Review of A Black Deeper Than Death by M.E. Purfield

Miki Radicci, a 16-year-old famous artist, leads a secluded life in New York City. Not that she wants to dodge the press and celebrity; she wants to avoid people all together since she has the psychic ability to experience other people’s physical and emotional pain when near them. It gets so bad for her to handle that not even Xanax and alcohol can relieve the pain.

When she accidentally experiences the murder of a prominent business student from NYU, Miki attracts the attention of the police and the killer who threatens her and her family. But Miki doesn't really know enough to identify the killer. She experiences the death but can't see his face.

Miki decides to learn as much as she can about the killer by delving into the victim's secret life. She follows an urban underground trail that leads to goth modeling and low level criminals. As she discovers the limits to her psychic talents and her ballsy actions, she realizes that the killer is not who she thinks it is, but rather someone close to her life.

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Although a short novel, this first book in the Miki Radicci series feels like a full novel and I sped through it, trying to guess who the killer was before we got to the end of the book. Hint: I didn't guess who it was. I loved Miki, although she's a 16 year old art genius and alcoholic I felt that I could really connect with her and I loved her character. All of her actions are alcoholism are explained perfectly, which helped a lot!

The author describes this as YA Urban Noir Fantasy and I definitely agree with him - it has all the gritty, urban noir elements - crime scenes, dark streets and darker intentions. But we also have a few typical elements from YA Paranormal too - including a very attractive guy named Chris, who has inherited his Father's fortune - also known as a company who produces most of the cleaning products found under Miki's sink. Chris is really sweet and I really loved him!
But wait, there's more... Paranormal elements. As you've probably seen above Miki has a thing where she can feel other people's emotions - something that I really understand why it was a huge problem when her best friend Corey bangs his thumb when making her canvas things Did I mention he's also awesomely gay? I have so much love for this character.

The ending was SAD though. Like I said, I didn't guess the killer - there were so many twists and turns in this though, I'm not surprised! The author has A LOT of sequels planned and I plan to devour every single one, I can't wait to read more about Miki!

5/5

Received free from the Author in exchange for an honest review.

Review of Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

Everyone has something, someone, somewhere else that they’d rather be. For four high-school seniors, their goals of perfection are just as different as the paths they take to get there. Cara’s parents’ unrealistic expectations have already sent her twin brother Conner spiraling toward suicide. For her, perfect means rejecting their ideals to take a chance on a new kind of love. Kendra covets the perfect face and body—no matter what surgeries and drugs she needs to get there. To score his perfect home run—on the field and off—Sean will sacrifice more than he can ever win back. And Andre realizes that to follow his heart and achieve his perfect performance, he’ll be living a life his ancestors would never have understood. Everyone wants to be perfect, but when perfection loses its meaning, how far will you go? What would you give up to be perfect?

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A companion novel to Impulse, Perfect kept my interest for a longer period of time but ultimately, still bored the sh*t out of me. The book follows Cara, Kendra, Sean and Andre just after Connor's suicide attempt, which surprised me. It technically follows the same time frame as Impulse did, whereas I was expecting it to pick up where Impulse left off.

As a whole, I found Perfect frustrating. I couldn't stand Sean and I wanted someone to run him over, quite frankly. Kendra's anorexia annoyed me, in that no-one gave a shit that she was killing herself. Cara was on this never-ending self pity party and all she could think of was herself. Andre didn't annoy me, however. He was a pretty decent guy overall. A 5th character that has to be mentioned is Jenna, who I felt could have switched to her perspective at the end as after MAJOR EVENTS which were glossed over, people seemed to forget about her almost when I wanted to know how she was.

Ironically, I found the ending a little too Perfect. Everything suddenly went a bit soppy and it was going on about Couples and the families suddenly became understanding and most of the guys lives were back on track. A couple of issues just trailed off, leaving them unfinished. Basically, it was rushed. Hi, I just read SIX HUNDRED PAGES, give me something to make me feel as if it was worth it?

3/5

Many Covers Monday - The Future of Us

Today we're looking at the many different covers of The Future of Us. Some are rejackets and others are foreign language covers.

It's 1996, and Josh and Emma have been neighbors their whole lives. They've been best friends almost as long - at least, up until last November, when Josh did something that changed everything. Things have been weird between them ever since, but when Josh's family gets a free AOL CD in the mail,his mom makes him bring it over so that Emma can install it on her new computer. When they sign on, they're automatically logged onto their Facebook pages. But Facebook hasn't been invented yet. And they're looking at themselves fifteen years in the future.

By refreshing their pages, they learn that making different decisions now will affect the outcome of their lives later. And as they grapple with the ups and downs of what their futures hold, they're forced to confront what they're doing right - and wrong - in the present.

US and UK covers! Weirdly enough they've used the same couple, although the UK cover has gone with a lighter, more fun feel that matches the book quite well. The US cover seems a bit Dystopian to me!

Germany (left) went Beatles whilst Spain (right) decided to use the girl as pillow. But more of a war feel on Spain's, what with the Poppies. I don't know what the heck Germany was thinking.

I actually love these covers, as they're beautiful and they show what the book is about as well. The Danish cover (left) is really simple with the two computers (although there is only one in the story) but eye catching too. And I love the Facebook feel of Italy's!

And finally, Sweden went with some plastic balls.

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Which was your favourite?

Review of Wild Weeds by Summer Grey

"Tumbleweed is not a place. It is a none-such place. Look across the baked red, cracked earth of the desert, far across to where the hot white sky seems to wobble around the sweating dreamworld it contains. That is Tumbleweed."

15 year-old Dani never thought she would leave- until an imposter comes to Tumbleweed and takes her friend Bug away. Dani decides to leave her beloved home in order to rescue him, but venturing beyond the walls of Tumbleweed turns out to be more complicated than she thought, and after a fatal car accident, the question is: will she be able to return?

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Wild Weeds is a strange, surreal little book. It's pretty obvious from the start that everything is not quite as it seems and keeps it up until the end where I still wasn't quite sure what happened. I got it, sure but at the same time I felt like it needed a bit more explaining and expanding upon what we were given (Wild Weeds can be read within an hour at 60 pages).

The narrator of our story is Dani, a girl who clearly isn't quite all there from the beginning and I wasn't quite sure whether to believe what she was saying or not. Dani, Dani's boyfriend and a couple of other guys all go on this sort of fairytale adventure, visiting each other's families. There were a couple of scenes in this that confused me and one that simply grossed me out as it didn't quite go with the sleepy, surreal feeling of the story.

I wasn't at all surprised by the ending, I knew exactly what was coming. I would love to now more about Dani as I don't believe that her story is quite finished yet. I'll definitely be looking out for more of Summer Grey's stories in future!

4/5

Received free from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Many Covers Monday - City of Bones

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder -- much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It's hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing -- not even a smear of blood -- to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary's first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It's also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace's world with a vengeance, when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know...

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Let's kick things of with a giant chest and a smurf. Or the US and UK covers, if you prefer.

I love both of these covers, particularly the German cover on the right. The Italian cover girl's hood looks like it's made of stone... wonder if it's heavy?

Bizarre and more bizarre, or the Bulgarian and Polish covers. From a distance, Bulgaria's head looks like a really weird helmet and the Polish cover, although nice, has a cover guy that's far too young.

The Czech cover on the left is pretty weird and looks like the cover of a weird indie comic book. I love the Lithuanian cover though, It's really fitting.

Which did you love? Which did you hate? Let me know in the comments!

Next Week: The Future of Us by Carolyn Mackler and Jay Asher

Review of The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 13, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumors in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too; post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumors tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

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When I started reviewing back in 2010, I left a less than 100 word review of Looking For Alaska, basically saying it was rubbish and the author was trying a little too hard to be deep and philosophical. I still think that same now, of course, so when I heard about The Fault in Our Stars I wasn't sure if I should read it or not. However, I spotted a brand new shiny copy at my local library and jumped at the chance. And I'm so, so, glad I did.

The Fault in Our Stars can probably be summed up in one sentence - FEEL ALL THE EMOTIONS. And that's exactly what I did. I felt everything. But I didn't cry, which was surprising. Nothing wrong with the book and I still firmly believe that this is a must-read for 2012. If you're a contemporary fan, grab yourself a copy and get reading! Of course, John Green is still doing that deep and philosophical thing he likes doing and it has improved a lot since Looking For Alaska but I think he would be better at comedy!

The characters, settings and overprotective parents were all perfectly believable and extremely well researched. John said at the back that he used a bit of artistic license for the cancer thing but I didn't bat and eyelid once. Even at Patrick's balls. Or lack of them.

I loved Hazel and Augustus. They were the ultimate couple, one of those couples you should be jealous of but can't help loving because they're just so awesome together, just like Anna and Etienne. They broke my heart, they did. I'll definitely be picking up John Green's other books and reading them, after loving this one as much as I did. I'm almost reluctant to take it back to the library too - it's signed!

5/5

Review of Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men—thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the kings council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she’ll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she’s bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it’s the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

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I heard about Throne of Glass around three months ago and I loved the sound of it. Poison Study is one of my favourite books and that's literally my only fantasy book on my shelf, so when I heard there was ARC's of Throne of Glass available, I dived head first into the opportunity to snag myself a copy. Assassins! Romance! Trials! Castles! Magical Worlds!

400 pages of complete crap later, I passed the book onto my fantasy loving fiancée to read instead of doing what I wanted to do with it, which was throw the thing across the room. I was just so unbelievably... crap. I could deal with Celaena's ego, in fact I quite enjoyed it. As a beautiful woman and a notorious assassin, I would have been disappointed if she was any different. However, I couldn't put up with her constant whining about the Prince.

There was some redeeming things about this story, and that was Nox and the Assassin trials themselves. The mystery was okay but in the end went a little Harry Potter meets Merlin. I really enjoyed reading about the trials, which were heavily detail- oh wait, some of them were deigned a whole chapter if they were lucky while the others? One. Freaking. Sentence. I want to be exaggerating so much. Most of the actual interesting stuff, you know, the reason why Celaena is there in the first place, is shoved in the background so we can read about Celaena thinking about the Prince and why she shouldn't like him but wants him, the Prince thinking about Celaena and wanting to get in her knickers when he's not insulting her, despite having numerous other women - but he thinks that his Father's reign is wrong so he's so deep you know - and Chaol who thinks about Celaena constantly whilst thinking that he shouldn't be thinking of her and thinking that the Prince shouldn't be thinking of her either. However, I did think him cute in an annoying puppy sort of way.

In between all of this we occasionally have the vapid thoughts of some Lady I can't remember... hang on... Lady (I think) Kaltain, who think of nothing more than... getting in the Prince's knickers. Er.. underpants. I'm sorry guys but this is a guy who has slept with every woman in the castle, constantly insults Celaena and all he has to do to seem deep and handsome and god help me 'dreamy' is to think that his father's rule is wrong and that sending Celaena to Endovia (or whatever it's called) was also wrong. I'm sorry but unlike the majority of the people that will rate this 5 stars, I like my men to be... I dunno... intelligent? Is that really too much to ask in a guy? Oh but he reads books...

There's a lot of elements of other books and TV programs in here - Poison Study, Harry Potter, Merlin etc, and the plot was pretty much worked out by page 200. I'm not sure if I'm reading the rest of the books yet out of sheer curiosity, I do like to torture myself...

2/5

Review of The Girl in the Mask by Marie-Louise Jensen

Set in Georgian England, fifteen-year-old Sophia is trapped by the limitations of living in a man's world. Forced by her father to give up everything she loves, Sophia is ordered to make a new life in Bath. By day, she is trapped in the social whirl of balls and masquerades. By night, she secretly swaps her ball gowns for breeches, and turns to highway robbery to get her revenge . . . When one man begins to take a keen interest in her, Sophia must keep her distance, or risk unmasking her secret life.

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This book hooked me from the start. I was going to read 'just a couple' of chapters before bed, ended up reading more and then read as much as possible the next day! I started off thinking that Sophia had a pretty comfortable life with her cousin Jack, then her father returns home and everything goes to shit. He burns all of her books, poetry and plays, sends Jack away to the Army and packs Sophia up and takes her to Bath, so he can get her married and out of his hair as fast as possible.

Of course, going to fancy balls, learning to walk 'properly', learning to dance and wearing the fashions is the last thing Sophia. Especially as dancing is something she is particularly bad and wearing a hoop makes it particularly difficult to get down a roof. In her normal clothes, Sophia is pretty skilled at getting around through windows, a feat that caused her to meet Bill, who tells her of his sister Jenny and asks Sophia to look out for her. 

The story is a lot more political than it seems, until I got to the end I never realised. But I was far too busy looking out for Mr Charleton, a particularly handsome character that is solidly on my list of book boyfriends! I was hoping for a little more romance than there was in the book, there wasn't much.

The ending was okay but not great. I felt like it was missing something and there was definitely room for a sequel, as certain characters could do with further developing and others could do with just turning up. Sophia and Mr Charleton's romance definitely needed a fair few more chapters too!

4/5

Review of Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

Sometimes you don't wake up. But if you happen to, you know things will never be the same.

Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act -- suicide. 

Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade. 

Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills. 

And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle with his parents, his life, himself. 

In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. They grabbed the blade, the bottle, the gun -- and tried to end it all. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other's help, they can find their way to a better life -- but only if they're strong and can fight the demons that brought them here in the first place.

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After starting Identical and putting it down within the first 50 pages (child abuse and rape is NOT my cup of tea) I was a  little wary of reading this one, but I loved Burned, which was sitting on my shelf, waiting for a new Ellen Hopkins book to join it. So I picked this one up and started reading. As you do with books. Anyone tells you otherwise, they're lying.

This one wasn't as crap as Identical but wasn't as good as Burned either. I was just bored to be honest. The book hooked me from the beginning and I loved finding out about Tony, Conner and Vanessa's lives but towards the middle I just stopped caring so much and wasn't surprised by the ending at all, as Ellen seemed to connect with this character less than the others.

Ellen Hopkins absolutely hates these characters. I felt sorry for J.K. Rowling's characters, at least she gave them a quick death, Ellen is letting them suffer slowly and won't even let them die. Neglect, Child Abuse, Rape, Self Harm, Drugs, it got sillier the more I read on, which is were  found myself not giving a damn - because it because less believable to be honest.

And then there's Vanessa. Vanessa appears to be the hottest girl on the face of the planet and can even turn a gay guy straight. Both Tony (the gay guy in question) and Connor have the hots for her the moment they see her and it's just a question of who gets her, of course. There's some pretty crappy sappy (hey that rhymed) romance, deep talk crap later on and I think I skimmed over before my brain turned to mush and I started eating the book.

Overall, Burned isn't getting a partner yet. I plan to read the sequel, Perfect as that's told by Connor's twin sister Cara and I'm really hoping that it's not as stupid. I'll keep trying Ellen's books, I'm sure one day Burned with have a similar book sitting next to it, proudly on the shelf.

3/5

P.S. Someone has a tattoo of a quote from this book. Look!

Review of Gifted by Annalise Hulse

What really happens when we die?

It wasn't a question that seventeen year old Evangeline Devine - Evie to her friends - had ever thought about much. There was no reason why she should - her life on the small island of Jersey with her family and best friend Seth was untouched by tragedy, idyllic even.
Until the day that Evie nearly dies herself. When Seth pulls her from the watery depths that nearly claim her life, Evie is no longer the carefree girl she was. For now she is the recipient of an unwelcome supernatural gift. Now the dead are all around and impossible to ignore.
But when someone close to her dies mysteriously, Evie is forced to embrace her new power, for she may be the only one that can prove that it was no accident. Someone is getting away with murder.
  
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Oh wow, this book! I devoured it, reading wherever I could - in the car, in pizza hut! I loved every page of it and it's wonderfully well written. It's like The O.C. meets Buffy, only on a small island called Jersey (it's a real place) which is situated between France and England. All of the residents speak English as, well, England owns them. I think. Yes? I'm sure the Author will weigh in on this as she lives there!

There's a lot of elements in this that make up the perfect paranormal romance story in my opinion. Ghosts (I love me some ghosties), family secrets, a heroine that I love, a ghost friend that had me crying, bad guys, good guys, death, betrayal and Seth, the romantic interest! I'm so surprised it hasn't received any reviews yet as it's just... awesome.

Evie is a character I really admired. She just gets on with things, instead of wandering around moping about her head. She's far too busy trying to find out why she keeps seeing these ghosts! Her Grandmother helps out with that, of course! Always great to have a wise woman as a Grandmother. We meet Seth properly later on in the book, as in he gets his own chapter and we see Evie in his eyes and it was a great insight. I was originally going to stop reading and continue later but when I saw Seth had his own chapter I was like, Okay then!

Piers Du Pont turns up about a quarter of the way through the book and he adds a ton of questions that really moved the story along. As he used to bully Pete in the past, Evie cannot decide if he's still the same but pretending otherwise - or if he really has changed and is as nice as he pretends to be. He was a great character throughout!

The ending left me with a lot of anticipation for the future - there's going to be three or four books in this series and I for once can't wait to get my hands on them! The main story is wrapped up nicely, only leaving us with questions about a prophecy of sorts surrounding Evie, which I prefer in a cliff hanger! I'm definitely going to be shoving this book at everyone I know, I've already sent my first ever Goodreads recommendation!

5/5

 Received free form the Author in exchange for an honest review

Review of He's After Me by Chris Higgins

Anna's bruised and upset by the collapse of her parents' marriage. So much of the fallout - including responsibility for her wayward younger sister - seems to be heading in her direction. All she wants is to get the exam results she needs to get herself to university - and away from this mess. She certainly wants nothing to do with boys - until Jem appears. Gradually he wins her trust, and becomes everything Anna needs him to be.

But Anna's about to discover that love stories don't always have happy endings...

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He's After Me is a dark story showing the bad effects of relationships. Anna's Dad and split up with her mother and is living with someone much younger, only a few years older than Anna. Anna's Sister is getting in with a bad crowd and seeing someone who doesn't deserve her. And Anna has met Jem, a sweet guy with increasing possessive qualities... 

I must admit, I was so busy trying to work out who was the person in italics that I wasn't expecting the ending and it really shocked me. The last chapter was easily the strongest and left me thinking about it for hours afterward. I'm still thinking about it! 

Anna is a pretty naive character. When Jem starts being possessive, instead of backing away and telling him he needed to calm down and that she needed to spend time with her friends, she just went along with it. Parts of it I was like, 'Okay, she's just being a teenager and enjoying herself, nothing wrong with that!' but Jem's increasing possessiveness worried me and I wasn't sure if it was actually him in italic, which added to the worry.

I'm kinda worried about what will happen to Anna in the future. I'm pretty sure this is a stand alone novel but I would love a sequel to find out if she did get to where she wanted to go and I think a sequel would work as there are a lot of issues in the book that could be explored further.

Many Covers Monday - Venetian Style Masks

Hi! Nice to eat you.Today we're looking at Venetian Style Masks! Not necessarily Venetian, you understand, just pretty face masks that look vaguely like Venetian ones!

Hey look, they're looking at each other! I think the darker look of Cross My Heart appeals to me a lot more than The Girl in the Mask.

A bit more material on these ones. I think I like the deep red of The Diamond of Drury Lane, despite the difficulty the model has of keeping it on...

These two are part of a series and I definitely prefer the fluffy feathers over the harsher brown leaves of Vengeance. That duck face is a no-no though.

Masquerade is nice but... it kinda looks like she has a really elaborate biscuit on her head. I like the silver mask and fire of Carnival of Souls. This cover was revealed a couple of weeks ago so if you haven't seen it yet... TADAH!

Which ones did you love? Which did you hate? Let me know what you thought in the comments!

Next Week: Nothing because I forgot to post it!

Review of Intangible by J. Meyers

Twins Sera and Luke Raine have a well-kept secret—she heals with a touch of her hand, he sees the future. All their lives they’ve helped those in need on the sly. They’ve always thought of their abilities as being a gift.

Then Luke has a vision that Sera is killed. That gift they’ve always cherished begins to feel an awful lot like a curse. Because the thing about Luke’s ability? He’s always right. And he can’t do anything about it.

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I'll pause for a moment whilst you get a real good look at that cover. It's beautiful, no? It looks amazing on my Kindle app, with the black background! Definitely one of my favourites of the year and proof that a cover doesn't need to be elaborate to be unique and eye catching!

The story is easily as rich as the cover, packed the brim with action, suspense and characters. Quite a lot of characters in fact. I found the story a little slow going at first but once it got going it was really fun. Sera and Luke's story was fascinating and it was interesting to be reading knowing most of the secrets before they did.The story rollercoasters all over the place and there is a lot of stories to keep up with, something I didn't have a problem with for once. *blows party whistle thing* I usually have trouble keeping up with two narratives but in this book, nearly every character gets a say - Sera, Luke, Jonas, Fey, Marc and a couple of others (I think). Some readers may have difficulty keeping up with this many voices!

I did however find Marc's character quite annoying and I never really liked him. He was pretty cool at first 'I'm tortured, love me.' and I was like, 'Okay!' but he did STUPID THINGS and now I don't like him anymore. Jonas is a string favourite, he has the whole dark broody thing going on. Plus it's nice to picture him being played by Ian Somerhalder. Quinn, I remember him turning up a couple of times and I still have no freaking clue who he is or where he works or where he met Luke and Sera.

I think one of my favourites had to be Lillith. She really was like a spoilt child in many ways and I found her really cute to be honest! I wanted to take her home and keep her as a pet. She's one of many weird things and so far we've covered Super Powers, The Fae, Vampires and Garden Gnomes. Or probably just Gnomes. But Garden Gnomes sound COOL. There's secret things revealed at the end and I really want to know what's going to happen next! There is a Next Book right?

4/5

Received free from the Author in exchange for an honest review

Review of Black Heart Blue by Louisa Reid

Hephzibah: You've no idea what it's like having a freak for a sister.

Rebecca: Born first, prettier, Hephzi's always been the popular one.

The Father: When he was busy with his bottle we were usually safe. Usually.

The Mother: Her specialist subject was misery and lessons of painful silence ...

Hepzibah and Rebecca are twins. One beautiful, one disfigured. Trapped with their loveless parents, they dream of a normal life. But when one twin tragically dies, the other must find a way to escape. Because if she doesn't, she'll end up like her sister.

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I requested this as a review copy and I did receive one, but I actually started this book in the library. I spotted a different cover of it and it took me a moment to work out it was the same book! I immediately sat down for 45 minutes and lost myself in this amazingly beautiful, thought provoking story. And then went home and continued reading it! 

There's an overall feeling of doom hanging over the book when I was reading Hephzibah's chapters and that's because she writes of 'Before'. Rebecca writes of 'After' - after Hephzibah has died. I found it difficult to connect with Hephzibah and I can't decide if this is because I knew she would die at some point or because overall, she was a very frustrating character. Rebecca has Treacher-Collins Syndrome and I strongly felt that Hephzibah should have been protecting her sister but instead she seemed to be constantly putting her down, letting Rebecca take the beatings for her and cared more about escaping for the night to go partying than working out a plan to run away. I know she was an abused child herself, but I still found it immensely difficult to like her.
Rebecca is easily the stronger character. You find out various secrets throughout her story and it slowly became clear just how strong a person she was. Her chapters gave me hope, that she might one day escape her prison and make a life for herself.

This book is a difficult read and deals with a lot of sensitive issues. A lot more than I was expecting! When I finished the story though, I definitely felt satisfied with the ending and even laughed a couple of parts. I'm really looking forward to Louisa's next book, Lies Like Love. I have no idea what it will be about but I know I will love it. 

4/5

Received free from Razorbill in exchange for an honest review.