Like Candy - Debra Doxer (Book Review)

Like Candy by Debra Doxer
Series The Candy Series Book 1
Genres: Young Adult Fiction, Romance
Publication date: July 28, 2015
Publisher: REUTS Publications, LLC.
Format: ebook, 300 pages
How I got it: YA Bound Book Tours for an honest review
Buy it: Amazon | Barnes & Noble
My rating: 4/5
 
Revenge is sweet, just like candy.

Candy Seaborne knows she’s badass. She takes after her father, an assassin and possibly a spy, although he won’t admit to either. She idolizes him. Her dream is to follow in his footsteps. But first, she has to finish high school.

Biding her time, waiting for real life to begin, Candy craves drama and isn’t above manufacturing some. If you’re a classmate who wronged her or a boyfriend who cheated, watch your back. She’s no pushover, and revenge may be her favorite pastime.

Jonah Bryson is the senior class heartthrob who breaks all the stereotypes. He’s a jock, but he isn’t the typical player. He’s moody and antisocial. No girl has gotten anywhere with him since his last girlfriend broke his heart.

Candy sees Jonah as a challenge and the perfect distraction. But she may be in over her head because unlike everyone else, Jonah isn’t buying her tough act. He sees the lost, lonely girl inside. He sees too much. When he looks at her that way, she wants to let her guard down and be vulnerable. But that’s the last thing she should do because her father’s world is spilling over into hers, and life is about to get real much sooner than Candy expected.

This story is told over two full-length books.

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My thoughts:

The story follows Candy whose mother had passed away and was then sent to live with her aunt since her father lost custody.  On Candy's 18th birthday she decided to go and live with her father since that is where she wanted to be all along.  Candy's father had a shady career and is not all that friendly of nature.

I love Candy's personality the author did a great job creating Candy.  Everything matched for losing a mother and having a more distance father.  She didn't have any close family to relate to so she built a tough outer shell.   Only a few people can see through her shell or get to know the real Candy.  Also, I love that she must retaliate against people who wronged her it just makes her much stronger as a lead character. 

Candy has Raynard's syndrome, which I did not know much about before beginning the book.  She tries to hide it from a lot of people because she believes it makes her appear weaker.  Raynard's syndrome effects the blood flow in body parts of the body making them feel cool or numb.  It was interesting to learn that it can lead to losing a limb if permanent damage occurs, which it seems like is very possible.  I love that Jonah takes special care to watch out for Candy with this syndrome because she does seem to want to ignore it.

Another  one of my favorite characters is Theo although we only meet him a few times in the book either via text or in person I can tell he is looking out for Candy.  Theo is a great friend to Candy and she tries to be a good friend in return.  I love his text messages to start each chapter they are very inspirational!

Two quotes I love from Theo:

"Courage doesn't always roar.  Sometimes it's the quiet voice at the end of the day whispering, "I will try agian tomorrow.""

"Everything you've ever wanted is on the other side of fear."

Another thing I love that the author talked about it relationships. How much do you really know about a person? Can you see them as possibly deceiving you?  Candy constantly has to evaluate her relationships with Jonah and her dad to determine what is actually going on.  I think this helps the book become suspenseful because you just don't know what to believe.

I suggest this one as a nighttime read it is easy to follow the story along and I think easy to pick up and put down while still keeping up with what is going on.  Also, this could be a good vacation read as long as you have both books because:

This pretty much sums up the ending and the must start the second book immediately.  I love books that leave such a shocking ending you need to start the second book as soon as physically possible.

I was received this from the YA Bound Book Tours for the purpose of providing an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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About the Author

Debra Doxer was born in Boston, and other than a few lost years in the California sunshine, she has always resided in the Boston area. She writes fiction, technical software documents, illegible scribbles on sticky notes, and texts that get mangled by AutoCorrect. She writes for a living, and she writes for fun. When her daughter asks when she’ll run out of words, her response always is, “When I run out of time.”

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