Review: Fault Line by Christa Desir

Fault Line by Christa Desir

Publication Date: October 15, 2013
Page Count: 240
Published by: SimonPulse
Source: Review copy received from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

**WARNING: Review contains possible storyline/ending spoilers.**

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Ben could date anyone he wants, but he only has eyes for the new girl — sarcastic free-spirit, Ani. Luckily for Ben, Ani wants him too. She’s everything Ben could ever imagine. Everything he could ever want.

But that all changes after the party. The one Ben misses. The one Ani goes to alone.

Now Ani isn’t the girl she used to be, and Ben can’t sort out the truth from the lies. What really happened, and who is to blame?

Ben wants to help her, but she refuses to be helped. The more she pushes Ben away, the more he wonders if there’s anything he can do to save the girl he loves.

I don't like writing reviews that contain spoilers, but in this case I thought that I really needed to express my feelings on why I didn't enjoy Fault Line like I had hoped I would.

Wow. I don't even know where to start with this review. I knew the backstory behind Fault Line, and I knew the author had first hand experience with the subject, but this book is really hard to take. I'm still trying to process everything that happened.

I don't even know what I think about the storyline. The rape and it's aftermath are written very heavy handed and dramatic, but it failed to deliver an emotional impact.

I never really liked Ani. She was described as being honest and outspoken (straightforward?), but I thought she came off as being rude and too direct. I didn't agree with her decisions, and I couldn't understand her way of thinking. I really loved Ben from the beginning. I can't put my finger on what it was exactly that made me like him so much. He really came off as being a great friend I felt a lot of sympathy for him and what he was going through. I loved how hard he tried to help Ani. He was so loyal and supportive, even when Ani tried to push him away. He put up with a lot, and I thought he handled things the best he knew how. I never enjoyed Ben and Ani as a couple. I just didn't get them, so it was hard for me to root for them and wish for them to have a happy ending.

I don't agree with the way the ending came about, and I don't like the message that was sent that there is no hope for rape survivors to have a normal life. I thought there should have been a message of empowerment and being strong and having a support system... all of that was talked about, but it wasn't applied to Ani's story. Instead, she got a horror story and an unhappy ending, and took Ben along on her downward spiral.

I don't regret reading Fault Line. It left me with all sorts of feelings that I don't know what to do with. While I can appreciate the effort the author made to write a realistic story, I wish there had been something positive in there to balance all of the bad stuff.

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars