Review: Nowhere But Here

Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Thunder Road, #1
Released: June 4th 2015
Publisher: Mira INK
Length: 496 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

An unforgettable new series from acclaimed author Katie McGarry about taking risks, opening your heart and ending up in a place you never imagined possible.

Seventeen-year-old Emily likes her life the way it is: doting parents, good friends, good school in a safe neighborhood. Sure, she's curious about her biological father—the one who chose life in a motorcycle club, the Reign of Terror, over being a parent—but that doesn't mean she wants to be a part of his world. But when a reluctant visit turns to an extended summer vacation among relatives she never knew she had, one thing becomes clear: nothing is what it seems. Not the club, not her secret-keeping father and not Oz, a guy with suck-me-in blue eyes who can help her understand them both. 

Oz wants one thing: to join the Reign of Terror. They're the good guys. They protect people. They're…family. And while Emily—the gorgeous and sheltered daughter of the club's most respected member—is in town, he's gonna prove it to her. So when her father asks him to keep her safe from a rival club with a score to settle, Oz knows it's his shot at his dream. What he doesn't count on is that Emily just might turn that dream upside down. 

No one wants them to be together. But sometimes the right person is the one you least expect, and the road you fear the most is the one that leads you home. 

It is now abundantly clear that McGarry and I will never find common ground. I’ve read several of her books by now, and while I tried very hard not to nitpick, I inevitably struggled to finish them. It needs to be said that I went into this book with the best of intentions. I was hoping that a new series would mean a clean slate, a new opportunity and a chance to build a very different opinion. Alas, it was not meant to be.

Review: Rogue

Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Talon, #2
Published: May 7th 2015
Publisher: Mira INK
Length: 432 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

Deserter. Traitor. ROGUE. Ember Hill left the dragon organization Talon to take her chances with rebel dragon Cobalt and his crew of rogues. But Ember can't forget the sacrifice made for her by the human boy who could have killed her—Garret Xavier Sebastian, a soldier of the dragonslaying Order of St. George, the boy who saved her from a Talon assassin, knowing that by doing so, he'd signed his own death warrant. Determined to save Garret from execution, Ember must convince Cobalt to help her break into the Order's headquarters. With assassins after them and Ember's own brother helping Talon with the hunt, the rogues find an unexpected ally in Garret and a new perspective on the underground battle between Talon and St. George. A reckoning is brewing and the secrets hidden by both sides are shocking and deadly. Soon Ember must decide: Should she retreat to fight another day...or start an all-out war?

The best thing about Julie Kagawa is that she can get away with almost anything. She put us through hell so many times – just think of that cliffhanger in The Eternity Cure – and still we keep coming back for more.

Review: Talon

Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Talon, #1
Released: January 15th 2015 
Publisher: Mira INK
Length: 449 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

Long ago, dragons were hunted to near extinction by the Order of St. George, a legendary society of dragon slayers. Hiding in human form and growing their numbers in secret, the dragons of Talon have become strong and cunning, and they're positioned to take over the world with humans none the wiser.

Ember and Dante Hill are the only sister and brother known to dragonkind. Trained to infiltrate society, Ember wants to live the teen experience and enjoy a summer of freedom before taking her destined place in Talon. But destiny is a matter of perspective, and a rogue dragon will soon challenge everything Ember has been taught. As Ember struggles to accept her future, she and her brother are hunted by the Order of St. George.

Soldier Garret Xavier Sebastian has a mission to seek and destroy all dragons, and Talon's newest recruits in particular. But he cannot kill unless he is certain he has found his prey: and nothing is certain about Ember Hill. Faced with Ember's bravery, confidence and all-too-human desires, Garret begins to question everything that the Order has ingrained in him: and what he might be willing to give up to find the truth about dragons. 

Here are the things one can expect in a book by Julie Kagawa: love triangles, enemies-to-lovers, forbidden love.

And here are the things that always end up working in a book by Julie Kagawa: love triangles, enemies-to-lovers, forbidden love.

Review: Lies We Tell Ourselves

Author: Robin Talley
Series: Standalone
Published: October 3rd 2014
Publisher: Mira INK
Length: 336 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

It's 1959. The battle for civil rights is raging. And it's Sarah Dunbar's first day of school, as one of the first black students at the previously all-white Jefferson High. No one wants Sarah there. Not the Governor. Not the teachers. And certainly not the students – especially Linda Hairston, daughter of the town’s most ardent segregationist. Sarah and Linda have every reason to despise each other. But as a school project forces them to spend time together, the less their differences seem to matter. And Sarah and Linda start to feel something they've never felt before. Something they're both determined ignore. Because it's one thing to be frightened by the world around you - and another thing altogether when you're terrified of what you feel inside.

Lies We Tell Ourselves is more than just a book; it’s a reading experience, and a painful one at that. On page 7, I started clutching the book tightly, bracing myself for the pain it would inevitably bring. On page 11, tears were already streaming down my face and I wasted no effort in trying to suppress them.

Review: Pawn (The Blackcoat Rebellion, #1)

Author: Aimee Carter
Series: The Blackcoat Rebellion
Published: January 3rd 2014
Publisher: Mira INK
Format: Paperback, 304 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

For Kitty Doe, it seems like an easy choice. She can either spend her life as a III in misery, looked down upon by the higher ranks and forced to leave the people she loves, or she can become a VII and join the most powerful family in the country.
If she says yes, Kitty will be Masked—surgically transformed into Lila Hart, the Prime Minister’s niece, who died under mysterious circumstances. As a member of the Hart family, she will be famous. She will be adored. And for the first time, she will matter.
There’s only one catch. She must also stop the rebellion that Lila secretly fostered. The same one that got her killed…and one Kitty believes in. Faced with threats, conspiracies and a life that’s not her own, she must decide which path to choose—and learn how to become more than a pawn in a twisted game she’s only beginning to understand.

After a very rough beginning that almost made me abandon Pawn and never look back, Aimee Carter’s first foray into dystopian fiction turned out to be pretty decent after all. Even with a few significant flaws, it is an utterly absorbing read.

The rough beginning and the desperate choice Kitty was forced to make almost made her unredeemable in my eyes. There are very few things I find unforgivable, and Kitty came very close to making the biggest mistake of her life. Truth be told, it wasn’t the job she signed up to do that bothered me so much, it was the loving boyfriend she left behind, her overall attitude and lack of trying to find a different solution. I don’t take kindly to heroines who give up too easily, especially when they hurt other people in the process.

Fortunately, as the story progressed, Kitty miraculously discovered that she does in fact have a spine, and she learned to fight back, no matter the cost. Being thrown in the middle of a twisted family makes you or breaks you, I suppose, and Kitty turned out to be quite a fighter.

After being lead to believe that there was a strong love triangle in Pawn, I was thrilled when one didn’t truly develop. A mild attraction to Lila Heart’s gorgeous, competent and kind-hearted fiancé was more than understandable, but there was only ever one boy for Kitty, and it wasn’t Knox Creed. This is why one should never trust back cover descriptions – they are sensationalized and therefore misleading, and just as they can make a bad story sound interesting, they can make quality seem formulaic as well.

While I found Carter’s world interesting, her worldbuilding left a lot to be desired. No explanation was offered for how the Hearts came to power, and the infamous Elsewhere, where all the undesirables get sent, was never properly outlined. We caught one horrifying glimpse of it, but since it was constantly used to threaten Kitty into obedience, more details were definitely required. In addition, I find it hard to believe that Kitty’s dyslexia would go undiagnosed in a futuristic society. Considering her circumstances before she became Lila Heart, a treatment was highly unlikely, but surely her new “family”, with all their resources, would know what to do about it. Their doctors can make someone taller, and yet they can’t recognize a reading disorder.

Overall, however, I found Pawn to be a surprisingly good beginning to a new dystopian series. The person Kitty has become gives me much hope for the next installment, which I’ll be picking up the second it becomes available.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.

Review: Crash Into You (Pushing the Limits, #3)

Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits, #3
Released: November 26th 2013
Publisher: Mira INK
Format: Paperback
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes the explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane.

The girl with straight A's, designer clothes, and the perfect life - that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list.

One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker - a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks - no matter how angelic she might look. But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well then, methinks I’m batshit crazy because I just never learn.

Even though I’m fully aware that she has many, many fans, Katie McGarry’s books never quite worked for me. I often found her approach to certain subjects too shallow, her characters just a tiny bit plastic and her writing awfully clichéd. They are, for me, the type of books I can finish in one sitting, and then promptly forget they exist.

The same stands true for Crash Into You, albeit somewhat amplified. Despite my lukewarm feelings towards the previous two books, I found myself looking forward to Isaiah’s story. Of all McGarry’s characters, he’s the one I felt had the most potential. But instead of building upon the promising foundations, McGarry turned him into one of those bad-on-the-outside-decent-on-the-inside archetypal romance heroes, thus effectively ruining his character and the overall story for me. Where was the expected depth? Mommy issues and a few false rumors do not a hero make.

Back when Isaiah thought himself in love with Beth, I wholeheartedly agreed that they weren’t right for each other. Two severely damaged individuals would always drag each other down, no matter their intentions. But who he got instead wasn’t much better for him, and she was a disappointment for me as a reader as well. I was promised a street racer, and instead I got a skittish, never-been-kissed girl with no backbone and more issues than I could count. So even though Isaiah ended up being as stereotypical as they come, the real letdown was Rachel.

With her personality and her will practically smothered by her family, Rachel grew up into a weak, strange girl prone to panic attacks. Her small rebellion, the street race where she met Isaiah, was a once-in-a-lifetime deal, not a common occurrence like the book description led me to believe. There were so many times I wanted to shake some sense into Rachel, make her stand up to her family instead of cowering and throwing up until her throat was raw and bleeding. Their relationship was at times exaggerated to the point of being ridiculous, which is exactly what McGarry usually does and why her books rarely work for me.

As always, secondary characters were far more interesting, probably because they haven’t been turned into clichés just yet. Abby has a great story to tell, McGarry has hinted at a horrible past that I would normally be excited to explore. My problem is that I don’t trust this author to do it properly, without turning Abby into a textbook teen martyr, a troubled girl only waiting for the right boy to solve all her problems. The next book isn’t Abby’s, however, that dubious honor belongs to Rachel’s brother West.

I’ve decided to part ways with McGarry so many times, only to pick up the newest title as soon as it becomes available. This time, I know better than to make such statements. I don’t feel particularly drawn to West’s story, but once it comes out… who knows?

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the publisher for review purposes. No considerations, monetary or otherwise, have influenced the opinions expressed in this review.

Review Dare You To (Pushing the Limits, #2)

Author: Katie McGarry
Series: Pushing the Limits, #2
Release date: June 7th 2013
Publisher: Mira INK
Paperback, 352 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

If anyone knew the truth about Beth Risk's home life, they'd send her mother to jail and seventeen-year-old Beth who knows where. So she protects her mom at all costs. Until the day her uncle swoops in and forces Beth to choose between her mom's freedom and her own happiness. That's how Beth finds herself living with an aunt who doesn't want her and going to a school that doesn't understand her. At all. Except for the one guy who shouldn't get her, but does....

Ryan Stone is the town golden boy, a popular baseball star jock-with secrets he can't tell anyone. Not even the friends he shares everything with, including the constant dares to do crazy things. The craziest? Asking out the Skater girl who couldn't be less interested in him.

But what begins as a dare becomes an intense attraction neither Ryan nor Beth expected. Suddenly, the boy with the flawless image risks his dreams-and his life-for the girl he loves, and the girl who won't let anyone get too close is daring herself to want it all...

I doubt I was the only one who was convinced Dare You To would be Beth and Isaiah’s story and I confess to being a bit disappointed when I found out it wasn’t. I was already somewhat invested in this couple and I wanted to see how McGarry would make things work between them. But what I didn’t realize at the time was that she never could.

I can’t imagine that two severely damaged people would be good for each other in the long run. I don’t minimize the value of their friendship and the fact that they saved each other more times than they can count, but a good relationship needs to be built on healthier foundations and there was very little that was healthy in Beth and Isaiah’s relationship. Although I was reluctant to admit it at first, Beth needed someone like Ryan to help her clear her life of shadows and find a more peaceful path.

Ryan isn’t without problems himself and he makes many mistakes along the way, but overall, I love his gentleness and his endless patience and he quickly turned into my favorite among McGarry’s characters.

My problem with Katie McGarry’s books isn’t her writing, or her stories, or even her characters. It’s how they react to emotional trauma, how they handle pain that bothers me. I never feel that it’s genuine, there’s something textbook perfect about it that fails to convince me every time. Not everyone reacts to trauma in the same way and not everyone can be fixed with two hugs and a conversation and that is a mistake McGarry keeps repeating with all her characters, in my opinion.

It was a huge problem I had with Pushing the Limits and unfortunately, McGarry’s understanding of troubled teens hasn’t improved any. But I enjoy her books enough to read the last one, although I doubt I’ll remember much about the first two by then.

Review: The Eternity Cure (Blood of Eden, #2)

Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Blood of Eden, #2
Release date: May 3rd 2013
Publisher: Mira Ink
Paperback, 434 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository

In Allison Sekemoto's world, there is one rule left: Blood calls to blood

She has done the unthinkable: died so that she might continue to live. Cast out of Eden and separated from the boy she dared to love, Allie will follow the call of blood to save her creator, Kanin, from the psychotic vampire Sarren. But when the trail leads to Allie's birthplace in New Covington, what Allie finds there will change the world forever-and possibly end human and vampire existence.

There's a new plague on the rise, a strain of the Red Lung virus that wiped out most of humanity generations ago-and this strain is deadly to humans and vampires alike. The only hope for a cure lies in the secrets Kanin carries, if Allie can get to him in time.

Allison thought that immortality was forever. But now, with eternity itself hanging in the balance, the lines between human and monster will blur even further, and Allie must face another choice she could never have imagined having to make.

The last two books in Julie Kagawa’s impressive bibliography – first The Lost Prince and now The Eternity Cure – show a certain level of maturity and self-assuredness that simply wasn’t there before. I always enjoyed her books, even those first few ones in which she relied on familiar mythology and tropes, but now that she trusts herself enough to fly solo, like has become too small a word for how I feel. In The Eternity Cure more than ever before, Kagawa kept all the fine threads tightly in control.

Things that bothered me in The Immortal Rules, like lack of backstory and worldbuilding, were neatly taken care of with Dawn of Eden, a prequel novella published in the ‘Til the World Ends anthology. Going into this sequel with the hows and whys properly explained allowed me to relax and sink into the story without the constant nagging questions rising at the back of my mind.

Our long-awaited reunion with Allison Sekemoto brings with it a few surprises. Months have passed since she left Eden behind, and while she’s getting closer to Kanin every day, she still hasn’t found him. After so many months spent in solitude, searching fruitlessly for her Sire, Allie is a somewhat different vampire. She is much stronger and far more confident, but even more importantly, she knows who and what she is, and although she suffers from occasional bursts of nostalgia, she never whines or wallows in self-pity anymore. This Allie is someone I can get behind, a person (oh, fine, a vampire) I can admire.

It’s probably why I felt so strongly about the romance this time, when it failed to touch me at all in the first book. Back then, I simply didn’t understand the attraction between her and Zeke, it seemed like something included pro forma rather than a passionate, heartfelt thing. Allie is not the only one who’s changed, matured. Zeke is hardened, different, but still the kind, gentle boy somewhere underneath. Still, this new and improved version seemed somehow more believable in those circumstances. To explain it like a vampire would: he stopped being prey and became a hunter instead.

After reading dozens of reviews, I think it’s safe to conclude that Jackal, Allie’s blood brother, is the readers’ favorite. I just love redeemed characters, but I love characters that dance on that fine line between good and bad, likeable and obnoxious, even more. Allie kept having to remind herself to hate him for what he’s done, and I had the same problem, although it’s safe to say Zeke never came near forgiving and forgetting. Jackal brought with him what the first book sorely lacked – a wonderful sense of humor. Without him, this would have been an action-packed, tense, but humorless adventure.

As much as I enjoyed my love-hate relationship with Jackal, Kanin remains my favorite. Quiet and solemn, he seemed a bit more approachable this time around, and possibly a bit warmer too, especially towards Allie. We finally learned about his past, and the revelations were timed perfectly. Instead of turning me and everyone else against him, they just made me love him even more.

The Eternity Cure is positively addictive and it took me completely by surprise. As someone who felt merely lukewarm about the first book, I didn’t expect to love it as much as I did, but I said exactly the same about The Lost Prince. I won’t make the same mistake a third time.

Review: The Lost Prince (The Iron Fey: Call of the Forgotten, #1)

Author: Julie Kagawa
Series: Call of the Forgotten, #1
Release date: January 6th 2013
Publisher: Mira INK
Paperback, 406 pages
Source: Publisher for review
Buy: The Book Depository


When the release of The Lost Prince was announced, I didn’t quite know what to think about it. In ninety percent of the cases, a spin-off isn’t the best idea an author can have and it ends up disappointing the fans. While I wasn’t the biggest fan of The Iron Fey in the world, I still enjoyed the series and I didn’t want it ruined in some sad attempt to milk the cash cow. Now, after reading the first book, I’m very excited that Ethan’s (and I suppose Keirran’s) story is being told.

As usual, what bothered most reviewers is actually what I enjoyed the most. Ethan is very angry; at himself, at his life, his parents, but above all at Meghan for abandoning him and deciding to cut all ties to her human family. The way he sees it, she is the Iron Queen now and she doesn’t need Ethan or the problems he inevitably brings. Being inside his head was interesting to say the least, and I thought it was done really well. I suspect that’s exactly how I’d feel and behave in Ethan’s shoes.

I honestly didn’t thing Kagawa was capable of writing a book without a love triangle, but even though I expected it, there wasn’t one in The Lost Prince, which is probably part of the reason I liked the book as much as I did. I loved Kenzie and Ethan’s relationship, they are definitely a couple I can get behind. Even with all their problems, they are both better people around each other and there’s this wonderful chemistry between them that makes my heart flutter every time. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same about Keirran and Annwyl, I just didn’t feel any sparks there. Since I know Kagawa is excellent at writing swoony romances, I can only assume this was done on purpose.

Keirran is the primary source of suspense, at least once you try to look at the big picture, and through him, Kagawa manipulates her readers splendidly. As much as I wanted to like him, I was never quite sure where he stood, and as sincere as he seemed, there were always doubts at the back of my mind. I don’t want him to turn bad, mostly because of who he is, but I fear that it’s inevitable.

Once again, Julie Kagawa simply excels at worldbuilding. Nevernever is just as rich and imaginative as before, if not more. She always paid attention to detail and this time is no different. I’m not usually one for long descriptions, but Kagawa has a talent for creating vivid images with no more than a few carefully chosen words.

It was old, even from a distance, I could see that. Stone walls and mossy roofs, vines coiled around everything. Trees pushing up through rock, roots draped and curled around stone. Some of the buildings were huge – massively huge. Not sprawling so much as they looked as if they were built by a race of giants.

Here comes the real shocker: I ended up liking The Lost Prince even more than I liked the original series. Lack of a dreaded love triangle probably contributed to that fact. If Kagawa continues following her usual pattern, this series will only get better. Considering how much I already like Kenzie and Keirran, and how much I’ve warmed up to Ethan, it seems I really have something to look forward to. More, please!

Review: Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles, #1)

Author: Gena Showalter
Series: White Rabbit Chronicles
Publication: October 5th 2012
Publisher:Mira Ink
Paperback, 368 pages
Buy: The Book Depository



I’m sure you’ve heard this before, but Alice in Zombieland has very little to do with Lewis Carroll’s classic. In fact, aside from the title itself and the white rabbit-shaped cloud that warns our Ali of danger, there’s nothing connecting the two. As someone who stays as far away from retellings as possible, I was overjoyed when I discovered this, but if you go into this expecting a new version of that story, you might find yourself disappointed.

Alice in Zombieland is, above all, a fun little book suitable for younger audience. While there are plenty of hot scenes and sexual references in there to contradict what I just wrote, the overall story lacks enough substance and depth to satisfy a more mature reader. This is mostly due to formulaic narrative and stock characters. That’s not to say, however, that this book is not worth reading – it is, as it has several things going for it, but it’s not nearly as original or exciting as I’d hoped.

The story is all too familiar: Ali’s entire family dies in a car accident caused by her schizophrenic father who was trying to save them from invisible monsters. After the tragedy, Ali goes to live with her grandparents, where she soon discovers that her father wasn’t nearly as crazy as he sounded. Monsters start popping up everywhere, but with them comes a group of young people led by the scorching hot Cole Holland, all of them trained to kill the zombies and defend humanity.

Although I liked Cole well enough, he didn’t even come close to provoking the reaction Showalter was going for. All the ingredients were there: the initial rudeness, the mystery surrounding him, the incredibly attractive looks, overprotectiveness, strength and impressive fighting skills, but I just never felt truly enthralled by him, not for a split second. It’s probably because, as a love interest, he seemed just a bit too plastic. Take this quote for example:

I knew he was strong, determined, protective, and that he cared about his friends more than he cared about himself. He obeyed no rules but his own. In the Wild West days, he would have been an outlaw.

It’s true, Cole is all those things, which makes him exactly like hundreds of other characters that showed up recently. I’ve seen authors work with this mold and still manage to create something unique, be it through the sense of humor or something else entirely. But Showalter just didn’t succeed in making Cole memorable at all.

Where she failed with him, she succeeded with Alice… at least up to a point. Alice is also a stock character, but unlike with Cole, Gena Showalter managed to breathe some true spirit into her, which is why she’s the only thing I’m sure I’ll remember about this book.

Oddly enough, Showalter’s take on zombies was the most original thing about Alice in Zombieland, and my favorite part, to be honest. Existing only in the spirit realm, they cannot be seen or touched by just anyone, but that doesn’t mean they can’t do real harm. In order to fight them, Cole and the gang have to separate their spirits from their bodies, and it’s the first thing Ali had to learn as well. While I’m usually a blood-and-gore kinda gal, I found it all very interesting, although a bit confusing at times.

All in all, Alice in Zombieland is a fun, but rather unmemorable book that, I fear, was written merely to satisfy the market, and not in a creative outburst of any sort. A lot of adult authors are deciding to write YA these days because, let’s be honest, that’s where the money is, but some manage better than others, and Gena Showalter falls somewhere around the middle.

Do I think this book is worth reading? Definitely, if you’re looking for a compelling, fun read you’re likely to forget in a short while. There are times when a reader needs exactly that.

Review: Pushing the Limits

Author: Katie McGarry
Publisher: Mira Ink
Publication date: August 3rd 2012
Paperback, 392 pages



I still haven’t quite decided on my rating for this book. It’s somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but since I’m out of time and I hate being indecisive, I’ll go with 4. On the one hand, Pushing the Limits was a very emotional reading experience for me. It made me laugh and it made me cry several times, which is a rare occurrence these days, contrary to what the rumors would have you believe. On the other hand, though, when I read it at all, I like my contemporary YA to be extremely realistic, and there were things about this book that just didn’t sit well with the adult, rational part of my mind, or rather my 28 years of experience. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

Echo Emerson used to be a golden girl: she went to all the right parties, had the best grades, the most popular boyfriend, a large group of friends and an older brother who adored her. Then, during her sophomore year, her brother Aires was killed in Afghanistan and, just months later, she was brutally attacked. Her arms are covered in ugly red scars, but even though Echo knows that her bipolar mother was somehow involved, that entire day is just a huge black hole in her memory.

Before his parents died in a fire, Noah Hutchinson used to be just like Echo, successful and popular. He played sports and dreamed about being accepted to some of the best colleges in the country. For the past two years, he and his two younger brothers have been separated and living in the foster system. The kids are together and with the same foster parents the entire time, but Noah has been moved around more times than he can count. Gradually, he gave up on his dreams, he stopped playing sports when he couldn’t afford it anymore, and started experimenting with soft drugs.
Echo and Noah are united by a common goal: breaking into the school counselor’s office and finding out what happened to Echo in her mother’s apartment and where exactly Noah’s baby brothers live.

Even though I had no trouble connecting with the characters (especially Echo), their relationship was very hard for me to swallow at first. McGarry kept telling me how they felt about each other and my mind registered it, but it took quite a while for me to actually feel it alongside them. This is my main grievance with this book: no matter how much I liked it, when I compare it to contemporary masterpieces written by Kirsty Eagar, Melina Marchetta, Cath Crowley, Jandy Nelson or Hannah Moskowitz, for example, somehow it loses some of its shine.

Another thing I just have to mention is Noah himself. It was impossible not to notice how truly wonderful he was, but instead of it being a good thing, it was a double-edged sword. Boys like Noah simply don’t exist. Kids in his situation aren’t just one deep conversation away from getting their act together, restoring their trust in humanity and setting their priorities straight. They don’t just wake up that easily. I needed Noah to be damaged according to his circumstances, but he just looked like it on the surface and underneath he was perfect.

Now that I managed to get it all off my chest, please disregard everything I wrote and go grab a copy of this book. It is, after all, a very promising debut that will hopefully make you laugh and cry just as much as it did me. It is, perhaps, more suitable for teens and people in their early twenties, but I guess that’s how it’s supposed to be.