Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Reclaiming the Sand, ends 3/25

Reclaiming the Sand, by A. Meredith Walters.

I wanted to tell him. But I wanted to lie as well. I liked the way he looked at me. To Flynn Hendrick, Ellie McCallum was important. She was wanted. If I told him the truth about that night, I was sure that would all change.

My self-destructive side urged me to tell him everything. To sever the delicate bond that was forming between us. 

But I had another side that insisted on silence. 

I think this is maybe the first YA/NA book (it's classified as New Adult, but is really more Young Adult, in my opinion) I've read that has a character with a disability in it. Flynn, the main male character, has Asperger's, which makes him seem a bit different than others; Ellie and her friends in high school call him "Freaky Flynn," but she actually really likes him, and starts to spend time with him. She does something that impacts her life a lot and then doesn't see him for six years, when he returns to the small town they live in ... and ends up changing her worldview yet again.

Official synopsis:
Bully and victim.
Tormenter and tormented.
Villain and hero.

Ellie Mccallum was the bully. The Tormenter. The Villain. Taking what she wanted, stomping over anyone that got in her way. Feelings, futures, and relationships be damned. She felt no emotional 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.

Growing up, Flynn Hendrick was known only as “Freaky Flynn.” He 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 farther you try to run from yourself the closer you come to who you really are.
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I really loved this book. This is one of the reasons I'm so glad I take part in blog tours, because this book is not one that I would have necessarily found on my own; I haven't read anything else by the author.

A. Meredith Walters, author

This novel is, at its core, a love story, but it's also about acceptance and growing up/moving on with your life. Ellie still hangs out with the same group she did in high school, and she slowly realizes that if she wants to get anywhere in life, she has to stop repeating the same patterns (getting drunk/high every weekend, etc.) and behavior. She enrolls in an English class at the local community college which starts to change this for her, and at the same time, Flynn Hendrick moves back to town, and they strike up a relationship.

Ellie was the narrator in this novel and I really liked how the reader was able to get into her head. Sometimes she got frustrated with Flynn, because he has mood swings, but she always reminds herself that it's not his fault, it's just how he's "hardwired"; she also loves the way she feels special and loved when she's with him, because growing up as a foster kid, she never had that kind of relationship in her life before.

4.5 stars out of 5.

*Disclosure: I received an e-galley of this novel for reviewing purposes. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

GIVEAWAY:

The other book tour bloggers and I are hosting a giveaway with many prizes! You can win one of the following:

• $50 Amazon gift card
• $20 Amazon gift card and SIGNED paperback of Reclaiming the Sand
• $10 Amazon gift card and e-book of Reclaiming the Sand

Enter via the Rafflecopter below. Contest ends on Tuesday, March 25th at 11:59pm EST.

Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway