I Know Lucy by Melissa Pearl Blog Tour + Review

Genre: YA Romantic Suspense

Lucy Tate is on the run. After witnessing the brutal murder of her parents, she's spent five years in hiding -- taking on different personas and faking her way through life. The authorities can't be trusted, so she remains in the shadows, always one beat ahead of the man who is forever hunting her. That is, until she meets Zach Schultz, a senior at Monte Vista High and the one guy she can’t bear to leave. Suddenly her natural instincts to lie, steal, and run are overshadowed by something else...the desire to stay. It’s her one shot at a normal life. Curious by nature, Zach is immediately drawn to the new girl at school. How can a person look both confident and vulnerable all in the same moment? Determined to learn more about her, he tries to get close, but is thrown into a world of lies and confusion .The only thing that becomes apparent is that discovering the truth may get him killed.

About The Author

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Melissa Pearl was born in Auckland, New Zealand, but has spent much of her life abroad, living in countries such as Jordan, Cyprus and Pakistan... not to mention a nine month road trip around North America with her husband. "Best. Year. Ever!!" She now lives in China with her husband and two sons. She is a trained elementary teacher, but writing is her passion. Since becoming a full time mother she has had the opportunity to pursue this dream and her debut novel hit the internet in November 2011. Since then she has continued to produce a steady stream of books. Recently she signed with Evatopia Press and her first Evatopia book is coming out in February 2014 - True Colors, The Masks Series #1. She is very excited to be trying out new things this year while continuing to publish under her own name as well. She has six books planned for 2014 and is excited about writing each and every one of them. "I am passionate about writing. It stirs a fire in my soul that I never knew I had. I want to be the best writer I can possibly be and transport my readers into another world where they can laugh, cry and fall in love."

Review: I had not read any books by Melissa Pearl before reading I Know Lucy; However, I had heard great things about her work just from the couple of months that I have been around the book blogging community. Just from looking her up on Goodreads, it is easy to see that she is an awesome writer, and that she has a lot of fans. I am happy to say that after reading I Know Lucy, I have joined her fan club. I am not sure how you could read this book and not be a fan, actually. I very much look forward to reading more of her work in the future (like the next book in this series, for instance. ;).

I really liked how this book was set up. Based on the title and the synopsis you would assume that we would get everything in first person with Lucy's perspective, but that is not the case. Instead, we get to see things through Zach's eyes. The chapters alternate between Zach being in first person POV and Lucy being in third person. I really liked this because I don't read a lot of books that has the boy as the narrator. While this is partly my fault, it can also be very difficult to find books where the lead narrator is a male.

You guys know that I love a good love story, but this book was so much more than that. The suspense was AMAZING, which means it is no where near your typical romance. I found that I did not know what was going to happen next or come of situations, and I loved that. I also loved just how well Lucy and Zach got along. Zach is obviously a good guy, used to taking on challenged girls and becoming a hero. While at first it seemed like he was doing the same thing with Lucy, it quickly became obvious that it was much more than that, and I loved watching and reading the two of them fall together and discover truths.

I did feel awful for Lucy, too. How could you not? She has been through a lot, watching her parents murder and then being on the run for five years. That takes a whole lot of strength (something I know that I probably would not have in the situation). As we see more into her past, I just felt more and more for her. It was impossible not to, I think. I was relieved when she finally began to let Zach in though, since it was obvious that she needed someone else, even if she had survived on her own for so long. Overall, this book was a wonderful, thrilling read, and I cannot wait to see what happens next for the characters. 

Rating: 4.0/5.0