Craves The Angst: REVIEW - BLACK BOX by Cassia Leo:

TITLE: Black Box
AUTHOR: Cassia Leo
AGE GROUP: New Adult
GENRE: Contemp. Romance
RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2014
PUBLISHER: Gloss Publishing LLC
FORMAT: eBook and Paperback
PAGES: Approx. 390

MY GOODREADS REVIEW LINK
RATING: ★★★★
CLIFFHANGER: No

BOOK BLURB:
From New York Times best selling author Cassia Leo, comes an epic love story about rewriting destiny.

Over the course of five years, Mikki and Crush cross paths on three separate occasions. Their first encounter changes Mikki's life forever, but their second meeting leaves them both buried beneath the emotional wreckage of a violent attack. Mikki is left with more questions and grief than she can handle, while Crush is forced to forget the girl who saved his life.

Now nineteen years old, Mikki Gladstone has decided she's tired of the mind-numbing meds. She books a flight to Los Angeles to end her life far away from her loving, though often distant, family.

Twenty-one-year-old Crush has always channeled his blackest thoughts into his music, but he's never had great aspirations. He decides to fly to Los Angeles to record a demo of the only song he's never performed in public; a song he wrote for a girl he doesn't even know: Black Box. He has no expectations of fame and he's never felt like his life had any purpose... until he meets Mikki in Terminal B.

When Mikki and Crush cross paths for the third time in Terminal B, neither has any idea who the other person is; until they slowly piece together their history and realize that fate has more in store for them than just another love story.

4 “I want to know you all my life..” Stars!

Quote Spotlight...

There’s a little blackness inside all of us.

♥️ Three fateful encounters....

♥️ Two heart-breaking tragedies....

♥️ One last chance to get it right.

The Review:

What is fate and can you call it that when you meet the same person at different yet profound intervals in your life with what seems to be the sole purpose of them saving your life? And can you fall in love through distance and time with little more to go on than the way that person breaks into your world and changes everything in that one blindingly short moment? For Mikki and Crush, that’s definitely the case. Over the past five years, their paths have crossed at three very significant points in their lives, three life changing moments that reverse their course, leading them to one final outcome.

I loved this book. It was intense but also sweet and the main characters were so powerful and so connectable. I also loved the beautiful theme of this story. Life is precious and no matter what darkness you’ve encountered, there’s always hope and light if you just hold on a little longer.

Along with the romance of Mikki and Crush, there was a connecting story that seemed to be lined up perfectly with their own, showing them an alternate path from the loneliness they were living in, if only they looked hard enough. There was a bit of mystery as they journey together to figure out what secrets the Black Box held.

Fate, destiny, love... all three played a part in these two finally finding their path in life, and I have to believe after everything, their HEA was with one another.

Mikki was a very broken character. The things that happened to her at such a young age, piled on top of the problems she already had, left her with no surface to break water. She had this darkness screaming inside her every day and she had completely given up on ever finding even the smallest bit of light to ease her pain. But once again, Crush comes providing a most unexpected promise of beauty and light in the form of hope. He strolled into her life and with care and love, she found the air she needed to breath again.

Crush was such a wonder. His character was flawless and the patience he showed Mikki was something to behold. He didn’t really know her but his heart and soul were attached to her the moment he first had contact with her and then a year later when he found her broken and bleeding, realizing who she was, it cemented that bond. Almost four years later, when he finally finds her again, he does everything in his power to change her course one more time.

But fate is a fickle thing. I loved how Crush saw fate as them meeting across time and Mikki saw fate as trying to step in and take them from each other but luck kept them going. They were different on so many levels but ultimately the same. These two were perfectly damaged and also perfect for one another and their story makes you truly believe in soul mates.

The Review:

This was my first book by this author but it definitely won't be my last. She has a stunning way of telling a story and I can’t wait to read more of her work.

Quote Spotlight...

“... not all stories have a happy ending; but that doesn’t mean they’re not worth the read.”