Review: THE MISSING PIECE by Marie Lavender

Alyssa is a reserved college student, an English lit major that preferred the company of a paperback more than anything else. "She wasn’t prepared to venture into the dating scene like everyone else on campus. Of course, ‘dating’ was actually a pretty loose term these days. She preferred her own company to that of the male persuasion. They all seemed to be caught up in the weekend scene and were so full of themselves that it was probably better if she avoided them altogether." (5)

One morning, she wakes up on the lawn in front of an unknown fraternity house with a raging hangover and absolutely no recollection of the night before. It's at this point that she learns that, under the influence of too much alcohol, she actually went upstairs with a guy she didn't know. Oh, no! You don't suppose that they...that she...? With rampant thoughts of pregnancy and STD's, Aly becomes paranoid and seeks to find answers to what happened that night. Did she go all the way with some guy named Brendan? Fortunately, the guy's roommate, Justin, was willing to help her out.

The "missing piece" is finding the truth for young Aly, and the reader becomes interested to find out, too, especially when Aly is such a sweet girl that you can't bear for anything bad to happen to her. You feel for her as she goes through the stages of confusion and panic over the possible what-ifs of that night. I liked that Justin was there for her, making Aly realize that her crisis may have revealed a very small and very cute diamond in the rough.

Short and compelling, story is a quick, satisfying read.

 

My rating: 4 stars