Before reading on, may I just say that RECLAIMING THE SAND has been a totally worthwhile and amazing read. Fair warning though: this is one of the longest reviews I’ve written.
When I learned about A. Meredith Walters’ new book, I was over-the-moon excited to get my hands on it (and I’m really grateful to have been chosen as one of the lucky few to receive the ARC). And after reading the book, I’m rating it with 5 out of 5 stars. No brainer about that. RECLAIMING THE SAND evoked in me all the pain, turmoil, and angst like a book only A. Meredith Walters can write.
Blurb:
*THIS IS A STAND ALONE WITH NO CLIFFHANGER!*
Bully and victim.
Tormenter and tormented.
Villain and hero.
Ellie McCallum was a bully. No connection to anyone or anything. A sad and lonely existence for a young woman who had come to expect nothing more for herself. Her only happiness coming from making others miserable.
Particularly Freaky Flynn.
Flynn Hendrick lived a life completely disconnected even as he struggled to become something more than that boy with Asperger's. He was taunted and teased, bearing the brunt of systematic and calculated cruelty, ultimately culminating in a catastrophic turn of events that brought Ellie and Flynn’s worlds crashing down.
But then Flynn and Ellie grew up.
And moved on.
Until years later when their paths unexpectedly cross again and the bully and the freak are face to face once more.
When labels come to define you, finding yourself feels impossible. Particularly for two people disconnected from the world who inexplicably find a connection in each other.
And out of the wreckage of their tragic beginnings, an unlikely love story unfolds.
But a painful past doesn’t always want to let go. And old wounds are never truly healed…and sometimes the further you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are.