Vada Bergen is broke, the black sheep of her family, and moving a thousand miles away from home for grad school, but she’s got the two things she loves most: her art and her best friend—and sometimes more—Ellis Carraway. Ellis and Vada have a friendship so consuming it’s hard to tell where one girl ends and the other begins. It’s intense. It’s a little codependent. And nothing can tear them apart. Until an accident on an icy winter road changes everything. Vada is left deeply scarred, both emotionally and physically. Her once-promising art career is cut short. And Ellis pulls away, unwilling to talk about that night. Everything Vada loved is gone. She’s got nothing left to lose. So when she meets some smooth-talking entrepreneurs who offer to set her up as a cam girl, she can’t say no. All Vada has to do is spend a couple hours each night stripping on webcam, and the “tips” come pouring in. It’s just a kinky escape from reality until a client gets serious. “Blue” is mysterious, alluring, and more interested in Vada’s life than her body. Online, they chat intimately. Blue helps her heal. And he pays well, but he wants her all to himself. No more cam shows. It’s an easy decision: she’s starting to fall for him. But the steamier it gets, the more she craves the real man behind the keyboard. So Vada pops the question: Can we meet IRL? Blue agrees, on one condition. A condition that brings back a ghost from her past. Now Vada must confront the devastating secrets she's been running from—those of others, and those she's been keeping from herself...
MELISSA'S REVIEW: 4 STARS
Leah Raeder’s latest, Cam Girl, was excellent. A complicated yet brave story that was full of intrigue and romance that hooked me right away and wouldn’t let go until the bitter beautiful end. I loved the complexity of the characters and the storyline and reveled in Raeder’s lyrical prose and vivid imagery. Vada and Ellis – these characters have got to be two of the most complex I’ve ever read. They are bold, loyal, passionate, and brimming with youthful confidence. Yet, they are meek, deceitful and manipulative, and their friendship is wildly codependent. Basically, they’re a hot mess. But, they both manage to bring out feelings of sympathy and empathy. They were relatable and honest and in your face, and I LOVED IT. The story was just as intriguing as the characters. It was twisty and suspenseful and every time I thought I had a figured out, Raeder threw me off the path. I enjoyed going back to key points in the story and evaluating the way she deceived me. I applaud Raeder’s propensity for depicting diverse subject matters in her novels. Her representation of physical disability, sex work and gender identity is courageous for the genre and is hopefully encouraging to others to provide voice to these underrepresented topics. Recommended to readers who enjoy themes of friendship and self-discovery, unpredictable plotlines and unlikable heroines.