via goodreads
I’m first to admit that I got this title primarily because of its high rating (along with the rest of the books in the series – four overall!). I was maybe hoping that I’d stumble upon another “Beautiful Disaster” or some “Slammed” goodness.
Take My Hand centers on Dexter and Emily – both with troubled past they’re trying to forget / evade. Dexter is an American expat in London who escaped from home in the hopes of inflicting less pain and avoid dragging down the people he loves with him. Then he meets Emily, the shy, naïve and compassionate student who so clearly made it a point of not veering away from him despite everything she have learned about his past. This leads to Emily pushing away everyone including her family, friends and even school in order to tend to Dexter and his personal demons – personal demons that Dexter have been avoiding from the moment he realized that he’d fallen with Emily.
I find the whole conflict of the story a bit weak – that with Dexter’s mother an all dragging a whole lot of the story. The character of Rachel annoyed me at no end and I’m glad that she was toned down a bit midway. The first person approach narration felt ridiculous, that with the vibe of the character talking to its readers – it just didn’t work for me. I loved the Travis Maddox and Young The Giants reference though. Hooray! Going back to the novel, I’d say it’s a decent intro into the series. It has enough charm but there’s nothing new to it. And it sort of reminds me of “More Than” series by Jay McLean which I’m still cringing whenever I think about that god-awful series. I’m crossing my fingers that the story will pick up on the second book because this seriously has great potentials.
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
PADDYLAST INC. 