Nine Minutes (Nine Minutes #1) by Beth Flynn - 1.5 star review

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Synopsis:

On May 15, 1975, fifteen-year-old Ginny Lemon is abducted from a convenience store in Fort Lauderdale by a member of one of the most notorious and brutal motorcycle gangs in South Florida. 

From that moment on, her life is forever changed. She gets a new name, a new identity and a new life in the midst of the gang’s base on the edge of the Florida Everglades—a frightening, rough and violent world much like the swamps themselves, where everyone has an alias and loyalty is tantamount to survival. 

And at the center of it all is the gang’s leader, Grizz: massive, ruggedly handsome, terrifying and somehow, when it comes to Ginny, tender. She becomes his obsession and the one true love of his life. 

So begins a tale of emotional obsession and manipulation, of a young woman ripped from everything she knows and forced to lean on the one person who provides attention, affection and care: her captor. Precocious and intelligent, but still very much a teenager, Ginny struggles to adapt to her existence, initially fighting and then coming to terms with her captivity. 

Will she be rescued? Will she escape? Will she get out alive—or get out at all? Part psychological thriller, part coming-of-age novel, filled with mystery, romance and unexpected turns, Nine Minutes takes readers into the world of one motorcycle gang and inside the heart of a young girl, whose abduction brought about its fall.

Review:

First let me start by saying that Nine Minutes is not a romance. Or it shouldn't be a romance. It is actually a bit disturbing if it is. I have read some of the positive reviews and...I don't really understand why you would like Grizz. He was a horrible person. Sure he could have been much worse to Ginny, he was rather "kind" to her, but that doesn't mean I liked him. No. Just no. So it is a bit of a head scratcher for me. It is not a romance, there is not some big, happy ending, not even really a sad ending, I am not really sure what this book was. I kept asking myself why am I reading this? You know from the prologue where it will end up so I was just waiting to get there. And when it did? I was left just as confused as to why I was reading this as when I started.

So what is the story? Well Ginny gets kidnapped by a notorious biker gang when she is 15. And then "falls in love" with the leader, the guy who kidnapped her because he saw her once when she was very young and wanted her for his own. Yep. Not cool. She was an odd read. She doesn't really try to escape which I found peculiar. Sure Grizz said he would kill her family if she did, but who doesn't at least try and some point? Who just accepts their position as kidnapped girl who can never leave? Apparently her.

Through the book you see Ginny get Stockholm syndrome or something. She eventually starts to care for Grizz, but it was odd. I think I had an issue with the timing. It didn't seem like she was there for very long before she just gave in to everything. She was just an odd read for me. And Grizz? And Grunt, another biker she befriends? Not good. Grizz especially as you have to do what he says or he has no problem being incredibly violent with you. Yes, he is "nice" to Ginny, but others he will severely hurt or kill no problem. He was just not a good person. There were a lot of messed up situations in the story. Like Ginny's first time...yeah. Grizz was so wonderful about that...ugh. No. Just no. The whole thing was a big fat no for me.

So I don't really know why I was reading this book. I kept thinking does the author want me to like Grizz? Does she want me to have warm feeling towards him and Ginny? What is the point of this story? I am not quite sure. Or maybe I should root for Grunt, and while he was better still not great. No one was good in the book for me. It seemed like it was almost a romance, but that doesn't work for me. So it was just...not good.

Now besides the storyline I really didn't like the writing. It was way too descriptive about things that didn't matter. Like directions whenever they went anywhere. For example:

"Grizz took me down to the beach. State Road 84 was a straight shot towards the ocean. We made a left on Federal Highway, then headed up to 17th Street Causeway. A right on the Causeway, and then we were going over a big bridge that spanned the intracoastal."

Great. Now I know what route you took on roads that I am not familiar with for what reason? I don't really care as I have never been to Florida so it doesn't matter that you took 84 to the causeway as that means nothing to me. The whole book was so bogged down in useless details like this it was not fun to read. I just kept thinking why is this in here? Why do I care about this? It is one thing to describe the setting, but this much detail for unimportant information I do not like. It turned this book into a really boring/frustrating read. So overall not the story for me. The plot was not good, I am not really sure what the point of the book was, and the writing didn't work for me. I don't really understand why everyone loves it so much, but people like what they like. This one just didn't work for me.

Rating: ★1/2