PIECES (THE BREAKAWAY #2) BY MICHELLE D. ARGYLE - REVIEW

pic and description taken from Goodreads

Description:

Two years after watching her kidnappers go to prison, Naomi Jensen is still in love with one of them. Jesse will be released in a few years, and Naomi knows college is the perfect distraction while she waits. But when her new friend Finn makes her question what is right and what is wrong, she begins to wonder if Jesse is the one for her...until she discovers he's out on parole. Naomi must sort through her confusion to figure out where love and freedom truly lie-in Finn, who has no connections to her past, or Jesse, who has just asked her to run away with him.

Pieces is a companion to The Breakaway and can be read independently, if desired.

My Review / Thoughts:

***** may contain spoilers if you haven't read the first one ***

OH MY GOSH!  I thought the first book was good, and then I got to this one.  It's awesome.  It's on my Itunes, and I haven't had a chance to listen to it for a while, but today I decided it WOULD be finished.  Seriously...I have to put this definition up again.  It is a syndrome that is "mind boggling" to me.

Stockholm syndrome, or capture-bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness.^[1][2] The FBI's Hostage Barricade Database System shows that roughly 8% of victims show evidence of Stockholm syndrome.^[3]

Stockholm syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding, which does not necessarily require a hostage scenario, but which describes "strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other."^[4] One commonly used hypothesis to explain the effect of Stockholm syndrome is based on Freudian theory. It suggests that the bonding is the individual's response to trauma in becoming a victim. Identifying with the aggressor is one way that the ego defends itself. When a victim believes the same values as the aggressor, they cease to be a threat.^[5]

Naomi, Naomi, Naomi.  Girl, we need to sit and have a little chat about self esteem and making good choices.  This character is fantastic, and frustrating.  More frustrating than anything.  Most of the time I am hitting my head saying "DUH" Naomi, "don't to that".  Argyle does a great job of showing us just how real this syndrome can be.  Scary, and I mean super scary, but real.

Naomi has a hard time adjusting to "normal" life.  I think I can understand that.  Living with people who threaten you one minute and then treat you like their best friend the next.  THEN all of the sudden being set "free".   I can see how she would have a hard time adjusting.  My heart aches though that she thinks what she feels for Jesse is real love.  How on earth could she ever think that was real love?  Don't get me wrong, Jesse is a smooth talker.  While reading I would think to my self "aww that was so sweet"...WAIT, he is the kidnapper.  It's NOT sweet.

Naomi, goes away to school in hopes of returning to a normal life.  She sits in a cafe every day and draws and in the mean time becomes friends with a waiter there by the name of Finn.  I had high hopes for Naomi when she met Finn.  Unfortunately poor, damaged Naomi couldn't see what was right before her very eyes.  She couldn't see that Finn was a good man, with good intentions.  Who liked to talk to her, who worried about her, and yet hardly knew her outside of the cafe.  Someone who was genuinely interested in her for HER.  No...poor Naomi only had eyes for her kidnapping boyfriend Jesse.

Then Naomi finds out that Jesse is out on parole.  Of course she is not suppose to have any contact with him, so you know she is going to do just the opposite.  She doesn't know how not to.  Her kidnappers had brainwashed her to the point that she thought without them, there wasn't anywhere else to go.  She could never see what her counselors, parents and friends were trying to point out to her.  That Jesse was no good.

I wanted to scream at Naomi...here are RED FLAGS for why you should NOT see Jesse.  Red flag #1.  Moving and not telling your parents.  Red Flag 2...Having him find out you have a phone and blocks everyone you know from it.  Red Flag 3...shady men in bars.  Red Flag #4 He is a freaking kidnapper.

So naturally Naomi would think going to Italy would be the right thing to do.  A new place, a new life.
I actually sighed out loud when she walked into her room in Italy with Jesse.  I knew she would find a way to be with him, but I certainly didn't expect them to leave the country.  Naomi, so young and so naive, and so damaged.

I slammed my hands on my table a few times during their Italy experience.  Really.  I was so angry and dumbfounded.

I am so very grateful for that one (okay, maybe a few) moments of clarity when she realizes that being with Jesse is never going to be a good idea.    When she finally see's him for what he really is. A bad guy.

The ending of this book is touching.  Getting to the ending was a journey.  I would say page turning journey, but I was listening to it ;).  This series was probably the hardest series for me to wrap my head around in a long time.  Not because it was bad, but because it was about something I have never read before.   The psychological torment that Naomi journeys though is almost too much to take in.

Great job Argyle.  Great job.

Source:  I bought this book for myself on Itunes.  I am not affiliated with Itunes in anyway, and I was not compensated for my review.  These are my own PERSONAL thoughts of the book.

My Rating:
5 out of 5 :)



Where to Buy:

Amazon * Barnes & Noble

About the Awesome Author:

pic and bio taken from Goodreads

Michelle lives and writes in Utah, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. She adores cheese, chocolate, sushi, and lots of ethnic food, and loves to read and write books in the time she grabs between her sword-wielding husband and energetic daughter. She believes a simple life is the best life. Michelle writes contemporary Young Adult and New Adult fiction (and other genres when she feels up to it).