‘Escaping From The Shadows’ by C.L. Tustin is a romance story with a darker side to it that makes this more than just a sweet story of love, instead it explores the manipulative side too, something people don’t think about.

Anastasia Travess is a woman who, from the outside looks to have it all. She is beautiful, caring and talented, just proves again, appearances can be deceptive. All Anastasia wants is for her abusive father to love her.
One thing she can definitely count on is her best friend, Piers. The only problem is, Piers feels more than a best friend to her, he has deeper feelings than that.

When Piers has to make a decision between following his heart by telling Anastasia the real depth of his feelings, or sort his family out he chooses his family. In doing this he also pushed Anastasia towards his younger brother Mark. This has far-reaching consequences nobody could have ever foreseen.

From the first few chapters I knew something was going to spectacularly fall apart for Anastasia, I could feel the underlying tension and wondered what would it be and who would cause it? She is a woman who has suffered in various ways throughout her life these things impact upon her poor choices of relationships always attempting to find love in the wrong places. She is a character I really felt empathy and pity for such a damaged woman as Anastasia. Her friendship with Piers is the only concrete thing in her life and even that is kept at arm’s length to a degree. Their real feelings never voiced but he is always there for her, until the time comes when he decides to steer her to Mark, his younger brother.

Mark, as most people in Anastasia’s life, has his own hidden agenda and between them all we see Anastasia become a truly different woman than she should be. This makes for a heartbreaking picture of a woman lost in her life.

As I read this book the one thing that struck me was that true love can help anyone escape the shadows created by the ones with hidden agendas. The ones who aim to hurt and abuse.

For me, C.L Tustin has created a story that had me mentally pushing Anastasia out of her situation and willing her to realise what was going on and run… run to Piers! A story that shows us how easy people with agendas can manipulate a person to change without even realising it happens.

Thanks to Rachel’s Random Resources and C.L Tustin for the copy of the book.