Cicatrice: New Eyes and Brave by Jo Boyle follows the intertwined lives of Jamie Stevens and Mel Lal. Once inseparable in college, their bond was shattered when Mel suddenly disappeared, leaving Jamie devastated. Mel has lived in the shadows, haunted by her past, both figuratively and literally, closing herself off from love and connection. When fate brings them together again at Toby’s Café, Mel’s world is thrown into turmoil. Mel longs to protect Jamie from the dangers trailing her and struggles to hide the depth of her feelings. Jamie, however, is determined to help Mel face her past, even while entangled in a relationship with a wealthy, ambitious, and arrogant partner. As their reunion stirs unresolved emotions, danger looms closer as a ruthless arms dealer, bent on revenge, is hunting Mel down. Caught between love, fear, and survival, Mel must summon the courage to confront her past before it destroys them both.

Cicatrice: New Eyes and Brave by Jo Boyle was a compelling and intriguing read. The action kicked off from the very first page and never let up. With its fast-paced plot and constant twists and turns, I was never sure what would happen next. The suspense kept me on edge, flipping through the pages as quickly as I could. Despite tackling difficult themes such as sexual assault, brutal violence, and trauma, Boyle handled them with sensitivity and care. At its heart, this is a story filled with both love and pain, written in a style that pulled me deeply into the plot. The characters were authentic and relatable, with Mel's and Jamie’s stark differences creating a striking dynamic that gave the story real emotional weight. The book was excellently written and emotionally powerful, and had me hooked from beginning to end.

Cicatrice: New Eyes and Brave by Jo Boyle is a thriller set in Australia and India. In Mumbai, at the age of six, Malavika is bundled into a car and taken from her family. Her Hindu family was involved in burning down a mosque, and animosity is rife. Her brother, Naseem, is blamed by Amir for the death of his family, so he captures Malavika and holds her prisoner. She is tortured and starved. When she escapes, she returns to Australia and meets her first love, Jamie, again. It’s been five years since they last met, and Malavika left with no notice and no goodbye. Now Jamie has a new partner, Suzanne, and neither of them realizes that Malavika is on the run and she will do anything to protect Jamie. This leads to many understandings and psychological trauma. On returning to India, events turn violent, putting everyone in danger.

Jo Boyle’s Cicatrice is populated with villains and heroines and those seeking revenge. I liked that the author set her book in Melbourne and Mumbai, as I got a feel for faraway places. Malavika is a well-meaning character, but I did get a little frustrated that she was not more open and honest about her situation. At times, I was unsure if even her love interest, Jamie, was to be trusted, and there were other characters I suspected, too. The action, especially in the second part of the book, is wild, and I liked the flashbacks to Malavika’s imprisonment. The villains are all very bad, with revenge being the driving force, caused initially by religious differences. Boyle ties up all the loose ends and answers any readers' questions as the book comes to a terrifying climax. LGBTQ fans will love this book.

Cicatrice: New Eyes and Brave is the story of college friends Jamie Stevens and Mel Lal, and when we first meet Mel, she’s on the run, hunting as well as being hunted. The past few years have been tough for Mel, really tough, but she has endured because that is her only option. Her enduring friendship with Jamie is her greatest weakness as well as her greatest strength, most especially when she is caught up in a revenge scheme that has nothing to do with her. Author Jo Boyle gives us a thrilling story of love and betrayal, anger and vengeance that weaves in the years-long friendship between Mel and Jamie. As we become immersed in their past and present, the action keeps the story moving forward beautifully.

Jo Boyle does a really great job of showing the friendship and connection between Jamie and Mel, which helps us understand what motivates both women. What Mel has gone through is, at times, painful, but it also highlights her strength and her determination to return to her friend, who maybe could be something more than a friend. The action pulls you in, but it’s the poignant friendship and the strength of what one will endure for a relationship that kept me interested until the very end. Cicatrice: New Eyes and Brave is a gut-wrenching journey of friendship, revenge, and survival that takes the reader from Australia to India, from the depths of sorrow to the joy of reunion.

In Cicatrice: New Eyes and Brave, Jo Boyle delivers a tangled, emotionally resonant story that follows Mel (Brinda Anand, a.k.a. Malavika Lal), a wandering freelance photographer with past trauma. Mel drifts from city to city, haunted by memories of violence, love, and betrayal. After a brief, tense encounter with Sienna—a woman who may or may not be connected to someone hunting Mel—she flees Perth, only to be drawn back to Melbourne, the city of her former life and her greatest heartbreak. There, she is unexpectedly reunited with Jamie Stevens, her once closest friend and emotional anchor. As Mel faces dangerous threats from her past, she struggles with her feelings for Jamie, who is now in a relationship with the controlling and secretive Suzanne. The story details Mel’s painful childhood, the trauma inflicted by a sadistic man called Amir Hashim, and other painful experiences. Can she reconcile with her past, reconnect romantically with the person she has always loved, and find freedom?

Jo Boyle’s novel was enjoyable to read, with well-crafted characters and atmospheric settings. Mel is a heroine forged in pain—her emotional and physical scars are as much a part of her as her skills in survival and self-sabotage. Jamie, kind and forgiving to a fault, is both Mel’s hope and her biggest weakness, a character who persists in loving despite betrayal. The supporting cast—especially the manipulative Suzanne and the menacing Amir—are rendered with nuance, never mere caricatures. The setting takes you through the different Australian cities, vivid and detailed. You also get flashbacks about India. I loved how this author uses introspection, balancing it cleverly with engaging dialogue, memory, and trauma. Cicatrice is a suspenseful narrative with a complex structure that mirrors the heroine's fractured psyche. I loved the beautiful prose, the characters that resonated with me, and the skillful plotting.