Review: Humanity by J.D. Knutson

From Goodreads:
Five gunshots were all it took to end everything Candace had ever cared about; now, falling in love with her parents’ killer might give her everything she never knew she needed.

Candace has been raped more times than she cares to remember –this is a normal lifestyle for a pretty eighteen-year-old girl surviving the expiration of the United States. When her parents are shot before her eyes, the deer that would have sustained them stolen, she knows their deaths would have come eventually – that’s simply how life is lived. This doesn’t keep her from plotting the murder of the man who shot them. As soon as she gets the chance, she opens fire on him – running out of bullets after only two shots. But Gideon’s not going to make things too easy on himself; he refuses to kill her until she’s a true threat. Paradoxically, she can’t leave his side for fear that he might disappear in her absence; she insists on following him until provided with an occasion to kill him.

Circumstances change when Candace’s opportunity is almost stolen from her; three travelers shoot Gideon. She rescues him out of the supreme aspiration that it be HER who ends his life. However, him being injured and unable to defend himself isn’t exactly what she had in mind. As a result, she finds herself getting to know him better than she had planned. What surfaces is a poignant statement on love, forgiveness, and humanity.

HUMANITY is a romantic survivalist novel for new/young adults. Topics such as rape and sexual abuse are involved, amidst lighter but also serious matters.

My Thoughts:
This book had me hooked from page one. Candace has such an amazing voice, and her struggles feel so alive and real. The anger she feels to act out and take on someone much stronger than her physically is so believable.
As the story progresses, you start to realize this man, Gideon, who killed her parents isn't a murderer. She resists seeing his good nature because she, obviously, harbors a great deal of hate for what he did to her parents.
The story unravels her conflicted feelings in a way that's completely understandable. Without revealing too much and spoiling it, she starts to understand her humanity through him.
As a fair warning, the book does talk about rape and has some violence in it. But there's nothing graphic. All "rape" isn't shown, just mentioned, and is frowned upon, especially when Gideon says he'd never do that to anyone.
I couldn't stop reading as I bonded with these characters and their unique perspectives in such a harsh world. There's so much hope, and deep, real love comes to surface.