The novel is written from two perspectives. The first one is Scarlet, a sixteen year old high school student who has no memories of her early childhood (she does not remember anything before the age of four when she woke up in a hospital after a house fire). The second perspective is that of Noah, a new student in Scarlet's class, who immediately upon his arrival at her school, singles Scarlet out and does everything possible to make her fall in love with him. As the story progresses, we learn that Scarlet was born into a family that ran a religious cult whose members led a very isolated life and shied away from modern society. Well, now they want her back.
The weakest point in the story (and the reason I think it got so many low rankings on Goodreads) is the beginning. Basically, Scarlet sees Noah and immediately falls in love with him. All we see for the first several chapters are how sweet he is and how much she cares about him. I can completely understand why this would turn off some readers. However, just past that part, we get a glimpse into Noah's real thinking and motives and he emerges as a really creepy guy... From that point on, I was absolutely enthralled and could not put the book down. I had never read any books featuring a religious cult before, and to me the way Preston described it felt authentic and truly scary. I did really enjoy the book and I think it deserves better ratings. I ended up ranking it at 4 out 5 stars just because I agree that the insta-love in the beginning of the book is a little cringe-worthy. Had Preston started with Noah's creepy thoughts it would have made for a much stronger set-up in my opinion.
Overall, good story, well-written, definitely creepy and scary - pick it up!
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