A review by gypsystar
My Stolen Life by Steffanie Holmes

4.0

Lots of questions and not a lot of answers. I’m not sure I really get what is going on, especially with the bombshell at the end but I mostly like what I’ve read so far.

Mackenzie starts out the book 4 years earlier and she’s been buried alive. Her parents are gone, presumably dead. She somehow hides in their mansion for four years before neighbors report a squatter and a nosy cop swings by. I really think she could have finagled her way through the school thing because she obviously had resources who could fake school transcripts but she ends up enrolling in Stonehurst Prep.

She seems to have some sort of amnesia and it’s all left vague, intentionally- I think. She was apparently a supreme bitch before though. This has a bullying situation. It’s mostly not her harem but also sort of is. There’s a douchey guy who’s the villain. A wicked witch queen bee who does what they always do. One of her harem, Noah, hates/loves her because he’s into her but he holds her responsible for the death of his brother and subsequent suicide by his mother. It’s something to do with her parents pharmaceutical company. She was 13 when the brother died it makes no sense for it to be her fault but bully reasons rarely do.

There’s the rockstar, Gabriel, finishing school who is walking sex. Very flirty and incapable of being serious. For some reason after they kiss at a party he humiliates her by pushing her in the pool. It was her first kiss ever. It’s never really explained why he did this and that bothers me. He did seem a bit surprised at how hurt and angry she was but eventually she gives up her v card to him.

The last one is Eli, he’s the nice one she had a prior friendship with that she doesn’t remember. He remains nice to her even when she’s being a bitch. He’s the only one she doesn’t kiss or bang in this book. Nice guys finish last.

Story 4/5, Heat 1.5/5, Angst 2.5/5

Slow burn, she gives up her v card to Gabriel at 81%, she bangs Noah a few days later near the end of the book.

Condoms used, virgin h, Gabriel is manwhore, Noah might be one, no info on Eli, push away from h, push away from Noah, no OM drama, slight OW drama. This is a quartet so there’s a cliffhanger, kind of a big one. The series is complete though so no worries.

Safety - this is a bullying type situation so mostly they aren’t actually together , I wouldn’t call anything in this book cheating.

The OW, Cleo is queen bee/bitch and she wants Gabriel but he rejects her completely. Noah, the one who hates/loves the h does mess with Cleo. He’s actively in hate mode and they haven’t had any pleasant encounters at that point. She hangs all over him, kisses him, lipstick smears, smug looks etc. The h doesn’t love it but she’s not real broken up by it either.

There’s a lot of violence here and her cat is intentionally injured by someone trying to send her a message. There’s also an attempted sexual assault on the h that’s stopped by Noah