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The Donor by Nikki Rae

by - Tuesday, January 06, 2015

The Donor (The Full Novella) by Nikki Rae
Published: October 30th 2014 

            
           
Casey Williams and her family are poor. Her parents work non-stop and so does she, just so they can keep the trailer roof from leaking.


They’re getting by fine enough when the headaches start. Then there’s the nosebleeds. And the inevitable doctor’s bills.


Fortunately for Casey, there’s MyTrueMatch.com: an exclusive, quick, and almost easy way to pay it all back before her parents even have to know.


All she has to do is give a man she’s never met whatever he wants from her body.

Inside or out.

The words danced off the screen like a poem, haunting and beautifully written. The Donor is a work of art,  however to label Nikki Rae as an artist would be a huge understatement, this is because she challenges the limits of originality and authenticity with a grotesque and gripping story that left the readers wanting for more. 


I was extremely excited when the publisher approved my request for the book on Netgalley, I fell in love with the cover almost instantly and the blurb convinced me to delve into the book even more, but The Donor is not just another book, to me, it goes way beyond that, it is a story.  


I got to it immediately after I downloaded it from the website (putting aside the book I'm currently reading) and I did not regret one second of it. For such a short novella - 116 pages to be more exact - , I certainly did not expect that I would be more emotionally involved with the characters without even acknowledging their background beforehand. The way the author narrated the book was quite unique to me. It was not arranged in a chronological order, nor it was  using flashback scenes, but the writing style was one of the huge reason (if reasons can be described with an adjective) I kept on reading. 



When Casey was first introduced, I've grown rather fond of her in such a short time. Despite being placed in a depressing situation, she was funny and brave in so many ways. Her maturity was not defined by her age as she appeared to be a thoughtful, responsible and well-controlled "adult" - Well, she is definitely more well-controlled than me despite both of us having similar ages - Jonah was equivalently respectable and gentleman, I could not help but felt drawn to his mysterious demeanour. 


I admit, I was a bit sceptical when I first started because I have zero clue as to how the story would unfold (the blurb does not exactly reveal much ), I thought it was just sex, judging from the blurb, but somehow Nikki has included a paranormal twist that you would not have figured, and the most frustrating thing? There was not much elaboration. Oddly, the lack of elaboration is what I found most alluring about the story, like I said, it challenges originality. Also, the author completely redefined cliffhangers! 


One thing in particular that made me bode well with the story was that the author actually touches a concept that I have been living throughout my life, in addition she also written her own thoughts on the story and  made me connect to the characters much more intimately. It is unfair how time has robbed a person's freedom, where time only accelerates the deterioration of Casey's health, time has also given so much more in return because it taught us to value life. 


"Life is measured in time. Days, months, years. When you have a limited amount of these things, it becomes even more measured and calculated. Time is something that can’t be manipulated. When you have a clock set on your life, you can’t stretch the minutes, you can’t turn days into months. You can’t beg your loved ones to stay when they have no choice but to go."   ----- Author, Nikki Rae in her Afterwords 


One a more personal note,

Studying abroad and being away from my family, my time spent with them is limited and time was something precious to me, not a second to be wasted. I remembered 2 years back when my dad had a heart attack, I had just entered college and was away from home, to make things worst my birthday was just in 2 days, my mum was distraught telling me that my dad was in a touch and go state, the effectiveness of the medication very much depended on how well my dad handled it, and by then, only time can tell. This made me realized that time stops for no one and it is up to us to catch up with it. 


Who would I recommend to? 

I would highly recommend this to anyone who can accept difference (I did not mean it to sound condescending :/ ), however this story involves the romance between a man in his forties (yeah Jonah is actually much older than Casey) with a teenager, just a fair warning beforehand. However, throughout my reading I was not as bothered by their age as I initially was, it was more than an enjoyable read, I love it. 




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3 comments

  1. I now have a huge inclination to go straight to my NetGalley account and request the book. That blurb sounds so creepy yet it fascinates me!

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    1. And I can understand from your glowing review of The Donor that this will probably blow my socks off. Lovely review :D

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    2. Thank you! I hope you would enjoy it as much as I do :P I love the book, it was something different and I actually shot a fan mail to the author *laughs* All I can say is that this book is not for everyone, but it's worth a read! Happy reading and thanks for commenting Kat!! :D

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