Disclaimer: I received a free copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Synopsis:  My name is Elise Duchamp. I’m twenty-three years old and I’m known as the town whore.No, not the kind who exchanges sexual favors for money. The other kind. The kind who gives it all away for free, whenever and however she likes. I am that girl. The one everyone whispers about and the one none of the girls seem to like, because all of their boyfriends either want to sleep with me or already have. Promiscuity is my thing—the kind that slowly, violently turns my insides black, but gives me something I need.All things considered, I’m not completely reckless. I’m safe, and contrary to popular opinion, I do have a heart. I live in a world of careless choices, and with those choices come careless people. I cannot judge them, because I am one of them. I too bow down to the altar of the self-serving. I am not a good friend. I am not and never could be anyone’s girlfriend. I’m convinced any goodness in me shriveled up and died long ago.

But I am a replacement. That is something I know how to be, and this is a story of the lengths I’d go to in order to keep it that way.

Review: 

The synopsis captures the tone of this book perfectly. It was a complete book for me. Complete in the sense that you had an amazing story, with a smart and sympathetic main character, combined with group of secondary characters who each had complexity and depth and it was topped off with a great setting.The Replacement encompassed all of that and more.

From page one you are smacked in the face with Elise’s life, her reality, and you want to weep for her, but shake her, too. Rachel Wade captures how Elise’s childhood trauma shaped her present life in a way that makes you love Elise. Even when she’s doing bad things, when she’s given up on herself, and even when she looses hope, you hoped for her. 

I enjoyed the relationship dynamics in the story. Elise and all the men in her life brought different traits out of her, from her disgusting relationship with her bosses married brother, to the sweet, yet sexy relationship between her and Ryder.

I’ve been reading a lot of books about damaged characters over coming lately and the element shared by all of them is the ability the author has to make you see the good in the character even before the character does. Wade does a masterful job at doing this and if it ended any other way, I would have been really upset.

Allow me to introduce to you one of these complex secondary Characters.

Nate, it’s nice to meet you, since you’re new to town, I wanted to know more about you. Can you tell me a little more about yourself. Where your from, what brought you to Gig Harbor how you and Natalie meet? 

Hey, nice to meet you. I’m from Phoenix, AZ. I actually moved to Gig Harbor to be close to my grandfather. He’s getting up there in age and he doesn’t really have anyone around to help him out. I figured I could go to school and find work anywhere, so I just decided on a change of scenery.

You seem like a sweet, kind pretty together young man. So maybe you can tell me, why do men cheat? I hope that question doesn’t make you uncomfortable. 

Wow, isn’t that a loaded question. Uh…I have no idea why men cheat. Sometimes I think guys just want to break the rules. Sometimes there’s too much pressure, too many expectations in a relationship. Sometimes things are too perfect, or there’s no excitement. Or sometimes they’re just curious, I guess. That’s all I’ve got, sorry.

Obviously, you’ve heard about Elise’s reputation, why do you think there is such a double standard about women who sleep around versus men who sleep around? 

I’ve never understood that, to be honest. I think chicks are really harsh on each other over that stuff. It seems like people just expect guys to screw up or something. When we cheat, no one’s surprised. But when a chick cheats, we’re ready to burn them at the stake. It’s kinda messed up.

Now that you’ve had time to reflect, how do you feel about your actions? 

How do I feel? Man, I don’t know. No comment. Can I say that? Yeah, no comment.

A few of my favorite things

Tattoo References: Elise and Ryder have tattoo’s and get more tattoos in the book. Elise has a birdcage with a bird flying out of the open door. The bird carries a heart that says “Quand on veut, on peut.” Means “When one wants, on can.” in French. She gets another tattoo on her other hip which is a nest on a tree with a pile of hearts. “My has a home,”

Movie References:  None

Favorite Line:  “This is my kind of romance, Art and ink and blood. It’s damn sexy, and the gesture has rendered me speechless.” Elise says this after Ryder takes her to get a tattoo as a gift. For anyone listening, this would be my perfect gift. 

*Just a few of my favorite things. 

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