Scrolling through my kindle, I was in the mood to read something edgier and I came across Pieces of Olivia, a book that has been sitting on my kindle waiting patiently to be read for years. Olivia is starting university at Charleston instead of Columbia like she had planned for years and her parents expected her to. She had the plan to study law, but now is studying English. Her life all changed when in her high school summer before college, she was with friends partying and there was an accident. She survived, but her friends weren't so lucky. Now Olivia is trying to move on with her life, but suffering from survivor's guilt. When Olivia gets to college, she meets her roommate Kara and the two of them connect straightaway. Of course, with Kara comes Preston Riggs - Kara's best friend who has some baggage of his own. Not Olivia level, but enough to make him not want to date anyone seriously and change his major to Medicine. Will Preston help Olivia open up with Kara's help and her new therapist Rose who I loved helping her to learn to live life again and not be ashamed of her scars? Pieces of Olivia had some trigger moments and ups and downs, but I really liked it and I am not looking forward to reading Kara's story which is Book #2, and hoping it doesn't involve cheating as looks like a love triangle might be involved and one that goes a step further into possible cheating territory unlike the one in this book between Olivia, Taylor, and Preston.

This book was OK, but that's all it really was. It was so very NA cliché, a girl and a boy damaged beyond repair find each other and are healed by the power of lurve. But of course someone is keeping a very predictable secret that could tear them apart! It's all very dramatic. The MCs have a conversation that would have been the perfect lead in for him to sit her down and tell all but he decides he doesn't want to and instead they have sex for the first time. Having already guessed the secret that kinda pissed me off.
The friendship between Preston and Kara was weird.
The relationship between Olivia and her therapist was also weird and inappropriate.

Olivia is going to college. Not the college her parents would like her to go to, unfortunately, but one she feels will work best with her life. She meets her roommate Kara and Kara’s best friend, Preston, almost immediately, and they all are fast friends. Olivia is attracted to Preston but as he’s a serial dater and never stays with a girl very long she tries to steer clear.
Olivia obviously has some issues. She sees a therapist about an event that happened in her life that destroyed those she loved and she’s dealing with incredible guilt. As she tries to work through it all with her therapist she finds herself falling in love with Preston. Unfortunately they each have secrets and when those come out it may tear them all apart.

Pieces of Olivia was a very emotional story. From moment one I was invested in Olivia and what she was going through. We don’t find out the entire story until later in the book but we’re given enough hints to piece it together. It’s not a pretty picture and the times in the book that Olivia is remembering the event that changed her life, and those involved, honestly had me in tears.

While Olivia is trying to deal with her past so that she can see a future for herself, she’s falling in love with Preston. She tries not to but he’s a really great person. Ok, he wasn’t great to some girls as he never felt an emotional connection with them, but with Olivia he’s perfect. I liked their time together and how it affected both of their lives in a positive way. I could tell that there was a huge secret that Kara and Preston were keeping from Olivia. The pair had been friends for a long time so that wasn’t too unusual. When that secret came out I was surprised and a bit disappointed in Olivia’s reaction. I was happy she finally considered her actions and realized how overblown they were.

Rose is Olivia’s therapist and played a pretty big role in the book. I can’t say I cared for Rose’s therapy methods but I loved that she was always there for Olivia no matter when she called or came by.

The story is about love, friendship, loss, trust and honesty and exactly how those things affect and change our lives, for better or worse, daily. I enjoyed the story and I’m looking forward to reading more in this series.

Rating: 4 out of 5