REVIEW: Fault Line by Christa Desir

Fault Line by C. Desir
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Publication Date: October 15, 2013
Source: Edelweiss eARC*
Rating: 4.5/5 stars
Get it: Amazon | B&N

Ben could date anyone he wants, but he only has eyes for the new girl — sarcastic free-spirit, Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him too. She’s everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want.

But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone.
Now Ani isn’t the girl she used to be, and Ben can’t sort out the truth from the lies. What really happened, and who is to blame?

Ben wants to help her, but she refuses to be helped. The more she pushes Ben away, the more he wonders if there’s anything he can do to save the girl he loves.

My Review

I have never read a book like Fault Line by Christa Desir. I was simply flabbergasted by how this novel was written with raw, harsh, and brutal honesty. This book is not what I expected at all, but I mean that in a very good way. Fault Line took me off guard, completely shattered me with resounding silence and left me with thoughts I couldn’t settle within me. 

With all the dark books I’ve read, I think Fault Line not only took a part of me, but left a part of itself as well. This book was a tough read in the sense that the issue was gutting and completely heart-wrenching for the main character and for the character that faced the horrific rape. Desir does an amazing job of really making the reader think about the issue at hand. She put the question in your mind about what you would do if you were in the shoes of Ben? She puts you in a place where you think you would do one thing, but possibly should do the other. The whole ordeal Ben was in was entirely a difficult and complicated situation and being I thought I was throughly frustrated, angry and upset as Ben was. 

I really love that Desir created an authentic male character who was downright realistic in his decisions, actions and reactions. Ben was not hero, but he wasn’t a bad guy either. He did what he thought was right for him no matter how wrong it may have seem.   He wasn’t perfect by any stretch of the imagination. Sometimes he said the right things, sometimes he said the wrong things and sometimes he just didn’t know what to say at all and I was ok with that. It made him real. I really got to see Ben struggle and dig himself into an even bigger hole for himself and Ani. He tried to be there for her, tried to work things out and get pass the doubt, anger and sadness. I saw him at his very best and his very worst and when he finally stood up and did something that needed to be done long ago. I felt so helpless for Ben, but I also felt proud of him for sticking to his beliefs and especially when he did what he needed to do, no matter how painful it was. 

Fault Line is not a typical boy meets girl, they fall in love and go through all kinds of crap and live happily ever after kind of book. No way in hell. It was hard to read because Ben and Annika do fall in love and everything seemed damn near perfect. I loved seeing them together because they were too cute for words. To read how both of them were slowly unraveled and broken down from what happened was so so hard to read. And I think Desir totally brings you into the story as if you were experiencing what Ben and Annika were feeling and you couldn’t do anything about it. It was heartbreaking and exhausting in so many ways. How do help someone when they don’t want to be helped? How can you help yourself when you don’t know where to begin or don’t believe you can be helped? Where is the blame placed? 

Most of the books I’ve read about this situation is always in the point of view of the victim, but this time around it’s in the point of view of something who isn’t but who is still affected nonetheless. I really liked being put into this perspective because changed how I viewed things. This book beats you down and truly makes you question yourself if you were ever put into this situation. It’s disabling, disarming and gutting in way that leaves you feeling completed raw and exposed. 

*Thanks to Simon Pulse for sending a copy for review.

I was not compensated for my opinion.