Straightjacket by Meredith Towbin

Straightjacket
by Meredith Townbin
Released |February 15th 2013 by Etopia Press|
Edition |Ebook|
Source |The Author|
Add to Goodreads

Eighteen-year-old Anna has lived her whole life in shame, losing herself in books to cope with crippling panic attacks triggered by her abusive parents. Forced into a psychiatric hospital, she can’t imagine a future that’s anything but bleak—until she meets Caleb, a gifted, 19-year-old artist who insists he’s an angel.
He swears his mission is to help Anna break free from her parents’ control and fulfill a destiny that she can only dream of. The doctors, however, are convinced that Caleb is delusional.
Anna doesn’t want to be that girl who’s in love with the crazy guy, but when she sees his stunning portraits of her and the way he risks everything to keep her safe, she can’t help but imagine a new future for both of them, filled with hope. But just when it seems they’ve created heaven on earth, Caleb’s past emerges full force, threatening to destroy their tiny, blissful world. And Anna has to decide if she should follow her heart, or if Caleb’s really as troubled as his doctors say…

This book was a very interesting read and I liked where the author took the angel idea. I'm having a hard time expressing my thoughts on the book, but I did enjoy it. It was a very quick read for me. I finished the book within a day. It was fast paced and easy to read. I also really liked how both characters had issues they needed to work through. Both characters are in the psychiatric institution for different reasons and they both have very different problems. Seeing the two come together was an interesting thing to read a bout. Anna was forced by her parents to be there and is dealing with the issues of her controlling and abusive parents while Caleb is an Angel, but everyone else thinks he's just hallucinating. His mission when he was sent back was to help Anna separate from her parents and set the wheels in motion for who she's to become, but things go a bit haywire when the two fall in love.


I really enjoyed this story and thought it was pretty good, but I did have some issues. I couldn't connect with the characters all that well. I understood what the two were going through and felt for them both and the ending was great and terrible all in one, but I couldn't connect with the two on a one on one basis. I don't know what it was, but I just find that I couldn't connect with them. I liked them both, but just couldn't connect. Okay, I don't know how many times I just made that statement! Overall, the story was good and touch on some very real and sad issues. I thought the ending was sad, but also really sweet too :) I was glad I got to read this book and want to thank the author for providing me with a copy for review!