'Suspense, intrigue, real life struggles'

From Aurora at Owl Always be Reading:
"Girl on the Brink is a debut novel filled with suspense, intrigue drama and real-life struggles. When I started reading the book, I truly found it to be engrossing and filled with realistic situations that could happen anywhere if we are not cautious with our hearts.

In the book, while conducting an important interview for her summer internship, 17-year-old Chloe Quinn encounters Kieran Dubrowski for the first time. While first-time meetings might not be full of sparks, this one was certainly filled with some intrigue. After the meeting, it is obvious that Kieran is obviously interested in her. And, Chloe is going through some struggles that could lead to her giving in to his heavy advances.

For Chloe, her life might be filled with some abandon. Currently, her brother and her bestie are both at camps, her mother escaping her marriage-related difficulties with meds and alcohol, plus her father is living with his new girlfriend in New York City, the Big Apple…with all these situations, Chloe is lonely and attention is just what she might need in her life now, and she seeks it eagerly and with passion.

In the end after some hesitation, Chloe not only agrees to go out with Kiernan, but finds his attention completely exciting like many teens would. She totally ignores his possessiveness, and thinks his violent temper can be changed. Coming from a broken home for Kiernan is hard and he seems like a sweet guy…so she stays with him. As her friends come to her worried, Chloe doesn’t listen…until things go awry and Kiernan’s behavior gets so out of control that she decides to end things…only to have things get worse and Kiernan blames her for the end in an aggressive manner. Will she ever be able to survive this relationship? We are eager to find out as we devour the book, which I did in a couple of days.

In the novel, we root and hope for Chloe to realize just how bad this relationship is, yet we really feel for her as she battles with his demons and her confusion. Hoag truly writes from the heart, with realistic and not frothy or overly idealized teen characters. While there are some subtle hints of Kieran’s attitude issues and problems, we do like him a lot in the start…and we relate to Chloe’s interest in him. As the book’s narrative unravels, we can agree that her abandonment issues is what led to her gravitating towards him and we hope that in the end the issue is resolved.

I recommend this novel, for it is realistic and engrossing. In the end, we learn a lesson and so will the young adult set about how dangerous this type of love can be."
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