Everything done in darkness, will eventually be brought into the light.

I ran, but all it did was keep me one step ahead of my past. I tried to start over; new name, new identity. But you can’t change your soul.

A fresh start at college was just what I needed. For a while, it worked. I was the party girl, the one that seemed confident, but it was a lie.

When guys kissed me–I felt only pain.

When they touched me–Nothing but fear.

Deep inside, every girl wants to be the beauty in the story, to find someone that will see you as their world.

But the truth? I was the beast. And as much as I wanted redemption, I wasn’t fool enough to think I’d ever get it.

Until he walked into my life.

I wasn’t prepared to fall for someone. My scars were too deep, the wounds too raw. But he offered me peace, he offered me security. I should have known it was just another lie–I should have known that falling in love with my professor was a bad idea.

But I was powerless to stop myself from falling.

And he was powerless to catch me.

Because the darkness finally caught up to me, and as fate would have it, a cruel twist almost bled me dry. But I’m stronger than I knew. I’m stronger than you think.

You think you know my story, but you don’t….after all everyone has Shame in their lives– and I’m no longer afraid to show you mine.

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 Reviewed by Shera 5 of 5 Brilliant Stars!!

A tragic, twisted, beautiful story. We see hurt, love, loss, pure tragedy wrapped up into one perfectly mastered book called SHAME. Rachel Van Dyken has outdone herself with this one!

“I controlled her, and I needed her to remember that even though she weakened me, I still had control. And she was mine. Forever. She was mine – The Journal of Taylor B”

This story is about a tragic chain of events, most we will read about in the Journal of Taylor B. See Taylor was her boyfriend, was supposed to love her but the only thing Taylor did was manipulate people. He wanted to Shame people, ruin lives, ruin that persons hopes and dreams, including hers. She finally got into college, she was going to leave him and that was the straw that broke the camel’s back. He succeeded in delivering pure Shame by having the one person who truly loved him do it all for him. When you love someone you believe that you must keep feeding the beast in order for them to stay alive, to stay with you. Only, Taylor had an end purpose and he was going to make sure everyone suffered including Lisa.

Lisa packed up took what she could and walked away from it all. She ended at up college, she’s made new friends, Gabe and Wes particularly who both come from money and will both do whatever it takes to make sure Lisa has a normal life. She’s changed her appearance in hopes that she can go on unrecognizable. It isn’t until threats start coming that Lisa knows someone knows her secret.

Then we meet “The Hot Professor” Tristan. Tristan is demanding and sexy as hell. He is beautiful, controlled, orderly yet chaotic at the same time. He is drawn to Lisa in every way. But that’s not what he’s there for…He is there to teach, right?? Tristan has a huge secret. He needs to know what happened in the past and he feels like there is only one way to find out, but in the process something changes. He sees the ugly as she was made out to be as beautiful and from there, the story really takes off.

“The thing about your past…it never stays there. We just think it does until the time comes for it to reveal itself in all its gory shame. And there’s nothing, absolutely nothing a person can do, but watch”

You are about to go on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. You will be kept wondering what the hell is going on, you’ll keep flipping pages so fast because you just have to know. Screaming at what’s going on, crying for the hurt and betrayal. You start to feel like you are there with the characters in the book. All things always come full circle, even the bad things in life. It’s who is there to catch you when you fall. The friends that will go to the ends of the earth to make it alright. Will Tristan be there in the end, can he right the wrongs? Will Lisa survive all of this?

“The broken pieces are the prettiest ones, Lisa. The demons, the proudest scars”

This book seriously made me remember to never take for granted or forget the good memories, because they will dull the bad. We all have them, things in our life that have touched us, that hurt but it’s the good times that should shine. The way the characters were portrayed in this book, each and every one of them made the story so very real, it was brought completely full circle and was an absolutely brilliant read! An effortless, seamlessly written book and like I said just pure Brilliance! Hands down in my top 5 reads for this year and I can’t wait to see what Rachel brings next! 5 Shining Stars for SHAME!

Copy provided for honest review – Shera

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