Book review: 'Black Box' by Cassia Leo

♥️ Three fateful encounters....
♥️ Two heart-breaking tragedies....
♥️ One last chance to get it right.

From New York Times best selling author Cassia Leo, comes an epic love story about rewriting destiny.

Over the course of five years, Mikki and Crush cross paths on three separate occasions. Their first encounter changes Mikki's life forever, but their second meeting leaves them both buried beneath the emotional wreckage of a violent attack. Mikki is left with more questions and grief than she can handle, while Crush is forced to forget the girl who saved his life.

Now nineteen years old, Mikki Gladstone has decided she's tired of the mind-numbing meds. She books a flight to Los Angeles to end her life far away from her loving, though often distant, family.

Twenty-one-year-old Crush has always channeled his blackest thoughts into his music, but he's never had great aspirations. He decides to fly to Los Angeles to record a demo of the only song he's never performed in public; a song he wrote for a girl he doesn't even know: Black Box. He has no expectations of fame and he's never felt like his life had any purpose... until he meets Mikki in Terminal B.

When Mikki and Crush cross paths for the third time in Terminal B, neither has any idea who the other person is; until they slowly piece together their history and realize that fate has more in store for them than just another love story.

This book made me hold my breath so often.

Cassia Leo did it again. A heartbreaking and wonderfully written book. She has a way of describing her character's feelings in a way that makes you feel like you sit right next to them, it makes them kinda real.

I didn't really know what to expect from this book, I just knew that the story would be totally different from what we've seen from Cassia Leo before.

Mikki had to go through tough times in her life and when she finally decides to go to California to end it all, she meets Crush at the airport, again. He seems familiar, but she doesn't know why. Crush feels the same, have they met before? Because of canceled flights they stay in a hotel till they get new flights in the next days, and get to know each other during these days.

“I don't believe in fate, but I don't know what else could have out her there at that exact moment.” - Crush

Mikki tries to hide her pain, her thoughts, and all the things that went wrong in her life. Crush knows there is more to the girl in front of him. They slowly discover all the things, remember the times they first met, and even more than that. It's a shock and a relieve at the same time. And then there's Black Box. The mysterious book that has been the life line for Mikki since she got it. The last thing Mikki wants is to fall in love, she has other plans for her life. She knows that love isn't the right thing for her at that point in her life. But slowly she begins to make plans for her future without even realizing it, but Crush notices. He tries his hardest to make her see how beautiful life can be. But Mikki isn't the only one with a dark past.

“She loves me and all the blackness inside me.” - Crush

I loved every single page of this book. It's hard to find the right words for a book that made you speechless. All I can say is that I totally loved this book.

Book review: 'Therapy' by Kathryn Perez

I’m needy.

I’m broken.

Cutting breaks through my numbness, but only opens more wounds.

Depression, self-harm, bullying....that's my reality.

Sex and guys....that's my escape.

The space between the truth and lies is blurred leaving me torn, lost and confused. And while the monsters that live in my head try to beat me-- the two men that I love try to save me.

This is my story of friendship, heartache, and the grueling journey that is mental-illness.

Sometimes you have to get lost in order to be found…

This book broke my heart in a million ways. It's amazingly written, and I hope it opens a lot of people's minds who still think that bullying people, and mental illness are jokes.

Jess's story shows how these things can affect a person's life, how it can bring out the worst in them and how it makes each day a struggle. A constant battle of holding on or letting go. Jess fights until she gives up because she thinks she has no reasons left to fight for, when Jace enters her life. She already knows him, but doesn't know him at all, at the same time. Jace wants to save her, he wants to help her, make right for those he couldn't save and lost in his life.

Jess struggles every day. Cutting, sex and alcohol are her escape, trying to numb the pain. She needs guys, needs their attention, clings to them to feel something until it always becomes too much and she's left alone. Bullied in school; it's her reality, her every day life. Because she's different they bully her, hurt her, make her feel worthless. All she does is try to numb the pain.

“The thin line between pain and pleasure always sits just beneath the surface for me.” - Jess

Kathryn Perez has a way of describing Jess's emotions and her thoughts in a way that keeps you on the edge of your chair. I could barely put this book down.

The story and the ending were nothing I expected. Jess and Jace lose each other due to decisions made out of desperation and fear, and they find each other again when Jess finally has to get help. Jace still tries to save her until he realizes that she needs his pure love, not his need to save her.

Things that no one could have foreseen pull them apart and bring them back together. But there is still this constant struggle between the two. Can Jess leave her fears behind and finally love herself and accept who she is? She needs someone to accept the woman she is, not try to make what she was better. That's where Kingsley comes into the picture. He shows her what love really is, what loving another person feels like. Not because you feel the need to love them, but because you feel it. Just feel.

“He had just kissed the spot that always reminded me of how broken I really was. He still wanted me anyway, and I loved him for it.” - Jess

What made this book extra special for me are the quotes in the beginning of each chapter. Loved it! This book is so deeply sad, but at the same time so wonderfully written that you sometimes forget how sad it really is. The love that is described between the pages is special, and it makes you see that there are different kinds of love. The love that makes you happy, and the love that makes you cling to it because the fear of being alone is bigger than realizing that you are not ready to love someone else before you can accept the person you are, and love that person.

“He doesn't know that my monsters have infected my mind for so long that I no longer know where they end and I begin.” - Jess

In this book I've highlighted so many passages like never before. I'm a total sucker for quotes and this book is full of wonderful words.