REVIEW: On The Edge by Allison van Diepen

Title: On The Edge

Author: Allison van Diepen

Publisher: HarperTeen

ISBN: 9780062303448

Pages: 294

Rating: 5/5

Synopsis: Maddie Diaz never should have taken that shortcut through the park. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have seen two members of the Reyes gang attacking a homeless man. Now, as the only witness, she knows there’s a target on her back. 

But when the Reyes jump her on the street, Maddie is protected by a second gang and their secretive leader, Lobo, who is determined to take down the Reyes himself. Lobo is mysterious and passionate, and Maddie begins to fall for him. But when they live this close to the edge, can their love survive?

One thing you should probably know about me, I’m a huge sucker for books that involve gangs, the mafia, bad boys and probably everything that is related to these three. Honestly, lock me in a room full of books that fit into the categories above, I probably wouldn’t object.

On The Edge didn’t fail to amaze me. I had so many great expectations from this book, mainly because I decided to skip the reviews of this book on Goodreads (because no matter what the review said, it’d probably affect me) and also because hey, it has a gang and a mysterious gang leader and a passionate love story in it.

“All I could think of was how terrible this world was. How humans could be so cruel to one another.”

I want to talk about the writing before getting to the plot though. I’m not going to write a super long paragraph, just talking about its writing, I only want to say that it was really easy to read the book. Maybe it’s kind of related to the plot, I don’t know but you really are able to finish this book in one sitting. I was a bit worried that there were going to be too many names and details to remember and that they would become confusing and hard to remember at one point, but that wasn’t the case at all. Like I said, I’m pretty sure most people would be able to finish this in one sitting without having problems.

I liked how the author gave place to a guy who was being judged because of his tattoos and past in the story. Obviously, to be careful around the gangs and all they need to judge people and act upon that judgement (because you can never be too careful, even I do that) but it was still nice to read about that, it gave the story more perspective in a way.

Excluding the one about who Lobo was correctly, my guesses about many things were not correct and I like being surprised while reading so yes, I gave the book a plus for not being predictable.

“We’re all works in progress, Diaz. We’re all broken and bleeding and trying to fix ourselves up into something human.”

LOBO. L O B O . O H M Y G O D. ASFALKFHA.

He was arrrgghhhhhhhhhhh, so arghhhhh that I even lost the ability to form proper sentences. I don’t even know what to say about him!

A perfect gentleman…

“In my head, I talk to you, and you get me. In my head, I think about you and what I want to say to you and…”

with a hint of.. what’s it even called?!

“… do to you.”

I also loved how the book talked about important issues like woman trafficking and drugs-mostly woman trafficking though. I liked how there was a group of people, solely trying to get rid of the people associated with this. Besides, people talked about woman trafficking, too and they were aware of this problem.

To conclude, I can say that On The Edge is a perfect book for the ones who like anything with gangs and bad boys, with just the perfect amount of action and romance.

For the first time ever, I’m feeling the “I’m jealous of people who are reading my favorite book for the first time. I wish I could do that.” sentence on an emotional basis.

‘Her name is Maddie Diaz,’ he said from behind his bandanna. ‘Take care of her.’ He bent to my ear, ‘Hasta luego.’

Then he was gone.

Where to Buy: Amazon // Book Depository