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It can happen in a flash. One minute she’s kissing her boyfriend, the next she’s lost in the woods. Sixteen-year-old Ellie Cox is losing time. It started out small…forgetting a drive home or a conversation with a friend. But her blackouts are getting worse, more difficult to disguise as forgetfulness. When Ellie goes missing for three days, waking up in the apartment of a mysterious guy—a guy who is definitely not her boyfriend, her life starts to spiral out of control.
Perched on the edge of insanity, with horrific memories of her childhood leaking in, Ellie struggles to put together the pieces of what she’s lost—starting with the name haunting her, Gwen. Heartbreakingly beautiful, this poignant story follows one girl’s harrowing journey to finding out who she really is.
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“Will you tell me about
it?” Griffin asks after a while. Low and hesitant. Echoed by the thrashing of
water on the bank below. I slit one eye open. His gaze is fixated on a point
above me, across the river where sunlight blots the forest floor, unblinking.
“About what?”
“What you said this
morning.” Sad, curious eyes fall over me. “Your, um, childhood.” It’s like he’s
dropped me from the boulder into the freezing, agitated water—stomach to knees,
just like that.
“No.”
“Because you don’t want
me to know?”
Swiftly I sit up and
face him, my ankles pushing into the pack of cigarettes bulging from his
pocket. He’s got his lip ring sucked into his mouth, his tongue flicking it
back and forth, waiting for me to say something.
“Because I can’t talk
about it without coming unglued,” I say bitterly. “Like, I’m a little kid again
and he’s…you know…real.” It’s why Dr. Parody sent me to the hypnotist, to find
out what happened without me consciously telling her. Or remembering our
meeting.
Griffin tilts his head.
“He wasn’t real?”
Sometimes I wonder
that—if, possibly, I imagined it all.
These scars from tree
branches and sidewalks instead of a sick man’s obsession with the glint of a bloodied blade and the scent of
burning flesh. His rasping voice and unforgiving hands somehow simply dreams,
or nightmares, as an alternative to reality. I grit my teeth as hard as I can
and shake my head.
“Until he died in a
fire he was,” I say. “Very.”
Griffin combs his hand
into my hair, just behind my ear, and lightly presses his thumb to the round
scar. “And these? They’re from him?”
“Stop,” I snap and lean
away. He looks at me questioningly, shadows hanging under his eyes and nose and
I wonder what my face looks like at the moment, if I look deadened and ghostly
under the blinding streams of sunlight or alive and buzzing with the surge of
heat growing in my cheeks. “I don’t need pity affection from you, all right? It
is what it is. The past can’t be changed.”
I get up and make my
way to the ledge of the rock. Toes at the edge, knees locked straight. I rock
back and forth, leaning farther and father each time. The water below,
thrashing and crashing. I wonder what it’d be like to hit the water from this
height, if the impact would knock me out instantly or if the ruthless current
would pull me under and take me for good. If the boulders beneath the surface
would claim me or…
Air.
I need air. My head’s going to burst.
Fingertips
claw into my neck. Yank upward. Air fills my lungs. “You gonna drop your cup
now, you li’l brat?”
Water
comes at me again. Faster. Harder. Porcelain slicing into my stomach. Eyes closed.
Don’t pull me up. Don’t pull me up. Don’t pull me up.
“—trying to kill
yourself?” A hand touches my arm, grips and guides me back a step. Away from
the crumbling shale shelf. If only he would’ve killed me then.
One of the things I loved most about this book was that it was nothing like I expected. Ellie is losing time and we are along for the ride as she tries to figure out what is happening. Brooklyn Skye did an amazing job of getting inside a mental illness...I'm serious. This book is GOOD! I loved all of the characters and the struggles every one of them has to go through as Ellie keeps "forgetting" conversations or events in her life.
What would you do if you ran into the person you loved in the streets and they had no idea who you are? If a family remember insisted they were having "blackouts" would your first assumption be that they are lying to cover up something? Ellie is lost, alone, and scared of events beyond her control. Waking up in the apartment of a strange guy and finding out when she got home that she had been gone three days is the least of her problems.
Fragile Lines is a non-stop read. I seriously did not put this book down until I was done. I easily give this book 5 stars! I can't wait to see what Brooklyn does next!!!
Brooklyn Skye grew up in a small town where she quickly realized writing was an escape from small town life. Really, she’s just your average awkward girl who’s obsessed with words. She writes young adult and new adult fiction. You can follow her on Twitter as @brooklyn__skye or visit her web site for updates, teasers, giveaways, and more. www.brooklyn-skye.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/brooklyn__skye
Author Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/
Fragile Line Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/
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