Stained Review

Review by Ashley Laura Smith

Where do I even begin with Stained? First, I’d like to say how I hands down loved this book. I read it in less than a day. The story was completely gripping and it plays on the emotions the way Fault in Our Stars by John Green. If you loved that book, you’ll most likely love this one. I do have a few warnings for anyone thinking about picking up this book. While I applaud Rainfield’s use of showing Sarah overcoming her victim mentality to save herself and the ones she loves, I caution readers because of the content she chooses to share about Sarah’s abduction. I do believe all of these were important to her story but when I think about my nieces and if I’d want them reading something this traumatic. Even when I was in high school, I think this book would have been hard for me to read because of its content.

I must say I love the divergent points of view of Sarah and Nick- especially after Sarah was kidnapped. Nick’s point of view was definitely needed to keep the story going along at a good pace. I’m slightly annoyed that Nick didn’t even have an inkling about who Sarah’s kidnaper could have been. He’s a smart guy. He should have put two and two together especially since it’s a well-known fact that most kidnapers tend to be known to the family and that most even inject themselves into an investigation. I would have loved to see Nick at least been a little bit more suspicious rather than just being a love sick boy wanting to get Sarah back.

I understood Charlene’s character in some ways because I was picked on as a child for being overweight. I wish that she was in the book more, even though she is mentioned quite often as not being able to cope with coming over. Her character fell flat at some points. One great thing about Stained is there are plenty of characters people could relate to in the book. I wish more books did this with their characters. Though I did like the ending, I wish it had been drawn out past where it left off. I would like to know more about what happened to the characters; maybe see them getting back into the swing of things or a few years down the road.

I loved this story and it really touched my soul. I will fully admit that cried in several parts of this book. At the beginning, I thought that I may not enjoy this story. I’m happily surprised to say that I ended up enjoying this book. I’d love to read a continuation of this book by Rainfield with the characters dealing with the things that happened in this book; maybe even having a trial for her abductor.  Though I caution those who want read this because of the content of this book, but if the reader is comfortable with this subject I think they’ll enjoy this novel.

Also available here: http://www.literarylunespublications.com/stained-review-by-ashley-laura-smith/