Saving Beck by Courtney Cole Published by Gallery Books on July 17th 2018
Genres: Contemporary Romance
Format: eARC
Source: Netgalley
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There comes a time when offering your life for your child’s doesn’t work, when you realize that it’ll never be enough.
The cold needle in his warm vein was a welcome comfort to my son at first. But then it became the monster that kept us apart.
Heroin lied, and my son believed. It took him to a world where the last year didn’t happen, to a place where his father was still alive. What Beck didn’t understand was that it couldn’t bring his father back from the dead. It couldn’t take away his pain, not permanently.
You think it can’t happen to you, that your kids, your family, will never be in this situation.
I thought that too. But you’re wrong.Step into our world, and see for yourself.
Watch my golden boy become a slave to this raging epidemic. Watch me try and save him.Drug addiction comes with a price.
Trust me, you’re not equipped to pay it.Don’t miss this heartwrenching, evocative, yet hopeful novel—it will leave you forever changed.
Reminiscent of the beloved novels by Mary Kubica and Jodi Picoult comes a chilling portrayal of a son’s addiction and its harrowing effects on both him and his mother from New York Times bestselling author Courtney Cole. SAVING BECK is now available!
Angie’s Thoughts:
I sometimes hate writing reviews when a book is so personal to the author. You want to do their book justice but at the same time you want to be honest. So here is my honest review and I hope it lives up to the book while remaining what I cherish. Honesty.
Saving Beck is a story about one boys drug addiction and a mother who would do anything to save him. It’s told in multiple POV’s. We have, Natalie, the mom and Beck, the son. After losing her husband and his father to a car wreck they both spiral in their own ways. Natalie becomes extremely depressed and retreats into her own world while shutting everyone in it out. Including her kids. We go back and forth from the present and past to make sense of exactly what went wrong.
Beck has to step up and become like a parent figure to his younger brother and sister. If he doesn’t they’ll go without eating and never bathe or brush their teeth or comb their hair. While doing this he’s having his own personal demons that he can’t deal with. He keeps them contained and that only last so long before anger and resentment takes its place.
Natalie is a loving mom. She loves her kids very much. When others would tell her Beck wasn’t acting right or even when his brother told her that he caught Beck smoking pot she was in so much denial that refused to believe it. It took something horrible to happen before she opened her eyes and realize how naive she’s been all along.
I didn’t like Natalie at times. I haven’t lost my husband so I can’t relate to her on that. I guess I don’t understand why you would want to shut out your kids. The very same kids that you and your husband conceived with love to just basically abandoned them. I didn’t like that about her. I kept thinking why does she not see what Beck is going through. He was there when his father died but this isn’t the Beck show. It’s Natalie’s. I say that with kindness in my heart. I do understand depression and I know that when you are so low you shut everyone and everything out around you. Everyone is different and I guess that was her way of handling it. I may not approve but I’m not here to judge her.
I also think Natalie is an addict in her own right. Continuing to take Xanax is addicting. She lost days of herself and when she took more than the prescribed dosage she justified it. I really love the mother side of her when she finally woke up. It’s that other side that was ugly to read about but powerful.
I felt so bad for Beck. After his dad died it seemed like his mom abandoned him. Sure he had his aunt, uncle and girlfriend to talk to about it but he needed his mom at times and it was sad to read about. He really needed counseling. He went through something extremely traumatic and wasn’t properly treated for it. The drugs were basically calling to him. Offering him the numbness he was searching for. I don’t think many who was in his exact situation would have passed them up. It’s the cliché that gets someone every time. Just take one pill. Just smoke this once. Just inject this one time and you won’t be addicted. You can stop anytime. You are still the owner of your body. But that’s not true. The drug owns you now and it definitely owned Beck.
Saving Beck is a harrowing story of a boy losing his soul and the mother who could have possibly stopped it. It’s about love and loss. How a drug destroys a family and finding redemption once you hit bottom. It’s not an easy read. I wanted to throw my kindle a few times because I was so angry at what the characters would do or say. Overall I was addicted to it and I wish there would be a book 2 to answer some other questions I felt that weren’t addressed.
The Verdict:
Grab your copy of SAVING BECK here!
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Excerpt:
The nurse grasps my arm, and I can’t stand anymore. My legs are tired and the adrenaline… it numbs me. I collapse beside her and she tries to hold me up, but she can’t… I’m on the ground.
My face is wet, when did I start crying?
“You have to save my son,” I beg her, my fingers curled into her arm. I stare into her eyes. Hers are green, ringed with blue, and she looks away. Something about her seems so familiar, something about those eyes.
“We’ll try, ma’am,” she says uncertainly. It’s the uncertainty that kills me. “We’ll do everything we can. I’m going to take you to a quiet room, and give you a blanket. Is there anyone I can call for you?”
I shake my head. “No. I already called my sister.”
“Okay,” the nurse says quietly and her name tag says Jessica. She takes me to a waiting room, a quiet private one, the ones they use when the outcome might not be good. I know that because I’ve been here before.
I swallow hard and she puts a cup of coffee in my hand.
As she does, she pushes a stray hair out of her face and her bracelet catches my eye. A simple chain with a silver dolphin on it. I’ve seen it before.
“You were here the night my husband was brought in,” I realize slowly. “Weren’t you? Do you remember me?”
It was a year ago. A year, two months… I check my watch… six days and twenty-two hours ago. Of course she doesn’t remember me.
But Jessica nods.
“I’m so sorry about your husband,” she tells me now, her voice quiet and thick. “I swear to you, we did everything we could.”
“I know,” I tell her. Because I do. The accident was so bad, there’s no way anyone could’ve survived. Except for Beck. He lived. But Matt…his injuries were insurmountable. That’s what the doctor told me that night.
About Courtney Cole
Courtney Cole grew up in rural Kansas and now lives with her husband and kids in Florida, where she writes beneath palm trees and is still in love with the idea of magic and happily-ever-after. She is the author of Saving Beck.
Jessica
Thank you so much for sharing! ~Jessica, InkSlinger PR