To The Stars (Thatch, #2) by Molly McAdams | BOOK REVIEW

To the Stars by Molly McAdams

Buy TO THE STARS (Kindle)

"Knox Alexander must convince his long-time love Harlow Evans that they’re meant to be together.

He promised to wait for her.
She told him he was wasting his time.
Not waiting for him ended up being the biggest mistake of her life.

When they were younger, Knox Alexander swore to Harlow Evans that he would wait for her to turn eighteen so they could be together. But that was three and a half years away, and Harlow couldn’t ask him to give up all the fun and thrills of going away to college for her. As the years passed, Knox remained a constant in her life—whether she liked it or not—but when her eighteenth birthday came around, Harlow’s heart belonged to someone else.

Every day for the last four years, Harlow has been haunted by that fateful choice. And though he may appear unaffected by what happened in their past, Knox has always tried to fill the void Harlow left. But when he comes stumbling back into her life and refuses to leave, will Harlow finally let him into her heart…?"

My Thoughts

I love you to the moon and back."
"The moon? The moon isn't that far, Harlow."
"Isn't it?"
"No. Not far enough. I want to love you to the stars."
"Then to the stars."

Let's get one thing straight. To The Stars is not your typical happy-go-lucky romance. Almost 70% of the book focuses on the abuse that Harlow faces. Ms. McAdams covers the topic of domestic abuse at its rawest. She shows the absolute horrifying and soul shattering side of domestic abuse without sugar coating a single thing. Yes, there are moments between Harlow and Knox that are so sweet you wish to be in their shoes but the Ms. McAdams smacks you in the face with the reality that is Harlow's life...

Abusive.

In this book, not only do you see Harlow being abused. You see a woman who even when is abused fights for her life. For her family and her happiness.

To pack that much hate, fear, dread, anger, love and a myriad of every single emotion and be able to deliver to the audience that has never been in such a situation and make them see and read and feel and know what a woman goes through when abused by the one person who promised to protect her... It is not pretty. When you are blind to the reality of abusive relationships and how far it can go, it makes you sit and rethink a lot of things.

We get the gist of what the book is about when reading the blurb and if you think, for even a fraction of a second that it is going to be what it says, then you are wrong.

Harlow is a happily married woman and oh-so in love with her husband until she wasn't.



We'd been at a dinner party the first time I'd caught a glimpse of my monster - and it also should have been the last night I ever saw Collin. But I was in love, we'd just gotten engaged, and I kept making excuses for him in my head."


Before any of this happened to Harlow, she had met a guy. Knox Alexander. She was 15 to his 18. There was immediate attraction and chemistry but despite all of that Knox waited. He said he would wait until she was 18 and then they would be in a relationship.


Wait, how old are you?”
“Fifteen.”
“Why? How old did you think I was?”
“Not fifteen.”


But before she turned 18 she was swept away by her then unknown monster, Collin Dohetry during her freshmen year at college.

Harlow didn't wait.

She chose the wrong guy and by the time she realized it she was neck deep in a relationship that was abusive not only physically but mentally as well.

The whole time while reading the book the one thought that went through my head was... If only she had waited for Knox.


Don't do this; we can't risk anything."
"The I'll wait for you, Harlow," he promised, and the sincerity in the words stunned me for long second. "I'll wait until your eighteen."

I haven't read many abusive stories, but the ones that I HAVE read are the ones where the hero or the heroine have already escaped the abusive relationship and now are trying to fight their footing.
To The Stars is different because it shows all the warning signs and we watch the abuse take flight and get worse page after page to the point where Harlow is nothing but a shell of woman.



I placed both hands against his cheeks and kissed him softly. When I pulled back, it was all over his face that he knew what I was about to say. “I did not spend the last two and a half years living with him, and living with what he was doing to me, just to let someone else finish things for me. He’s my problem. I need you, Knox. But I need you to help me stay strong in this, okay?”


Knox and Harlow meet but as mentioned before. Harlow was nothing but a shell.

Amidst the pain and anguish and heartbreaks there is a small ray of hope where I desperately wished for Harlow to get her Happy-Ever-After. For Knox and Harlow to be reunited. And she did.

The topic that Ms. McAdams covers is at its rawest and it couldn't have been portrayed more poignantly and beautifully.

It was raw, heart wrenching, soul shattering yet so so so beautiful!

I am so glad I actually went ahead and read my first Molly McAdams book.



4.5 Stars!