Hold Me Close

Effie and Heath are kidnapped and held prisoner in a basement for years, abused by a sick man and eventually rescued from their prison, but in many ways, they will never leave that basement. This is the story of your greatest love springing from your worst pain. It’s not romance, but there is love.The Good: This is one of the hardest reviews to write, so I’ll apologize for the stream of consciousness review. but it’s all I got right now. Reading the blurb, I knew this was going to be a hard one but I thought I was ready. Silly bunny.The quality of the writing is high, and it has to be to handle this subject matter. This was a realistic take on a very sad woman and her complicated relationships. I hesitate to really classify it as a romance, for many reasons, but I do think it’s compelling fiction. Ms. Hart has managed to tell a difficult story told in a really interesting way. She’s not afraid to have her characters make hard choices, and likeable isn’t a priority. It’s fascinating, and my mind is a scarier place for it.The things I pictured happening to Effie and Heath were horrid and the glimpses shown from their residual PTSD was so heartwrenching to see. Seriously, this made me all kinds of paranoid about food and drink, and that’s just from reading it.The Bad and Everything in Between: Sometimes her prose throws me off - third person present isn’t my favorite and the occasional lack of contractions makes things feel a bit more formal than I prefer in my reading. The core of this story is more Effie and her journey and I wanted to know more about Heath. He drew me in and kept me reading. Effie is a hard heroine because she’s not easy to pigeonhole.Now, I know that there will be readers who will object to her reaction to her abuse and captivity. That have issues with her sexual freedom and her refusal to feel shame for what gets her off. That is not an issue for me, as a matter of fact I think that isn’t a surprise at all. However, it’s how those sexual relationships hurt Heath that bothered me. At my core, I’m a romance lover, and this wasn’t the romance, even if there is love.Effie struggles against her relationship with Heath, for both good and bad reasons. Logically, I could understand her need to try and cut ties, but the way he is there for her, I couldn’t help it. I hated how she hurt him, over and over again in her quest for some version of normal that she will never be. I think it’s why this is so hard for me to articulate, because I do understand her even when I don’t like what she does.Finally, there’s certain moments that felt a bit obvious and the ending was as satisfying as I’d hoped. I was left with a feeling that Effie was giving into the inevitable, but Heath would always love her more.The Bottom LineI had to rate this a 4 because while I’ll never love it, I think this is very well done and now I understand what was missing from my previous read. So thanks Mandi, this was worth the read. For those who are prepared for difficult stories with realistic characters, and don’t need alot of romance with your love stories, this may be for you.

I always know when I've been away from this author for too long. And it had been way too long since the last time I've read her. She slays me. Every. Single. Time. I didn't know what to expect from this story, I purposely didn't read the blurb. Megan Hart is better that way. I like going into her stories knowing she's going to twist me into something dark. Something so deep that my heart hurts. Every time. EVERY TIME! Do not go into this story without knowing it. You will not regret reading it. But you will have to take a few deep breaths in parts. If your heart doesn't hurt when you are done... well....you might want to see if it's still beating.

There is always one constant theme when you read a Megan Hart book and that is you will never be the same again. Hold Me Close is one of the most powerful books that I have ever read. The relationship between Heath and Effie is so complex, powerful and hot. This book will make you feel every emotion. If you want to read a book that will gut you and make you feel like your heart is being ripped out and put back this is the book for you. If I could give it more than 5 stars, I would.

Gorgeous plot, but too confusing... Got off to a slow start, with lots of timeline confusion. Moved a bit faster about halfway, & I was still confused because I didn't know what the heck I was reading: past, middle, or present events. By the last few chapters, things finally started to happen. I'm used to this author writing in the first person. This one I didn't like because it felt like someone was reading to me: She did this, he did that. It got very annoying.

I struggled to read this but couldn't put it down. Dark and creepy at times while wildly hot & sexy. Well done Ms Hart

Loved this book. Wish there was more! Cannot wait to read more of her books. She's a great author. Awesome!

Megan Hart’s Hold Me Close is a journey through darkness and fear, anger and heartache, hope and love. It is at once mesmerizing and appalling. It’s not the type of story I usually read, and I will say it took me some time to get into it. However, Ms. Hart’s writing is beautiful, and this story very quickly sucked me in.“When you loved somebody, you wanted to give them everything you could. You wanted what was best for them, no matter what. You wanted them to move beyond what was awful and terrible, beyond anything that had ever hurt them. She would never be able to do that for him, nor he for her. They would forever and always be a reminder to each other of all the things Effie wanted them both to be able to forget.”So begins the story of Effie and Heath. Snatched off the street as young teens and held captive for two years under terrifying conditions, a unique bond grew out of their struggle to survive. It was a necessary bond, but over time it grew into a love that only they understand. It is now many years later. The incident is long behind them. The scars are not. Effie has made a decent living with her paintings; images created out of the memories that still haunt her. Heath accepts what happened to them as something that can never be erased, but he refuses to let it dictate his life. His love for Effie has only grown stronger over the years, and he wants nothing more than to make a life with her. Effie is unable to deny her love for Heath, yet she fears it is unhealthy for them both.“She loves him. She will probably never love anyone else, not like this. But how would she ever know if she could, if she doesn’t try? If this is all they have because it’s all they believe they can ever have, how is that good for either one of them? To never have even the illusion of a choice?”Throughout the years Heath hovers in Effie’s life, allowing her to set the limits and rules of their relationship. He watches as she flits from man to man, searching for normal. And he is always there when she comes back to him, disappointed and disillusioned, in need of the achingly intense sex no one else can give her. The sex that defines them and absolves them of the past. He even accepts Effie’s accidental pregnancy by another man, helps to raise Polly, and treats her as his own.Effie and Heath are extremely complex characters and I loved them both. Ms. Hart conveys their emotions, motivation, and actions with such truth and clarity they become real. Effie knows, deep in her heart, that Heath is it for her, she just doesn’t want to believe it. Why? Because it would mean those horrible memories would forever stain them. A different man, a new relationship would erase the stain. Heath patiently waits for Effie to realize no other man will ever know her, understand her, and love her precisely for having endured those awful years and prevailed.I love that Ms. Hart gradually reveals the horrors Effie and Heath endured at the hands of a sick, twisted man by weaving that backstory into the novel. This backstory is written in present tense from Effie’s point of view, which is sort of brilliant. I felt as if I were living it right along with Effie.It also serves to move the story along, giving the reader more and more information as it cleverly pieces together their present day lives.Even though I went into this novel with a lot of trepidation, I ended up enjoying it immensely.