If you decide to read League of Strays, I hope you will love it. Sounds obvious, coming from the author, but I have learned a lot through reading my reviews. I wasn’t expecting controversy when I wrote it, but it seems to have struck a chord in some readers. For every four or five stars on Goodreads, there seems to be a two or even, on occasion, a one star. How could that be? Well at last, I think I get it. Over time, I have come to realize that it mostly comes down to one character: Kade Harlin.
If you decide to read League of Strays, I want you to love it. Sounds obvious, coming from the author, but I have learned a lot through reading my reviews. I wasn’t expecting controversy when I wrote it, but it seems to have struck a chord in some readers. For every four or five stars on Goodreads, there seems to be a two or even, on occasion, a one star. How could that be? Well at last, I think I get it.
Over time, I have come to realize that it mostly comes down to one character: Kade Harlin. I thought I’d write a little something about him in the hopes that readers know what they are getting into when they open the pages of this book. You have to know yourself as a reader first. Do you love thrillers? Do you mind a main character who makes mistakes at times? Can you read about a love interest that simply isn’t? Then you are the perfect reader for this book. If the answers are no, then you might not enjoy League of Strays.
When I first wrote this book, my intentions were to explore the concept of the “bad boy.” But Kade turned out to be quite different from the standard “bad boy” that’s often portrayed as being misunderstood, with a warm, giving heart—if only some girl (the love of his life) probes long enough to uncover it. Nope, this is not Kade. He is, in fact, an anti-love interest. League of Strays is a novel about a girl who gets sucked in to a friendship with a sociopath.
By definition, a sociopath has no conscience. He (or she, though most are male) will do anything to get what he wants, even if it means flattening those around him that he appears to care for. Experts say sociopathy is not as rare as we think: anywhere from 1 in 100 to 1 in 200. This means that most of us have run across one. The thing about them is, they are very difficult to identify. This is because they are often charming. They know what to say, and how to say it in order to manipulate their “victims.” When things don’t go well for them, they cry easily, offering up “sensitive” tears to show how much they really do care. Which, by the way, they don’t.
Kade Harlin was never supposed to be a “hot love interest.” Adding to his charm, he is good looking. And most importantly, he zones in on Charlotte’s loneliness and works it to his advantage. That makes her ripe for his picking—or at least it seems that way at first glance.
Perhaps some readers didn’t read far enough to understand my intentions, or maybe they just weren’t used to reading an anti-love interest in a young adult novel. Or maybe they read the inside jacket and clued in that something was wrong with Kade, and felt offended by Charlotte’s decisions to go on this journey, anyway.
I don’t want to spoil the ending. But I can say, if you are looking for a true love story, League of Strays is not it. If you can handle an honest story that could happen to anyone who’s not aware, or to any person wants love and friendship so badly that they overlook the red flags, then I bet you can read this book and really enjoy it. It’s up to you.
League of Strays is different. It’s intense. And it may just help someone find his or her own path, instead of following someone blindly. That would be enough for me.
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