Psychopath. Borderline. Crazy. Seventeen-year-old Maryanne Mayweather wears each term like a badge of pride. Expelled from her twelfth boarding school, she lands on the doorstep of her flighty aunt Elaine and Elaine’s husband James, one more screw-up away from being made a ward of the state. Once a successful author, the last thing James Thorne wants is to care for his wife’s bratty teenage … teenage niece, especially with his marriage falling apart. When Maryanne crafts an elaborate plan to defame and destroy him, they both discover that words are more powerful than either of them could imagine. And as their relationship goes down a path neither envisioned, the consequences are swift and far-reaching.
Some lines weren’t meant to be crossed.
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This book got me so emotional. The story is amazing. The main characters are complicated but you get to understand them throughout the story! Def worth to read!
Lana did an amazing job with this book. Raw, emotional, beautiful, intense read. I was drawn to Maryanne and James. You need this book. Guaranteed page turner.
I think that you are going to see the cover of this book and read the title and blurb and assume you know everything about it. Well, trust me when I say that you don’t. It is more, so much more than you’d expect. This is a gripping, thought provoking read that easily and quickly ensnares you in Maryanne and James’ story. A story that pushes boundaries, buttons and crosses big red lines of both the reader and the characters involved. It does contain content that could be triggers for some (violence, sexual content, suicide, alcoholism and other mental health issues) and for others, that want to see things as simply black or white, the main focus of this book (forbidden romance) will just be a huge turn-off. So, please consider that before reading. Myself, I thought that this was an astonishingly good read. The emotions, desires and secrets woven throughout this story are deep, thick, dark and complex. They create a simmering, bubbling pot of stew that shows you its surface, but you truly have no idea what you are going to find when you dig into it. Maryanne and James are very complicated and flawed characters. They bring out strong emotions in each other and share a lot of similarities. My heart ached for the wounds they carried and broke for the struggles they faced. Maryanne is like a Rubik’s cube. She is a puzzle and you must go through many twists and turn to finally get a true look at the real her. Tragedy has broken and shaped her into a enigma. The pain, anxiety, longing and desire she feels is a duel-edged sword of comforting, protective blanket and electric fence to keep others at bay. James carries his own weighty baggage. He is a man that is tortured by his own failings, frustrated by the expectations placed on him by not only others but himself and tormented by the demons of his desires. He judges himself harshly and loathes himself for it all. This compelling read is full of rawness and pain. It is sometimes ugly and and sometimes it is beautiful. It will make you cry and it will make you laugh and yes, sometimes it will make you uncomfortable. It will encourage you to see that love is not always simple, agreeable or clear-cut. Love can be incredibly messy, difficult, agonizing, desperate, and catastrophic. The one thing we can always agree on though, is love is life-altering and that hold true for this couple. This is a truly stunning read that will linger in the mind and the heart.
f you totally disregard the taboo subject matter, which I found was tastefully done, this book is so so well written. These characters are impeccable in their portrayal. James tries so hard to stay away from Maryanne and then a tragedy influences everything. Maryanne has loved James since she was a child. However her childhood of being shunted between relatives only exacerbates her “personality disorder.” The ending leaves many questions. Absolutely terrific read
Maryanne is 17, three months away from being eighteen. She goes to live with her aunt and her husband Thorny. Thorne is older, married to her aunt and the last thing he needs to deal with is Maryanne. Maryanne wants to wreck his character but you know where this is really leading.
Different and Delicious!
Maryanne and James “Thorny” Thorn are each terrific characters and the circumstances that bring them together in this taboo romance are page turning and the drama is edge of your seat. Although not a dark romance there are dark themes throughout, namely suicide, self harm and depression. This book was so unexpected and I loved every word.
I read a free copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Y’all Lana Sky has done it again with this book. It is raw, gritty, and so freaking real. Lana has a way of grabbing your soul as you are reading her books and making sure that you are with her through every word, sentence and chapter. I have always adored her books, but Crossed Lines is a little bit different (in a good way) in that it is not a dark romance but more so psychological.
The book starts with Maryanne and her guardian Thorny talking with the lawyer. Basically she has 3 months until she is 18 and can be unsupervised, she has been kicked out of one boarding school after the other and now she is with the last family member that can take her. There is a catch though, with taking her, her guardian will be given 1 million dollars once she has reached 18 and graduated. This has made Maryanne a bit resentful and she is already borderline psychopathic in that she does not care about others emotions.
James Thorne is a former writer that has his life figured out. Kinda. He sees right through Maryanne’s actions and will not allow her to continue on with how she acted with his sisters, he will not put up with it. This man is complex but married to a flighty character, it is definitely intriguing to say the least.
This book is all about those months that Maryanne and Thorny hash everything out and y’all it was freaking full of the ALL the feels. There are unexpected turns in how things play out and you find out that people wear masks and you cannot always take things the way that they seem. Sometimes you need to dig a bit to truly understand what peoples motives are to understand them. The question is, are you willing to see beneath the service?
All in all, I highly recommend this book. Though a bit taboo, the underlying message and story is just freaking good with tons of twists and turns and deep meaning. There is definitely a bit of a twist at the end though, so definitely be on the look out for that! Great work Lana!
PS: Thanks to Lana Sky for providing an ARC so that I am able to read and review this book honestly! <3
This story was so well written and a complete surprise of what I was expecting.
The characters had so much depth and emotion that their story resonated with me and captivated me from page 1.
Lana Sky’s words touched me in ways very few writers can ever achieve. To feel the characters live and sorrow through the author’s description is indicative of a true storyteller.
This was the best book I’ve read this year. One of the best books I’ve EVER read. How do you describe a book that makes you feel alive? Makes you feel flayed open, along with the characters? Makes you want to understand how one author can create a masterpiece of family relationships and dissect it to its bare bones? I was stunned by this epic and felt changed after reading it.
When you meet Maryanne, and understand her background, you will find her eminently relatable. She uses humor and anger to push people away before they can get rid of her. A frightening incident occurred when she was young, and it has identified her as she’s grown up. Now, she’s moving in with her Uncle James until she turns 18 and graduates.
James Thorne, or Thorny as she calls him, is a complex character who oozes regret. He doesn’t take Maryanne ‘s crap, living life through a fog of alcohol. He’s married to Elaine, who take smiles through everything. Thorny seems to hate having Maryanne there, but does he really?
“He’s like thunder, Thorny. He can’t help that he’s a herald for something wild and out of control, or that the storm in his wake destroys everything in its path. His only course of action is to rumble through the chaos, slamming doors and snatching wine bottles from his study.”
The inner dialogue of Maryanne will make you sob. Not cry…I’m talking big, messy, snotty tears. She could be any misunderstand teenager acting out. Your heart will wrap around her words to give her a metaphorical hug.
“It lets the monsters in the shadows know you’re onto them. They can hear what their mere presence does to you, and you might be tempted to do something stupid in return. Stupid like… Throw myself off the balcony a second time. Intentionally fall down the stairs. Trip into the ocean. Hurt myself again. Hurt myself more. Anything to prove he doesn’t really care. I still win. It’s when the monster crawls out from under your bed that he becomes the scariest. When he takes a seat right beside you and pretends to watch you. Protect you. Deep down, you know the truth: he’s just waiting for you to fail so he can utter those terrible words. I knew it. You were never going to change.”
The catalyst to this story is the written word. Sentences created from imagination and desire. Maryanne is given several assignments to write, and magic appears. She decides to use this opportunity to lay it all out, and in return, she learns about herself.
“The best writing is drawn from inspiration, he said once. Inspiration found in the moments that contain too much to explain in one go. You have to choose the right words to convey them. Like intoxicating to describe a particular smell: sea salt with a hint of wine. Or enigmatic to describe a certain look cast your way by someone who thinks you aren’t watching them. Fleeting to describe how it feels to know that this moment can never last. And desperate. That impulse urging you to extend the silence any way you can. It expresses itself in a racing, greedy heartbeat that gobbles at the blood meant for your brain, hoarding it.”
“I merely tap the nib of my pen against a blank page, mulling over my assignment. Good, dutiful daughters do their homework. They journal down their feelings in nice, neat paragraphs with no concern that they might be read by anyone else down the line. Naïveté is the word du jour. That’s the trap of a diary: they’re practically designed to be read. This bright-red cover screams intrigue to anyone willing to turn the page— and everyone knows that secrets make the best weapon fodder. I learned that the hard way. Those written about are forever trapped on the page, locked within a certain context or moment with no shading to color the perspective. Just emotion.”
Nothing that occurs in this brilliant story feels artificial. The emotion just bleeds from every page. There are no cliches. Thorny and Maryanne work together to heal in a chaotic way. These characters are damaged severely from life’s expectations and turn to each other out of necessity…And then find their own version of nirvana. It’s scary and outrageous and beautiful the way they discover each other. And I love how writing was the center of their universe. I loved everything to do with this uniquely poignant story. It has remained with me, affecting my mind and emotional well being in the best of ways. Don’t assume you fully understand what this book is about becAuse you will be surprised and wrong. It’s more than all the story tropes out there. It’s more than a romance. It’s more than a family drama. It’s just more.
Lana Sky has blown me away this year with her books.
(Must Read Series – The Savage Fall Duet and War of Roses Trilogy)
HOWEVER! Crossed Lines is on a whole other level. I’m not kidding.
Maryanne is someone you will never forget. Thorny..on my goodness..brilliant and broken.
This read is raw and real. Maryanne and Thorny made no excuses or apologies for their actions. Crossed lines made me FEEL EVERYTHING.
I truly applaud Lana Sky for the magnificent writing. She captured difficult issues and made them relatable to us all.
Please give us more of them and the Cherry Red Book!
~BREAKDOWN OF RATINGS~
Plot~ 5/5
Main Characters (hero/heroine)~ 5/5
Secondary Characters~ 5/5
The Feels~ 5/5
Pacing~ 5/5
Addictiveness~5/5
Angst~ 5/5
Steam/Hotness/Chemisty ~ 5/5
Theme or Tone~ 5/5
Flow (Writing Style)~ 5/5
Backdrop (World Building)~ 5/5
Originality~ 5/5
Ending~ 5/5
Book Cover~ Eye catching
Series~ stand-alone
Source~ Kindle eBook – ARC for honest review
Would I read more from the author? Yes
Would I recommend this book? Yes
I was pretty excited to read this book as im a huge fan of Lanas writing and all of her previous books have become favourites of mine, and since this book isn’t the usual dark romance genre i was pretty excited to check it out and it simply did not disappoint.
Crossed Lines deals with alot of heavy and taboo topics, these topics are explored amazingly through Lanas writing, the main characters there are so so good, they are brought to life (especially Maryanne) early on in the book and with each chapter as you learn more about them and their motives and damagesand it just made my feelings were all over the place.
Crossed Lines is such a unique read and i would highly recommend you check it out.
When I first began to read Crossed Lines, I was a little taken back because Lana is known for being a dark romance writer but this book is just brilliant. I first read a rough draft on Wattpad about a year ago and since then, it’s stayed with me. I was so happy when this book was finally got published. I loved that it’s written in the perspective of someone with Borderline Personality Disorder and that Lana portrays her realistically. Despite what the main character does or how she acts, because we can read her inner turmoils, we’re still able to sympathize with her. I truly loved the development of the relationship between James and Maryanne and how both characters are able confront the versions of themselves they were trying to ignore. I cannot say it enough, I love this book. I absolutely loved the ending, and although it’s not necessary at all, I would love to to read more about them. Besides the War of Roses trilogy, this is my favorite Lana Sky novel !!
SUCKER-PUNCHED by EMOTIONS
I don’t know how Lana comes up with these brilliant reads but this one is just as fricken awesome. You get sucked in from the start with a fierce tug of the heartstrings and smirky smart mouth antics that had me laughing out loud and saying helll yes this is going to be Goood, bring it on and wowzer that is exactly what she did. Then to read these words…(My name is Maryanne and I excel at being FLAWED.) It broke me. Knowing that I’m still in the thralls of chapter one fighting back tears not want to continue on because deep in my aching heart I now I’m going to feel more pain an anguish so I take a deep breath and prepare for the unknown that I know is not going to be pretty. And turn the page. Empowered for more as I become fascinated yet haunted by words as that continue to toy with my emotions as the suspense weaves a twisted tale of shocking words and then to read (“Today or topic is…sex.”) Instantly I had an explosive head shaking WHAT! WTF!…sent into a rage of uncontrollable laughter needing to step away and compose myself before I could even conceive of reading another word. In other words from one page to the next your emotions will be ping ponging all over the place as the dialogue easily pulls you into the harsh depths of the story making it hard to put down, hard to breath yet even harder to ignore the velocity of the feels you constantly get sucker-punched with throughout the gripping well written storyline. A phenomenal read that I absolutely recommend.
I have been a big fan of Lana Sky for years, starting with her first book Drain Me. Crossed Lines has to be one of my favorites. Lana has dabbled in many genre’s (especially dark ones) and though this is not a dark romance, it deals with dark topics as suicide, mental health, drinking, etc. I loved the ‘taboo’ age difference between the two main characters.
As the story unfolds we learn that Maryanne is a very troubled seventeen year old who is taken in by her aunt Elaine and uncle James. He is the one who see’s her for what she is, crying out for attention and inadvertently destroying lives of the people who attempt to help her. In the past she has been moved from one family to another, kicked out of a multitude of boarding schools, being helped by shrinks while in rehab. Nothing works. Maryanne is a total brat but she is looking for someone to love her, to be there for her…not put on a fake smile (aunt Elaine) and ignore her behaviour. With a past like hers (abandoned by mother, father committed suicide) you want someone to step up and be in her corner.
As the story unfold, we realize that Maryanne is not the only one suffering, James is as well. Nicknamed Thorny, he is an author/professor who drinks ALOT at all times of the day and when he is angry his thing is to leave the situation/house and disappear. The relationship between James and his wife Elaine is severely damaged. If there was any love between them you do not feel it when they are in each others company.
Well Maryanne gets off on the wrong foot on purpose when James brings her to their beach house. It infuriates him and he wagers that she won’t last one month not purposely messing up (instead of the three months they have her until she turns 18). If she is able to behave he will give up his and Elaine’s share of the inheritance. Though he seems to hate her on the surface, James was the only one who did not want her thrown away in another ‘home’ or psychic ward. One of the OMG moments was when James spanks her. I think she likes pushing his buttons, getting a rise, and James is such an uptight individual that by spanking her (on two occasions) it is a ‘release’ of emotions for him. Eventually the intense emotional feelings felt between the two becomes physical.
What I liked is when Maryanne becomes serious about her education and writing, James guides her so she is able to achieve the goal. He may have a round about way of doing things but he is invested in her well being. With that I would highly recommend this unusual love story between two broken individuals.
Maryanne is one unforgettable character with James not far behind you never ever know what to expect from page to page it had me hooked addicted, the wording is amazing as so descriptive you can see and feel everything pure genious as these two bring out the absolute worst in each other and the good with so much raw feelings it hits you hard with so many lies that become truths and then you see the real picture the past and present it was so fulfilling a true masterpiece at its finest.
Lana Sky pulls another trick out of her pocket with this amazing book. She is certainly not pigeonholed into one type of book and Crossed Lines is a testament to that. Maryann is a budding psychopath who doesn’t quite realize it yet. She just knows she is different from everyone else. Thorny knows who he is and has become quite good and playing human. Until Maryann comes along he has all his baggage packed in neat little boxes. Unfortunately once she moves in she starts unpacking in more ways than one.
I really hope we see more of Maryann and Thorny. I’d love to get my hands on that cherry red book!
Crossed Lines couldn’t be a more perfect title for this story! Like all of Lana’s books. Once you start you just need to finish. Maryanne is borderline with her mental health. She got expelled from her 12th boarding school. She ends up with her Aunt Elaine and her husband James (Thorny) he is a successful author. His marriage is on the rocks. Dealing with Maryanne was the last thing he wanted. Maryanne comes up with a plan to ruin Thorny for the grudge she holds against him. I was so happy when I found out the reasons for Maryannes behavior because it all made erfect sense why she is the way she is. Thorny is a complex character. There is a lot of questions I have about him. I think a POV from him would be amazing as well (hey I can wish! I wasn’t sure when I started how the story was going to go but let me tell you it was perfect. I really don’t want to give away to much. If you love Lana you will definitely love crossed lines.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to like this book, as Maryanne was an emotional wreck and acted somewhat crazy most of the time. But I could not put it down. The story line grabbed me and I kept reading and reading trying to figure out what was wrong with her and why she was the way she was. Plus everyone else had a lot of stuff going on also. It ended up being a page-turner for me. I loved the ending!