At seventeen years old, Julie deals with more problems than most teenagers her age. After getting into an argument with her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend, she runs away from school. Quickly homeless and broke, her escape to Las Vegas leads her to an old Gypsy woman she meets outside of a supermarket when begging for food.

Julie’s hungry and heartbroken. She wants to find shelter from the rain and forget a life she has been despising for years. When the Gypsy offers to read her future in exchange for a meal, the challenge sounds like a dare. The tarot cards reveal a great destiny, and a perilous journey. What else can go wrong that hasn’t already happened? Julie finds the whole act entertaining until the Gypsy gives her a red heart shaped box containing twelve chocolates, and orders her to eat one.

Julie wakes up in an unwelcoming world filled with danger. A boy named Evan introduces himself as her guide, but will he really help her when she needs him the most? Demons of a long forgotten past haunt her dreams and seek revenge for something she doesn’t remember. Too many questions receive too little answers.

Reality and fantasy have melted to become one never ending nightmare where failure equals death. Will Julie accept the truth to survive? (Goodreads)

It's almost impossible to review this novella without giving anything away, but I will try.

In the beginning, it was quite hard for me to find my way into the story. It started without much introduction which is logical in such a short piece of literature. Yet, when presented with so many effects and results before getting to know their reasons and the actions that led to this point in time, it is hard to build up tension.

But this problem was only apparent for the first 10 or so pages. Then, I just got into the author's writing which flows nicely and into the heroine. Julie is funny and really sarcastic. She's a young girl who is full of anger and even gets into fights. When she meets Evan, I already assumed which kind of role he would come to play and I was right. But apparently, there's even more to it. Here, the author just drops a hint and leaves us alone at the end. Kind of like a very long short story with an open ending which still satisfies. It focuses on this one event in Julies life.

The whole atmosphere of the story is rather gloomy since there are hardly any happy parts in there. But this is loosened up by Julie's funny thoughts or remarks.

If you are looking for a quick read which throws you into a crazy world with a quick-witted female character, then you're right here and I absolutely recommend this read!