✯Review✯ Missing Pieces by Nicola Haken

Synopsis-

Seventeen-year-old Maddie Davis has spent her whole life on the move. With an unstable mother who has a knack for making bad decisions, she’s never stayed in one place long enough to remember its postcode. But this time is different… This time, she has been dragged half way across the world. Arriving in California and being forced to go back to school feels like stepping back in time. She wants to go home…

Until she meets Blaine Elwood – the stepson of an old family friend.

Blaine appears to have it all. To the outside world, quarterback Blaine is rich, confident and has the ‘arrogant bad boy’ image down to a tee. But nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. Nobody ever can. He has vowed never to let anyone get too close – let anyone discover how weak he is. So when new girl Maddie starts tugging at strings he didn’t know existed in his heart, his only option is to push her away…

Until he realizes how much he needs her.

Together, after being forced into adulthood from an early age, they begin to learn what it feels like to be young – to smile, to laugh… to love. So when shattered secrets and splintered lies start unraveling around them, will the trust they’ve worked so hard to build be irreparably destroyed? Or will they realize they are two pieces of the same broken puzzle?

✯✯5 Heartbreaking Stars✯✯

"Don't give up on him, Dora. He's a good guy. He'd never admit it but he needs someone to get inside that stupid fucking head of his. He needs you."

This is my first book by Nicola Haken and it will not be my last! I absolutely loved this story. There was so much going on in this book. My emotions were all over the place. There were times I'd find myself laughing out loud then the next minute I'm tearing up. Just when I thought I was prepared for what was coming next, man was I wrong!!  This book is not like any other book I've read before.

We meet 17yr old Maddie & her mother when they move to the US. Maddie's mom has never been stable and they've moved around a lot. But, this move is not like anything she's ever done. A whole new country is something totally different. Maddie's biggest problem is her mother. She's never been emotionally stable and she's hoping this time will be different. Maddie is tired of moving.

"It feels so...liberating, being able to talk to you, Maddie. I don't quite know what you've done to me, but I like it. You make me want to be better. You make me believe I can be better."

Blaine is not happy when he finds out he has to show his step-mothers best friend daughter around school. Blaine's dad is loaded. Which means Blaine thinks he's above most people. He's the quarterback of the football team. He can get any girl he wants and believe me he has!! It's not all easy for Blaine. On the outside he seems to have it all. But, looks can definitely be deceiving in Blaine's world.

"I don't ever want you to be embarrassed with me, you hear? I might just be getting to know you, but I want to know all of you. I want to be there for you through everything."

Maddie definitely feels out of place in this fancy private school. She most definitely stands out from everyone else. And, the other girls let her know that she doesn't fit in. Blaine had all intentions on not paying attention to Maddie other then bringing her to school. He soon finds out that Maddie is not like any other girl he's ever met. Maddie doesn't care what Blaine looks like or that he's a quarterback. She actually doesn't know what that is. Her accent drives him crazy & she's beautiful. So, when the other girls start giving her crap he finds himself standing up for her. That is if she hasn't put them in their place first.

Maddie does make one friend fast, Lori. At 1st Maddie thinks Lori is just like the rest of them at the school. But, learns quick that she's not. I loved Lori. She always had me laughing. Lori was always there for Maddie. I also loved Blaine's best friend, Jason. He nicknamed Maddie "Dora" from Dora The Explorer. She had a purple backback she wore all the time. That name stuck with her the whole time. Only Jason called her that & I laughed every time he said it. He too looked out for Maddie for Blaine.

"but I can honestly say that this is the first time I have ever made love. The first time I have ever let anybody see me, touch me- everywhere. The first time I've ever wanted, needed anybody to touch me."

Maddie gets into a routine rather quickly. She is actually starting to think it's going to be OK. Between Lori & whatever it is that is going on with her & Blaine. She doesn't get him. One minute he's hot the next cold. The next thing she knows is her mom snaps & has a breakdown. And, not just one. It eventually gets around school that her mom is a prostitute & really start giving her a hard time at school. Blaine tries his best to protect her the best he can.

Blaine & Maddie stop fighting their feelings. They start spending every chance they can together. Being that they both have been through so much at such young ages I kept forgetting they were only seniors in high school. Esp Blaine! My heart just kept breaking for him. He thinks he's weak. But, he doesn't realize how strong he really is. Maddie is the one that makes him realize that he is so much more. With Maddie in his life he's ready for the first time in his life that he is better then what he's always believed.

"this ache I get when we're apart, the pain that stabs into it when you're hurting, the fact it flutters and tickles just by hearing your name...That's too strong to break."

This isn't a story for the weak hearted. There is a lot going on. And, the fact that most of everything that is going on is right under everyone's noses & nobody's saying anything. Is sad!! Maddie & Blaine not only have to come to terms with what is going on in their personal lives. They do their best to help each other the best they can. Maddie & Blaine must figure out how because it's just not their lives at risk if they can't figure it out! 

"We're like two missing pieces of the same broken puzzle, lish. I've always felt hollow-incomplete. But, when we're together everything makes sense. Everything just...fits, you know? You're it for me, Maddie. You're my  missing piece."

Meet Nicola Haken-

Nicola lives in Rochdale, England with her husband and four children (six if you include the dogs!) She is the author of New Adult/Contemporary romance novels Inevitable, Saving Amy and the Take My Hand series. When she is not busy playing with her imaginary book friends (or talking about them with real life friends!) she can usually be found carrying out her ordinary mum/housewife/all round slave duties. Oh, and if the kids ever ask, she moonlights as the Pink Power Ranger while they’re sleeping…

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