Elena

DNF

I read to 1/5 of the book and I put it down and realized I would never pick it back up again. I got that far in it and realized that not much has even happened. I loved Stardust by Gaiman so I figured I would really enjoy this! I was very wrong. There was just way too much descriptions of the surroundings and seemingly useless information. I had no respect for the main character. I generally dislike when it's hard to tell what's real and what isn't and in this book I was just waiting for him to tell me that every single thing he saw was not real. It was just too difficult to continue. I was warned about this book but figured I would give it the benefit of the doubt.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

I am going to start off by saying that writing what happens in a teenage girls head is extremely difficult. I am sure it is the same with a young guy's but I can't say I am an expert in that. This book was extremely difficult to get through. I basically had to force myself to keep going back because everything was just so over-the-top. Obviously everyone feels differently, but I felt that it was almost insulting to teenage girls the way this girl was fawning all over this guy. Yes when I was younger, of course I liked the bad boys and wanted to “fix” them. What happened to me and all of my friends that felt like this is that eventually we matured and grew up and out of it. We realized that it was not possible or not worth our time. However, this girl would just continue to take a situation and make the stupidest decision associated with it. Hmmm I am missing the necklace, oh he must have it but I won't tell anyone because I don't want to get him in trouble. Even when they were at the POLICE STATION she still felt like she was going to get him in trouble over some stupid little misunderstanding. AND HE WAS THE EXACT SAME! He didn't want to hurt her, even if it meant ruining his whole life. It was just too much unbelievable-ness. The only part that I actually thought was well written was when he was on the ground dying after being stabbed. It felt real. Everything before and after that moment was just completely unbelievable and over-exaggerated.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

This book started out extremely slow. The synopsis made it sound like it was going to be a thriller so I sat through the beginning thinking I was in for a treat. The first 80% of the book was essentially just Riley being paranoid. I can see how this was done to establish a baseline for just how off the rails she goes. Then suddenly we get our first dose of violence, the murder of the therapist. I read about 10 more pages before I realized that it actually happened, and not that she just heard about it on the news. Then everything else was very confusing. I get that it was supposed to be set up for shock value but I was less shocked and more just confused as to what was real or not, and not in an interesting intriguing way, but in a tedious, I have to keep re-reading, kind of way. I really liked the premise, I was ecstatic when I was approved to read this book only to be disappointed. The sister, Erin, was written as such a cliché. If you had watched any show or movie in which there is a strong female lawyer then it would just be déjà vu for you. I felt like there wasn't even really any depth to the main character. I felt like we go to know Wendy better than Riley, which is surprising as she was just a side character. Usually when action happens I have a hard time putting a book down, I just need to get through the juicy part right away. However, with this book it took me a whole day of recovery before I could go back and finish it.

I was also quite irritated that the death of the therapist was never really addressed. We don't really find out if that was actually her, and just have to assume it was, which is I feel is lazy.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

Wow I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It took me a little while longer than usual to get through it but that's only because I was savouring it. I was so curious how it was going to come together at the end and i have to say it was done very well. Everything I was curious about got covered very well.

I have to say that I kind of wish at the end that his daughter died. Not that I am a horrible person who wants to read about people's suffering but I feel like it would have had more of a gut punch. This mad did everything he could including killing someone to get his daughter back only to have her be killed anyway, it would have been more shocking. Nevertheless I still do like my happy endings, even though let's be honest, that poor girl's life will never be the same.

My only complaint about the writing was that it was written from the first person point of view in the main character's chapters but everyone else was in third person. I don't see why there needed to be this inconsistency, as we know of course that Reese is the main character and we would not feel strayed from that.

I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes thrillers and something that is more neutral than just hero and bad guy as it delves a bit into Reese's psyche and kind of why he does the things he does.

This book was provided to me by NetGalley for free in exchange for an honest review.

This book was unbearable. I got to exactly 50%, put it down, and never picked it up again and I know I never will. Nothing about the story was interesting, I didn't feel like I cared about any of the characters or what happens to them. This guy in the story was obviously delusional if he thinks that he can get his girlfriend back by helping his brother with his mental illness. How would anyone not find that creepy? I will admit I never got to the part where she actually finds out or whether he was able to help the brother but I know that if it was realistic it would not go well.

The point is I couldn't finish it and I would not recommend this to anyone.