Take Me There by Carolee Dean

Take Me There by Carolee Dean

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I so wanted to give this book 5 stars. I loved the main character, Dylan. He had a horrible life and he always wanted to make the right choices, but trouble seems to follow him. Dylan Dawson's narration goes back and forth in time. Dylan's father is in jail, Dylan was six when his father went to jail and is on death row for killing a police officer who was also his friend. Dylan's father was selling drugs on the side and since he went to jail any information he wanted about his father was not provided by his mother, grandmother, and uncle. In the present, Dyland and his friend Wade are running from a drug lord Two Tone but Dylan is also trying to find his father in the Texas jail to ask his father if he was born "bad" and would he ever find happiness. Even more important than his unfortunate life is his deep love for Jess. Dylan has loved her since he was 12 years old and Jess has dropped in and out of his life over the years, but Dylan knows he is not good for her and tries to stay away but life just isn't helping him. Even after he tells Jess trouble seems to follow him and she should just stay away, and Jess tells him despite his history, he is decent,real and genuine. I love the way Dylan speaks and thinks. "There was a light in her eyes that reached all the way to the corners of my soul, telling me that I could start over. That I could leave my past behind and be worthy of a girl like Jess. It was like a small explosion shaking me all the way down to my roots." I had so many passages marked throughout this book where I was just so moved by Dylan's plight and his love for Jess. I wanted him to get the girl, have a happy life and leave all his trouble behind. A really, really, really good book (guys and girls will love it) and a PA Young Reader's Choice title for this year!



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