High school junior Cameron Hunt has spent his entire life trying to live up to his father's expectations, but always falls short. At least his new English teacher, Mrs. Monica Anderson, thinks he's wonderful just the way he is. In the wrong place at the wrong time, Cam finds Monica in distress and helps her out. Vulnerable and seeking comfort, Monica crosses a line, and Cam knows he's made a very wrong choice in going along with it. He can almost hear his dad ragging on him about consequences--or maybe that's just Cam's own guilty conscience.
But no matter what reckoning comes his way, there's no going back, especially after Monica gets possessive when Cam shows interest in the new girl at school. With Monica becoming more and more deranged, Cam realizes he is in way over his head, and this one bad decision could ruin the rest of his life...
I really enjoyed this YA novel by Cindy Holby writing as Kassy Tayler. She manages to take a topic as delicate as this and executes it in a way that is not voyeuristic at all, but instead engages the reader on an emotionally deep level when they consider the stakes of what Cameron could be giving up and the consequences he may be living with for the rest of his life. I was hooked from the first page and read this through my fingers, on the edge of my seat about what was coming next. And nobody writes high school sports excitement like Cindy Holby! Fully recommend—5/5 ⭐️ 2/5 🌶️ (Fade to black)
A quick read but I noticed a lot of obvious mistakes. The main issue being the lead character's name. The book title and the first part of the book call him Cameron but at the end, he's called Camden? How did this make it through editing? "Damn" is used multiple times rather than "dam." Overall, the glaring mistakes made it hard to get through this book.