Audiobook Review – Trust by Kylie Scott

Trust by Kylie Scott

Narrated by Andi Arndt

Older Young Adult Standalone

Note: The book has a new cover, but not the audio. Here is the book cover:

Trust by Kylie Scott was a different read for me. I am not usually a YA reader, but I enjoy Kylie Scott’s writing and there was good buzz surrounding this, so I bought it on audio. It was pretty mature for YA, so I would say it straddles YA & NA. They are Seniors in high school, and the themes are very real. It deals with guns, drugs, sex, PTSD, bullying and more, but it never felt morose. There was a hopeful feel throughout the book.

17 year old Edie goes to a snobby private school. She is a bit overweight and a bookworm and does not fit in there. She is bullied at school, but still has a best friend. One night she heads to the local convenience store for munchies for a sleepover with her friend, when a meth-head with a gun comes in to rob the place and holds the gun on her.

Wow, that first scene was intense and so real-feeling. There was another good-looking young guy in the store that was able to talk to the gunman enough to save her life. He then risked his life to save hers.

After, with the press going crazy, her ‘best friend’ just looking to get in the spotlight, and the attention from the bullies, Edie has changed her attitude towards life, and decides she will not go back to that private school, and enrolls in the local public school. And, you guessed it. The gorgeous boy who saved her life goes there.

“He was beautiful and I . . . I was nothing. An out-of-her-depth girl who wore too much black and feared the bulk of society.”

Edie is having nightmares. Everything has changed since the shooting. But at the same time, she is making friends at her new school, and they seem pretty great. I loved seeing how much she grew during the story.

“Now I know how much there is to be afraid of and it terrifies me. But at the same time, I feel like if I could live through that, what happened to us, then I can survive anything. Like, what is there really to be afraid of?”

Everyone had a crush on bad-boy John. He was the school’s weed dealer before the hold-up, but after, he wanted to change, become a better person. If only everyone would stop asking him for weed. Edie was there for him. She understood what is was like to go through such a life threatening scare, so the two bonded. But John knew he was a bad-boy and she was a good girl. As much as he wanted and needed her, he couldn’t ruin her too.

“Why did you tell yourself not to come here?”
“Because I’m poison.” His eyes fixed on mine. “I don’t want to drag you down… There’s no coming back from that.”

As they both healed and changed together, it was wonderful to see. The things that are really important to most high school kids seem ridiculous after you almost die. Nobody else can really get that unless they have been through it as well.

So my thighs were thick and my belly bulged. So what. I was alive and allowed to take up space.
——
“I found it hard to care. I mean, what did it matter? Life went on; no one had died as a result. The principal said it would go on my permanent record. Permanent? Please. Bullets were permanent. Everything else was temporary.

This was a sweet romance about first love as well, and though there is sex, it was tasteful enough for about 15 and up.

“I couldn’t get close enough, no matter how I tried. Eyes hazy and lips wet, he kissed me slow and sweet. It seemed endless, as necessary to life as breathing.”

Likes:

• Unique and compelling storyline.
• So real, deals with so many of the issues kids face daily.
• Great side characters.
• So much depth to the storyline.
• The way the characters evolved and changed.
• The sweet first-love romance.

Dislikes:

• Kind of an abrupt ending.

Narration:

I enjoy Andi Arndt as a narrator but honestly thought she was all wrong for this for two reasons, she is very overused and we have heard her do very hot, mature books very often, and her voice is just too old for a 17 year old. I would have been much happier with a younger, less-known voice.

The Down & Dirty:

Rating: 4.25 Stars, 3 Heat, 3.5 Narration

Purchase Trust by Kylie Scott