Alee by Nicole Loufas

Goodreads

With just weeks left before her high school graduation, Alee dumps her sunshine stealing boyfriend in epic fashion – by sleeping with his best friend.
Since bad things happen in three, becoming the school slut is just the beginning.
A mass shooting steals the life of Alee’s Olympic-bound best friend and a homeless drug addict turns out to be the father who abandoned Alee as a child.
With a backpack full of daddy-issues and a bucket list of broken dreams, Alee searches for light at the end of a very dark tunnel.
Will the man who broke her, be the one who saves her life?

Okay, I have to be honest this is probably going to be the hardest review for me to write. My feelings are all over the place with Alee. I t was a book that truly grabbed me. It made me feel so many things. I went in blind. I had no clue what topics this book covered, and lets say it covers so many.

I always try to not reveal any spoilers in my reviews and generally I can do that. I am going to try really hard to keep to that. I will forewarn that there are many situations that could be triggers for people.

So far I only have one trigger. One thing that when I see a book contains it I generally steer away from the book. Had I known that Alee had this subject (which it does) I wouldn’t be sitting here at almost 1 am writing this review. I also (being very honest) would have missed out on a book that was so raw, deep, emotional and realistic. Alee is a book that I will be thinking of for a long time to come.

Loufas created a world that is so damn realistic. I watched it play out in my head. Sorry Netflix but my imagination makes better movies, it has no budget to hold it back lol. Her characters came alive. Every emotion poured through me. I am generally not a person who cries during a book. I will say that Loufas succeeded in making my cheeks wet. Not an ugly cry (at least not what ya’ll would deem an ugly cry – but for me even a tear leaking out is an ugly cry lol) but my pillow was wet before I sat up to type this out. I actually had to start this review right after finishing.

Watching as Alee dealt with abandonment issues from every aspect of her life, your heart couldn’t help but want to heal her. The mom, friend, and woman in me just wanted to wrap her up and reassure her that there is light at the end of the tunnel. That if she just kept pressing forward she would find it.

Alee’s relationship with Laine started off as a “means to an end” but wound up being all encompassing. Using Laine to get her boyfriend (and his best friend) to break up with her was  (lets be honest) an immature thing to do. Successful but immature. And so very realistic.

This is the first book of Nicole Loufas’ that I have read but it will not be the last. Her skill at taking what would seem a pretty typical life and make the reader crave for more, make them stay up until 1 am turning pages cause they cant bear the thought of not finishing it and knowing how Alee turns out is what makes me want to one click her other books.

While I am doing this review without spoilers I will say that the end of the book, shocked & surprised me. It’s also where my trigger happened. Having been on the other side of the door in real life is not something anyone should have to experience. A piece of you will always remain there (and yes I am speaking from personal experience). Even with that being said I am glad I read Alee. It’s an amazing story, one that deserves to be told.