Party of Five

Amanda is a kidnapping victim trying to get past years of sexual assault. Her one constant in her imprisonment was a poster of actor Chase Henry that reminded her of her sisters back home. A bit of an imaginary friend /kinship began and it is this fictional Chase Henry that kept her sane and allowed her to fight for freedom. It's been two years since she's been home and she's no closer to being better, terrified and mentally captive still. Enter the real Chase Henry. He needs a career boost and is offering her a proposal. He helps her, she helps him, quid pro quo. Neither expected to really care about the other.

While most of the events take place in the course of a week, and how can you truly fall in love with someone in just one week, it's different for the two of them. For the first time Amanda is experiencing freedom in her own choices. Chase is trying to make better choices for himself than he's made in a long time. They both were held captive to a certain degree by others, and they understand each other like no one ever has before.

Chase is so gentle with Amanda, letting her test her boundaries, and is the most perfect gentleman ever in keeping his hands where she needs them to be. Those scenes alone made me fall a little in love with Chase myself. Like all great things, they come to an end when Chase's stupidity catches up to him. He has to work that much harder to prove to himself, and to Amanda, that he's worth taking the risk on.

I absolutely loved this book. Fast paced, great story, romantic but not cheesy, realistic in some ways while the unrealistic parts aren't obnoxious about it. This was my first Stacey Kade book. I've always liked YA/NA novels and will definitely look into all her other books. This book had a very Colleen Hoover feel to me, and in the world of New Adult authors that's very high praise indeed.