Genre: Publication.Date August 22nd, 2015 Pages: 286 Published By: Rachel Van Dyken Website Rachel Van Dyken Capture on Goodreads My review copy: Bought
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But trauma, has a way of throwing normality out the window.
Dani lives anything but a normal life.
Her sister is married to one of the biggest names in Hollywood.
Her best friends are rockstar duo AD2.
And she has more love around her than most people experience in a lifetime.
But that doesn't change the fact their parents are dead.
Or that it's her fault.
It seems her new normal is being a mute, living on the inside, unable to actually communicate on the outside.
That is until Hollywood’s newest heartthrob Lincoln Greene hires her as his assistant for the summer.
He's gorgeous, completely unavailable, and unobtainable.
But that doesn't stop her from wondering...if things were different...would he want her?
If she was whole, would he be the other half?
(Goodreads)
"Just be careful. Make good choices. And if he takes off his pants, use the Taser."
"What if his pants are on fire?"
"Always Taser first --- ask questions later. That's like Girl Scouts 101, sweetheart."
"Here's a tip," Jaymeson whispered in a low voice so Pris couldn't hear us. "Get it done on the first take so I don't have to cause an on-set accident where I set your trailer on fire and blame it on God smiting you for being a Hollywood heathen."
I reached out to her, meaning to touch her arm; I tugged her against my body and kissed her instead. "Ignore the fear. Embrace the triumph."
"You've met him once, and already I have this weird suspicion that if you met him for a second time, he'd have an accident or something."
"I was thinking something freak, nothing fatal. You know, like, 'Oh shit, sorry that you ran into that pole, man, I really didn't mean to push.'"
"Dani, listen to me very carefully." I braced her shoulders with my hands. "You could wear camoflauge and hide out in the bushes, and you'd still have all my attention. It doesn't take much, believe me."
Dani's a seventeen year old girl working to get over the death of her parents---and in doing so, she's mute. Even so, her character still communicates via text and has an incredibly vibrant personality. She's sad, obviously, but that doesn't define here, even though Dani may not agree at the beginning of the novel. As the story progresses, Dani begins to heal while growing closer to Lincoln. That growth was nice to witness.
Linc is... well, Linc. He's a great guy who needed an assistant. Dani's brother-in-law volunteered her for the position. And thus began the friendship-turned-more that began at the very start of this book, when we meet Linc. He's sweet and caring and wants nothing but the best for Dani. He wants to help her. His kindness and friendship clearly went a long way in helping Dani heal.
Linc and Dani's romance was lovely. They were cute and funny---I seriously loved their banter. These two spent loads of time together throughout the novel, and I enjoyed each moment of it. The only true bump in their relationship stemmed from the fact that Dani was seventeen, while Linc's in his twenties. For the characters, it was a conflict. From my perspective, though, I honestly could not understand what the big deal was. I get that Dani was seventeen. But she was only seventeen for another MONTH. As in, in thirty days she would turn eighteen. Sure, maybe they wanted to not risk it anyway, since Linc was a celebrity and all. Fine. But why did it mean they wouldn't be a couple? Sex could have waited for thirty days while they were still a happy couple living their cute lives. So yeah. I just didn't get that conflict. It seemed blown up more than it necessary.
While I've never read any of Rachel Van Dyken's books before, I know this is a spin-off to her Seaside books. I didn't feel lost or like I was missing out on much by reading this as a standalone, without reading those first. I do think I'll probably do back and read them at some point, however, because so many characters from that series were in Capture, and I loved them. They were so funny. Especially Demetri. Loved him!
As for the writing, I really liked Rachel Van Dyken's style. I enjoyed both Dani and Linc's voices, and the humor uniquely laced within each of their narrations. As far as developing characters went, Van Dyken did a great job. Driving the plot forward, however, was weaker. The story was about Dani healing and Linc and Dani's relationship---plus one extra little secret/twist that kind of throws things for a loop for a small period of time. I liked seeing Dani move on, and I definitely enjoyed Dani and Linc as a couple. But I did not see the conflict behind that, so that didn't really spur me on while I read. And I figured out the secret/twist WAY ahead of time, so that wasn't suspenseful at all. I wasn't as excited to push forward with the story as I would have liked.
That said, I did enjoy Capture. I adored the characters and got so many laughs. And I am seriously looking forward to the second book in this series, which will be about Zane---another secondary character here that I absolutely LOVE. I also plan to dive into more books by Rachel Van Dyken as soon as I can, because I am so eager to read more of her work.
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