The Good Girl by Lily White and Dawn Robertson

TITLE – The Good Girl

Author – Dawn Robertson and Lily White
Publication Date – May 23, 2014
Genre – Dark

SYNOPSIS

School from nine to four. 

Bartending from nine to two.
Wake up and do it all over again.
All while depending on no one but myself… 
because everyone in my life has repeatedly let me down.

I cling to the one thing that will always remain a constant in my life: Art.
Body art, photography, painting… you name it and my interest is piqued.
Almost as strong as his interest in me.

I wanted nothing to do with him
But he was the type who took what he wanted.
His hate became his obsession
And his obsession became so much more.

I am his good girl
And I wonder if he'll ever let me go.

***Content Disclaimer - This book contains descriptions of violence and is only intended for mature audiences 18 years of age and older***

ADD TO GOODREADS HERE

MY REVIEW

When two brilliant authors announce that they are working on a collaboration, you have high hopes and expectations of said work. While I did enjoy The Good Girl, I didn't love it the way I wanted to. I am a huge fan of Lily White and was really looking forward to reading this. This book is dark and gritty, but not as dark as I have come to expect from Lily. This book is told from dual POVs, Elani the heroine and Gabriel the hero. 

Elani has suffered through a terrible childhood. She lost her parents to addiction, but really, she was happy about that because the way they treated her when they were alive was far worse than the heartache of them dying. Broken and damaged, Elani focuses on school and work, then loses herself in alcohol and sex on a daily basis to avoid facing her emotions. The alcohol numbs everything for her. She is destructive, and completely reckless with her life. 

“I’ve always found it funny that my parents named me Eleni. It means light. A joke when considering that my life has been full of darkness since I was brought into this shit-tastic world. Light-my ass.”

Gabriel...sigh. He too is broken, hiding behind a mask of tattoos and living alone in large house, secluding himself from the rest of the world. After suffering through a horrific car crash that claimed the lives of his parents, Gabriel hasn't been the same...both physically and mentally. 

Gabriel has had his eyes on Elani for a long time. He sees something in her that he wants, but doesn't have.

"“You have something I want- something that no other person can show me or teach me. It’s something I don’t understand. You have life, Eleni, and I want it.” 

The thing that throws me off with this book is that Gabriel is the bad guy and you're not supposed to feel compassion for him, not from the start anyway. But I did. He is dark and twisted, yet sexy and alluring all at the same time. His actions are at times atrocious, but even from the beginning I clicked with him and felt for him. Maybe that makes me just as f*cked up as he is, who knows. He is constantly battling the voices in his head, but it seems that he genuinely wants to help Elani. Elani...I know i should feel bad for her, but I didn't, i couldn't. I feel like she put herself in the position she was in. She was completely reckless and just didn't give a sh*t about anything. I just couldn't connect with her character enough to actually feel for her. A little more character development for her would have been helpful to the story.

With that being said, I really enjoyed the book, more specifically Gabriel's POV. The authors did an incredible job of getting into the characters psyche and portraying the traits of a schizophrenic. It was realistic and it was heartbreaking. They kept you on your toes, constantly guessing what was going to happen next. My favorite part of the book would be the epilogue. It really made my heart happy to see that the past would no longer define Gabriel and Elani's future.

If you are a fan of dark erotica, this is definitely a book for you. 4 stars

BUY THE BOOK

AMAZON / B&N