved with him. At least that’s what I tell myself. Until a terrible act of violence reveals that Lucas has a secret, too. It’s a secret that links us together and ties us to an evil history I could never have imagined.

NIGHTSTAND WORTHY +1

My Splats: Drawing and moving, this story forces the reader to delve in real life issues and a slice of the otherworldly made tangible through typical high school drama one would expect of such an age.

OMGosh! Can you say cliffhanger? And yes, that is upsetting, mainly because I'm not a huge fan of endings that don't end. Kind of like someone who leaves on a few chips left in the bottom of the bag. But don't let my statement fool you. This is a well-written, intricately mapped-out tale of a seventeen-year-old girl, whose less than desired childhood thrusts her toward adulthood in a very grown-up and unexpected way.

Raille is not the average senior in high school nor is she the typical foster kid. She has a mother. She has a father, though she's never met him and doesn't even know his name. And unbeknownst to her, she also has an older brother. Her mother whisked her away at a young age, leading her to believe it was just the two of them. And her mom was not the best of caretakers, drinking and doing drugs often. And as awful as that might sound, her mother did it to protect her.

Then enters Lucas. Yup, he's the expected studmuffin teen girls love to read about and fantasize over. His unpredictable mood swings and hot-cold reactions to her prove her theory that self-preservation is of utmost importance and trusting people is out of the question. Those inner declarations didn't surprise me, seeing how she'd been shuffled from the foster care system back to her recovered mother, only to do it over again and again.

But soon, Raille's journey with Lucas reveals much more in him than being great eye candy. His family has heart-wrenching secrets, which she can relate to, making her own hidden pains much harder to ignore. Reprises from tense emotion comes to the reader as Raille and Lucus slowly find common ground, and let trust and love blossom between them. Soon, Raille's strange gift of healing is put to the test, showing more of her unique character and bringing her and Lucas even closer. But as you might expect, it also ends up threatening her in ways she never expected, revolving around her mother, the father she's never met, and her newly-found older brother's three-year-old daughter.

As I stated at the beginning, the story leaves the reader hanging, breathlessly grasping for more. But in of itself, it's a story of inner growth and hidden strength in the form of unselfish sacrifice.

Let me end with this: This story is one of the reasons I've remained selectively open to author requested reviews. It's a diamond in rough pages of print and ink.

This is a wonderfully romantic story, so I'd definitely recommend it to any romance lover. It's also a great read for the young a heart, watching the responsible and selfless choices Raille makes instead of the poor ones she could have let her upbringing steer her toward.

Ever read a story about healing? Fictional or factual?