As a whole, this book wasn't for me. I'm not big into the whole teenage girl selling herself just so she can have a roof over her head. This book had a lot of content involving drugs, prostitution, human trafficking and even rape. For a split second, it even had the male teacher feeling something more for his teenage student, wanting to kiss her and then all of a sudden everything was fine again and he was concerned with her welfare. 🤔

I really enjoyed this book. Its a very dark story but told so well that I couldn't put it down. Asher is a teacher and notices one of his students is having a hard time, so he intervenes. But will helping Carly ruin his life? He's already got a dark past and Carly is his chance and righting things.

This story is harrowing and real, I'd highly recommend it.

Love the cover of this book it's what drew me in. The beginning started off good then kinda lost my attention in between. The ending ended up being surprising and very good. Overall an ok read.
3.5 stars

Thanks to the author, the publisher and NetGalley for an early release of this book.

*Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC of this book. All opinions are my own.*

This book was not what I was expecting. And that was a good thing and a bad thing.

First off, the cover and the category that this book was in led me to believe this was a romance. And those of you who follow my reviews would think this probably is one too when you see it as "read" by me. So I want to say up front that this is definitely not a student/teacher romance like I was expecting. Which really through me off, because with the set up and the New Adult tag, that was what I was expecting.

So, that being said, I feel a little bad because I would NOT have chosen to review this book if I had read that it was a thriller with no romance. I was looking for romance to happen. It had 2 POVs, one was the teacher Asher (24), and one was the student Carly (17). And after the death of her father, she ends up staying with him. They already have a history together as he helped get her into the school that he teaches at and has been keeping an eye on her.

That being said, while I was waiting (fruitlessly, I might add) for the romance to start, I was really sucked into the first half of the book. The things happening and the struggles that Carly has lived through are really heart-wrenching.

I thought it had really good pacing and I was engrossed strongly until around 50% when I started to realize nothing was going to happen between our 2 leads. Then I honestly was kind of hate reading it for the second half. I don't read thrillers because without a romance, they are too dark for me to handle. I need some levity and lightness through human connection.

I was surprised by how the mystery played out, but I was disengaged form everything by that point. So this was just not for me.

3/5 stars.