ABOUT CAM GIRL:
Vada Bergen is broke, the black sheep of her family, and moving a thousand miles away from home for grad school, but she’s got the two things she loves most: her art and her best friend—and sometimes more—Ellis Carraway. Ellis and Vada have a friendship so consuming it’s hard to tell where one girl ends and the other begins. It’s intense. It’s a little codependent. And nothing can tear them apart.
Until an accident on an icy winter road changes everything.
Vada is left deeply scarred, both emotionally and physically. Her once-promising art career is cut short. And Ellis pulls away, unwilling to talk about that night. Everything Vada loved is gone.
She’s got nothing left to lose.
So when she meets some smooth-talking entrepreneurs who offer to set her up as a cam girl, she can’t say no. All Vada has to do is spend a couple hours each night stripping on webcam, and the “tips” come pouring in.
It’s just a kinky escape from reality until a client gets serious. “Blue” is mysterious, alluring, and more interested in Vada’s life than her body. Online, they chat intimately. Blue helps her heal. And he pays well, but he wants her all to himself. No more cam shows. It’s an easy decision: she’s starting to fall for him. But the steamier it gets, the more she craves the real man behind the keyboard. So Vada pops the question:
Can we meet IRL?
Blue agrees, on one condition. A condition that will bring back a ghost from her past.
Now Vada must confront what she’s been running from. A past full of devastating secrets—those of others and those she’s been keeping from herself…
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Leah Raeder is a writer and unabashed nerd. She is also the USA Today bestselling author ofUnteachable and Black Iris. Aside from reading her brains out, she enjoys graphic design, video games, fine whiskey, and the art of self-deprecation. She lives with her very own manic pixie dream boy in Chicago. Visit her at www.leahraeder.com.
FIND LEAH ONLINE:
Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram
BOOK REVIEW
*This was an ARC provided to me for free in exchange for an honest review.
All thoughts and comments are my own.*
Wow. Just wow. Leah Raeder’s third release Cam Girl is powerful and hauntingly beautiful. “Love is love.” A friend of mine has those words etched on her skin. She’s an incredible mother and likely one of the biggest LGBTQ supporters I know. When I read this book, I didn’t really know what to expect. As I read Cam Girl, that message reverberated in my mind. I knew Leah Raeders books are usually deep and likely strike a chord for some. The writing is powerful and I found myself highlighting lines from nearly every page. My only suggestion to readers is to go into this with an open heart and mind. Try not to open the book with preconceived notions and you’ll likely appreciate what a masterpiece it is.
As with all of Raeder’s books, Cam Girl offers an insightful perspective that resonates deeply. Leah’s evocative and poetic prose draws you in and leaves you utterly spellbound. One of the reasons I’ve never been disappointed with Raeder is the writing although dark at times, it’s an honest account of powerful emotions that many people experience, yet few are brave enough to acknowledge. For some, Raeder’s books may be seen as controversial, but they are nonetheless captivating. I’m glad there is a writer out here that can connect not only with the LGBTQ community, but she is an author whose voice can transcend gender and sexuality and force people to take a hard look at themselves as well as their perception of others.
There is a raw and painful undercurrent that forces you to think, forces you to feel, forces you to connect with these characters. Leah Raeder’s writing often gives you a bit of a harsh yet plausible reality check and you’re usually left stunned. I read this book in one sitting and could not put it down. I knew from Black Iris and Leah’s hilarious tweets that Cam Girl would be different and it definitely was. I stopped thinking in terms of gender and just read about these characters who loved, hurt, and clung to each other for support and hope. It was a poignant reminder of how far we still have to go. I don’t make a habit of reading reviews about books I read, but I came across a few that made me wonder if these characters were heterosexual would the ratings have been a bit higher? I’ll leave that to you to decide. For me this was a wonderful book. Every character was connected to some piece of Leah’s puzzle and by the end you may figure it out as I did, but the way things unravel is always the prize. I implore you to also read the acknowledgments. They always give you bit more of who Leah is and what struggles helped created this amazing author. As with all of Raeder’s books, if you really pay attention, you’ll learn something. Highly recommend this to all my readers.
Happy Reading lovelies xo
ORDER CAM GIRL by Leah Raeder
Atria Books Paperback | ISBN: 9781501114991 | On sale: November 3, 2015 | 432 pages | US $16.00 |
eBook: Atria Books | ISBN: 9781501115004 | On sale: November 3, 2015 | 432 pages | US $5.99
US LINKS:
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books-a-Million | IndieBound | Apple | Blio | Google | Kobo
UK LINKS:
Amazon | Waterstones | WHSmith | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Kobo
