Series: Standalone
Release Date: June 16th, 2013
Scout has always wanted to follow in her family’s business of custom bike building. Being female never stopped her from getting greasy and slapping on paint with the best of them, and made her work even harder at opening up her own shop someday.
When an opportunity to win $500,000 dollars in prize money presents itself, Scout and her group of misfit friends sign on the dotted line to be filmed for a reality television show to win it. But like anything in life there’s always a catch to free money.
When nightmares of the past meet dreams of the future, Scout is forced to face her demons, or be quickly over run by the memories. In the midst of her inner turmoil, family will come home, and possibly a life she never expected to have could be within her grasp.
• Allusions to violence and torture
• Heroine dealing with significant PTSD
• No descriptive sex scene with OW/OM
• Does have the Hero and Heroine pushing away
• Does not have a separation between the Hero and Heroine
• See Ending for HEA status.
• See Possible Triggers for Abuse and OTT sad parts.
Rating: 4.25/5 stars
Painted Lines covers some very dark subject matter, and is an extremely emotional journey for both our heroine, Scout and the reader. The book starts off with Scout and her three friends contesting to win $500, 000 on a reality TV show for the bike shop they want to open. From there a series of events leads a girl suffering from PTSD and on a road that she wished to never venture down again.
The writing of Painted Lines was so raw, it was really about Scout and her struggles as a person, and her professional desires. She recognizes her limits, but at the same time resents them, since no one can really understand what she went through.
The plot of the book focuses on a reality TV show and how different characters infiltrate the show which ends up having positive or sometimes devastating effects on Scout. Although this book does include a romance, I have to say that it really took a back seat in this novel. Painted Lines was about how Scout wasn’t truly healed, having not dealt with any of her baggage.
The main complaint that I have about Painted Lines was that the ending was too abrupt. It was a highly climactic scene and then all of a sudden the author just cuts to the epilogue–which is one year later. It didn’t make any sense, and the book was so good– amazing really–until the ending. It reeked of the author just wanting to finish the book up, and the epilogue didn’t give the readers any closure. I seriously think Painted Lines should have a sequel, and it’s for the reason of this book (so far) being standalone, and providing no closure, that Painted Lines isn’t five stars.
Preview Painted Lines on Amazon Kindle
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