Alice Janell

Despite touching on some heavy and dark subjects (rape, death, suicide, depression), Sanctum was a pretty good book.

First, I loved that Lela Santos is Hispanic. Though living in foster care she's not entirely positive about her heritage, I did like her nod to maybe being Puerto Rican. Of course, I'm biased there. ;)

And she was an interesting character, too. For being so tough and badass she was also very broken and vulnerable. So was Nadia, the seemingly perfect preppy girl. Despite the main plot of the story revolving around Lela's love for her best friend (sisterly, platonic love), we don't see a lot of Nadia. I wish she'd been fleshed out a little more.

The romance between Lela and Malachi was sweet, but I wish it hand't of built so quickly. Lela is vulnerable because of her past and her intimacy issues come stem from being raped by a former foster father and I felt that she was too comfortable around Malachi a little too quickly. It was clear that the trauma had haunted Lela for YEARS and in the span of days she was in love with Malachi.

Despite a romance that felt a little too rushed, the story was well-written. I like that in the end, Lela realized she not the solution to Nadia's depression. Those were demons Nadia needed to work out on her own.

Really looking forward to reading the rest of the series.