Madeleine Becker lost everything when her parents died when she was ten years old. Ripped from her home and everything that she has ever loved, she is forced to start all over again. The only way for her to move on is to build walls around her heart and keep everyone at a safe distance. Her logic: she can't get hurt if she doesn't fall in love.
That theory is blown to pieces when she meets Reid Connely during her freshman year at college. He is gorgeous and darkly mysterious. He understands Maddy's pain all too well, but sharing his pain would mean breaking down the walls he put up around his own heart. Conflicted between loving Maddy and hiding his dark past, Reid starts to reevaluate his world. Maddy's inner strength, snarky personality and breath taking beauty help Reid to make peace with his past.
Together they find out what happens when they let love in.
On the first page of this book is when I made my first highlight and from there I was hooked.
"They were only supposed to be going on a date - dinner and a movie. A funeral and burial weren't supposed to be part of the package deal"
We are introduced to Maddy right off the start of Let Love In and get to hear about her painful past, about what happened to her parents and where it left her when her only family was so tragically removed from her life and how at ten years old she was left alone and with virtually nothing. Forced to move in with her only living relative at the time her dads aunt a sixty-six year old woman life was definitely not ideal but she survived day by day, really what else could she do? In the seventh grade Maddy met her saving grace a freckled faced bubbly redhead named Melanie Crane that had an infectious smile and and showed the sad girl a little bit of happy. Along with Mel she get her mom Mrs.Crane or Momma C and with Momma C came a home, a sense of belonging and love. But now eight years later life is changing again for her and she is leaving for college (with Mel) and to say she's feeling a little melancholy is an understatement but with everything she's been through it's understandable. BUT since this is a new chapter in her life a do-over so to speak finally a choice she has gotten to make herself -where to move to, what college to attend, she has made a few simple promises to try and live by in honor of a clean slate and a fresh start and those are
"Choose happy.
Appreciate beauty.
Let love in"
Welcome college, new sophomore roommates, parties and Reid Connely...
This guy, oh I did not like Reid off the start to say he is a jerk is an understatement. He seriously was a 100% legit asshole- you know the ones that make us cringe, the guys that will sleep with anything that walks and that we want to hate but can't seem to get enough of? Yeah he was that guy. And poor Maddy is on a one way collision course with Reid who may or may not be just as broken and shut down as she is.
This book is angst filled emotional torture with little doses of happy in between. Maddy and Reid are so similar yet so different. Their mutual understanding of loss and pain is what brought them together but is that enough to keep them that way? Melissa Collins has created two extremely broken and flawed individuals and does a wonderful job enveloping you in their lives, I liked that their relationship wasn't the we're-a-couple-from-the-first-page-insta-love story, but progress at a real pace. When Reid and Maddy meet there is a connection but the walls that Reid has built up around him are so monstrous and solid he was dead set against letting anybody into his life and against ANY type of relationship and well since Maddy wasn't your wham bam thank you ma'am kinda girl their interactions fizzled. But what happens when the player gets shut down, and the girl he wants isn't falling all over him trying to get his attention? Oh yeah he wants what he can't have and after weeks of unsuccessfully trying to get Maddy out of his head he gives in and admits he wants to try something with Maddy that he never has before....a real relationship.
So we get both POV's and not everything is sunshine and rainbows but Reid and Maddy are happy, learning how to open up to each other and trust is a huge part of their relationship, and we see them both sincerely trying to change and make things work. Reid does a turnaround from uber jerk to honestly an awesome boyfriend, and I was like "YAY HEA here we come" but then the pot begins to boil again and I'm like "oh no what the hell is going on this is way to close to the end of the book" and then
So now I am forced to accept that there is no freaking way this could wrap up with a solution and it's ending on a cliffhanger but I couldn't care less at this point I can't stop reading, I am all freaking over the place and feeling like this
I'm sad cause the whole situation is horrible, but I'm so severely pissed off at Reid for a whole whack of things that I want to go all psycho Jersey Shore on his ass
And Maddy is making spur of the moment rash decisions that I can't even decide if they're good or bad cause I'm right there in the moment with her and...over!!
What a debut novel by Melissa Collins, don't let the cliffhanger scare you off honestly I think I may have to change my stance on them especially when they're done like this- hook line and sinker, no questions asked I am 100% invested in this series and these characters. I cannot even imagine what Reid and Maddy are going to have to face in the next book- Let Love Stay (Expected release date July/2013) but getting my hands on that book like last night when I finished Let Love In would have been perfect...and yes of course I would have sacrificed all my precious sleep to read it from start to finish! A flawlessly written angst filled emotional roller-coaster is what you'll get with Let Love In and I would recommend it to anyone that is looking to go on a gut twisting, heart pounding journey with two less than perfect people. Lastly my predictions for Let Love Stay are simple....
**Copy kindly provided by the author in exchange for an honest review**