Less Than Nothing by R.E. Blake

Name: Less Than Nothing
Author: R.E. Blake
Format: ebook
Pages: 249 pages
Release date: October 7th 2014
Publisher: Reprobatio, Ltd.

Teaser

Sage’s life as a teenage runaway in San Francisco is simple: Snatch a few hours of sleep on park benches and bus stops; dodge perverts, predators, and cops; and make enough as a street musician to eat. But her world flips upside down when she meets Derek – hot, tattooed, and charming, a singer from Seattle whose looks and talent take her breath away.

What begins as a reluctant partnership quickly develops into a cross-country race against time - and awakens a hunger in Sage that’s unfamiliar and exciting.

As they travel from coast to coast, Sage and Derek pursue their dream, only to discover that they can never run far enough to escape the demons from their pasts.


My thoughts

I kindly received Less Than Nothing in exchange of an honest review by the publisher.

Less Than Nothing is the breakout debut NA novel from USA Today bestseller R.E. Blake. Sage & Derek's story continues in More Than Anything (#2) and Best of Everything (#3).

Sage, a seventeen-year old teenager has been living on the streets of San Francisco for a couple of months fleeing from an alcoholic mother and abusive stepdad who treats her like shit. While most girls her age would spend their time trying to tackle their school work, spending their free time with their friends/boyfriend or posting on Facebook. There is no way she can stay any longer. Sage packs her bags and becomes a street musician. Her daily routine consists of playing her guitar day by day to make enough money to buy something to eat and wash her clothes. At night no place is safe enough. She spends sleeping in various places for only a couple of hour. 

Fortunately she has a best friend called Melody, when her mother is not at home she is able to take a shower every couple of days. Life is hard, but she's coping somehow. At least until another singer shows up on the same block she's been working. Derek is hot, tattooed, and charming, a singer from Seattle whose looks and talent takes her breath away. First Sage is furious, she fears he is going to her out of business but after Derek convinced her how great they perform as a duo they decide that performing together would earn them each more than they do separately. Soon they build on a close partner/friendship. Derek will not stick around for much longer because he is heading to New York to audition for a well-known TV singing competition called America's Top Singers. And before Sages realises, they’re travelling across the country together, on a path to a better future.

The review request for Less Than Nothing landed totally unexpected in my mailbox. The more I am happy to tell you how much I enjoyed this novel. I never read a book by R.E. Blake before neither did I read one with the subject of homeless teenager. Blake creates a very realistic experience of how it's like to be in the shoes of a homeless kid. In this novel he powerfully expresses that life is full of choices and the ones you choose will determine the outcome of your future. He descriptively illustrates the trials and everyday issues that these people go through. The story takes Derek and Sage hitch-hiking all the way from San Francisco to New York which I very enjoyed to read about. For me it was great to read a book with a setting outside of the UK. The trip and the competition tests their friendship a lot. It's obvious that they both have feelings for each other but they're fighting their own personal demons so it's very hard for them to get a move to one another. Sometimes it becomes a bit frustrating but the romance itself is kind of secondary to the story and I found I was just as, if not more than engrossed in the actual adventures and experiences of the characters. The story is emotional, enthralling with lots of drama which made it very difficult for me to put it down.

The ending is very well set up for the next installemt in the series. I assume it would be hard for someone to get to the end of Less Than Nothing and not want to pick up the next instalment straight away. I absolutely want to know how Dereks and Sages story continues really look forward to the next book in this series.