Genres: Contemporary, Action, Young Adult
Release Date: May 22nd, 2014
Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
Source:  Author
Check out on GOODREADS

When 17 year old Liva witnesses a brutal murder she’s taken into police custody for her own protection. But when the police station is attacked and bullets start flying it becomes clear that Liva is not just a witness, she’s a target.

Together with a car thief called Jay, Liva manages to escape the massacre but now the two of them are alone in New York, trying to outrun and outwit two killers who will stop at nothing to find them.

When you live on the edge, there’s a long way to fall.

REVIEW

If nothing else, one can always count on Sarah to deliver a book that is fun. This book is far from perfect but in spite of all the issues I had, I still ended up enjoying it and I wouldn’t expect anything less from Sarah because to this day, I haven’t read a single book by her that I didn’t enjoy.

This book, like her Lila series, is full of action and will keep you on your toes and on the edge of your seat trying to figure out what will happen next.

Her characters, for the most part, are pretty lovable but Liva could be hard to get behind at times. I absolutely loved how she was willing to take a lead and while she needed help, and WANTED it too, she could actually take care of herself. Her emotional baggage, however, could at times be tiresome. I felt like if she hadn’t been so set against not feeling and constantly feeling guilty, it would have been easier for me to enjoy her character a lot more.

Jay on the other hand was pretty damn awesome, like the rest of Sarah’s love interests. He was swoon worthy and oh-so-sweet. I loved how supportive he was but at the same time I was a little surprised by his willingness to help her. It could just be the cynic in me but I wouldn’t usually risk my life to help someone I had just met, but again, had he not helped her the story would have been completely different and most likely not nearly as enjoyable. My only other qualm with him was when he said he was a fast learner and asked Liva to hand him a gun. Yeah.. no. You cannot be a fast learner when it comes to guns because there are so many rules you need to know before you can actually use a gun safely. It bother me a little when he said that but not nearly enough to take away from my overall love for his character.

The one thing I cannot make up my mind about, even now, is the romance. It had an insta-love feel to it especially when Liva went on and on about how he made her feel again after she had forced herself to stop feeling. Add to that the fact that they had barely known each other for a day so I definitely ended up having issues with the romance but at the same time, I enjoyed it. It’s probably Sarah working her magic and making me like something that would have usually ended up becoming a huge problem for me and would have ended up taking from my overall experience of the book but Sarah knows how to captivate her readers so that wasn’t really a huge problem.

The plot didn’t let me down. I saw the major plot twist coming from miles away, but even so, when it was finally revealed, my heart was beating erratically and I was biting my fingernails and trying to read as fast as I possibly could to get to the bottom of it. It was just so well done. It was full of action and there wasn’t a single minute when I was bored. There were some situations that were probably unrealistic but it just works. Sarah knows how to make it work.

Even with my problems, Out of Control was a thoroughly entertaining read and it also dealt with an important issue in today’s world, human trafficking. It was one of my most anticipated reads and while I’ll admit to being let down, I still enjoyed it and thought it was totally worth it. Reading it did make me extremely nostalgic for the Lila series though.

I’d definitely recommend this to anyone who wants a quick read that while is not the best thing ever, will not fail to keep readers on their toes and will grasp their attention and not let go until the end.