{Blog Tour} Dear Cassie by Lisa Burstein **REVIEW**

I am super excited to have made it onto this tour!! I loved Dear Cassie 

and plan on picking up everything Lisa pumps out after this read! 

What if the last place you should fall in love is the first place that you do?
You’d think getting sent to Turning Pines Wilderness Camp for a month-long rehabilitation “retreat” and being forced to re-live it in this journal would be the worst thing that’s ever happened to me.
You’d be wrong.
There’s the reason I was sent to Turning Pines in the first place: I got arrested. On prom night. With my two best friends, who I haven’t talked to since and probably never will again. And then there’s the real reason I was sent here. The thing I can’t talk about with the guy I can’t even think about.
What if the moment you’ve closed yourself off is the moment you start to break open?
But there’s this guy here. Ben. And the more I swear he won’t—he can’t—the deeper under my skin he’s getting. After the thing that happened, I promised I’d never fall for another boy’s lies.
And yet I can’t help but wonder…what if?

Release Date:  March 5, 2013
Published By:  Entangled Teen
Review Copy: EArc
**Provided in turn for honest review

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Review

  Okay so I didn't expect to be as pulled in by this one as I was.  The expectation that I would enjoy it was there but not to the extent that I did.  The writing was nothing short of spectacular and I have to admit I read the entire book in one sitting.  I may have ignored a work out and cooking an actual meal (hamburger helper ruled that night) just because I had no desire to put it down.

  The story revolves around the aftermath of a Prom night gone really wrong and Cassie is the one that takes the fall for most of it.  Sent to a rehabilitation camp for teens was not Cassie's cup of tea but either was jail.  Now she is stuck in the middle of nowhere stuck with a guy that won't give up, a girl that won't shut up and another that just won't talk.  Not to mention the secret that she is holding in, this secret broke m heart early on in the novel when I started getting an idea of what happened.  Cassie has problems and shuts herself out but the point of the camp may be to "fix" her supposed addiction to Mary Jane but it turns out to be more than that.

   Cassie is definitely an angst filled girl.  This however does not make her weak.  Oh no it does not.  Instead she is snarky, closed off and may have a bit of a foul mouth.  I can't say I personally minded it, it was part of who she was and part of her shield.  Her self punishment was hard to read and though part of me understands what it is like to feel sorrow like she did it wasn't for the same reason but I still felt for her all the same.  Some may see her as weak and sad to start but once you get deeper into the story and see her open up a little, you see not a weak girl but a broken one.  I loved Cassie from start to finish but you have to keep an open mind and heart when it comes down to it.

  As much as I loved Cassie I loved Ben.  Upon first meeting him I thought "dear god no!" not another hot guy that will snark and argue his way in.  Not that I mind guys like that in certain books but I hoped for something more with Cassie.  Turns out Ben was exactly what I wanted to see.  He has his own attitude, a twisted sense of humour when needed and was not the type to easily give up.  Though the reasons for him being at the camp remained unclear for most of the book you just knew he was different.  Ben was into finding out about the people around him and cared about more than himself.  He pushed Cassie in ways that both pulled her in and at times angered her but every step of the way he was only trying to get her to care and wanted to care for her.

  Dear Cassie was a heart wrenching and addictive read.  It's the kind of read that can bring about many of your emotions as you read and really connect with the characters.  There is growth throughout and it makes you think.  There is so much depth and meaning that I really don't know how anyone couldn't love this read and would recommend it to just about everyone.  The only people that wouldn't like this is ones that don't like contemporary reads that will make you feel and won't let you go until the very last page.