Pieces of You

Available on Amazon.com

Pieces of You
Mary Campisi
Kindle Edition, 163 pages
Published June 22, 2011
ISBN 2940012804112

Quinn Burnes's mother disappeared when he was only fifteen leaving him with a despondent father, a little sister who suffers panic attacks, and eight notebooks containing the truth about his mother. He guards this secret for eighteen years, until on an otherwise normal day, his mother re-enters his life, pleading for his help. She's in danger and the only thing that can save her is reclaiming the identity she shunned years ago.

Quinn is a master of emotional detachment, from his successful career as a personal injury attorney to his strings of meaningless relationships with beautiful women who possess uneasy temperaments; a sure formula to keep his heart safe and insure he's the first to walk away. Until he meets the mysterious 'Danielle' a woman with too many secrets who's on the run from the abusive, estranged husband she shot and may have killed. Danielle isn't like any woman he's ever met, but can he risk his heart for someone who's doing exactly what his mother did eighteen years ago? Someone who may ultimately leave him, just like his mother?

Quinn Burnes is all kinds of screwed up.

When Quinn was 15 years old his mother disappeared, leaving himself, his sister, and their father behind. Many feared foul play had taken her away but Quinn came to learn the truth when he discovered his mother's diaries. She hated her life.

Now, a success of an attorney and a cynical jerk, Quinn surrounds himself with people he doesn't stand a chance of getting attached to. Meanwhile, his little sister, Annie, has issues of her own-suffering panic attacks whenever Quinn or her fiance, Michael, are ever late or miss a call. But Annie doesn't know the truth of her mother's departure from her life and Quinn will do whatever it takes to spare her the pain of it.

Enter Danielle. Or, that's what she's calling herself now that she's on the run from an abusive husband--whom she murdered. Maybe.

So yes- twists, lies, cliches, and stereotypes construct this story well. I honestly think Campisi was aiming to spark a bit of hatred for each and every character involved. Obviously, the mother. But it was Quinn who kept my right hand itching to whack him upside the head with a blender. The guy could be such an ass.

3 out of 5 stars.