Hold Me Close by Megan Hart

Goodreads: 

"Effie and Heath are famous. Not for anything they did, but for what happened to them as teenagers. Abducted and abused by the same man, they turned to each other for comfort until they were finally able to make their escape.

Now adults, there relationship is fraught with guilt and despair. Whether fighting or making love, their passion is strong enough to destroy them both - and Effie's not about to let that happen. She knows it's time for her to have a 'normal' relationship, and Heath is nothing but a constant reminder of the dark past they share. Heath, on the other hand, knows Effie is the only woman he can ever love. She may want to forget what happened, but he's convinced that they must face their past together in order to move forward. So while Effie continues to bring new men into her life, Heath becomes obsessed with proving he's the one she needs.  

Then a new crisis arises and Effie begins to lose every scrap of self-control she ever had. As she struggles against her desire to return to the one man who understands here, she discovers that sometimes the only safety you find is with the person who is the most dangerous for you."

Review: 

Effie is messed up. She was held captive for years in the basement of a house, mere blocks from her childhood home. The only thing that kept her sane was her connection with Heath, a teen who was abducted before her. 

It's been years since they were rescued, but the scars from the experience are still visible and painful. Effie and Heath love one another, but their love is built on a shaky foundation of pain and suffering. They do not know now to be normal, with or without each other. But Effie is determined to obtain a level of normalcy, even if that means letting go of the only man who has ever truly loved her. 

As I have said in the past, I am a HUGE Megan Hart fan. I jump at the chance to read what she writes, because I love the way she strings sentences together, particularly sentences of the erotic variety. 

Hold Me Close was unlike anything I have ever read by Megan. It was darker, much darker. The characters were complex... to put it bluntly they were fucked up. Of course they had endured a tragic ordeal, so they had to be. Their connection was hot as lava, but it was tangled and borderline unhealthy, but their love was real and their feelings for one another were palpable. 

Whenever you go through something it changes you on a cellular level, and the more painful it is, the harder it is to recover. Effie and Heath may never recover to the point of normal, and there are only two people who truly get it - each other. 

At the start, I did not enjoy this book as much as I have enjoyed other books by Megan Hart, simply because I had preconceived notions about how and what she should be writing about. But once I let go of my expectations, I really enjoyed it. There is definitely something to be said about adaptability, which is in essence what this book is really about. The resilience of the human spirit, the different colors of love, and how experience shapes and informs our entire lives. 

If you are interested in reading an erotic novel with a heaping helping of substance, this this book is for you.

I give this book:

This is not a paid post. I received a free eBook copy of this book from NetGalley which helped to facilitate this review. However, all views expressed are my honest opinion.