Brenna Yovanoff

For a cover this lovely, this is a very confusing and odd book.

Meet Clementine. This is her family, they have a lot of history. And they live in a small town so everyone knows her history. but...Clementine has been gone for a while.

and no one seems to remember her

That might be because she was just dug out of a cellar she had been walled into with brick. for years. For years and years.

Thus begins this odd tale. From here, the story only gets more elaborate and confusing. I think this story just required me to suspend too much disbelief. And without more details and information, even some back story or history to cling to, I just couldn't get behind these characters.

The ending, the last Part, was by far the best section of the book and gave my rating a whole extra star.… (more)

"The poets are wrong.
The opposite of ice isn't fire.
It's water."

The fact that I'm typing this review at 3 am is probably proof enough of how much I loved this one. I hung on every word and honestly, didn't want to put the book down. For the last 100 pages, my heart burned and my eyes stung. I was so connected to the pain and loss of these two.

Meet Waverly - beta to her alpha queen bee of the school Maribeth - she's cold and calculating, seamlessly working in the background until Maribeth needs her to laugh or sneer or add any other support. It's not the perfect friendship or fun to struggle to stay at the top but it's all Waverly knows. And, Waverly is struggling. She has insomnia.

Anyone who has suffered from insomnia, even for a short time, will know Waverly's struggle - that near dream-like state and inability to concentrate (or hyper-focus at times) and the daily deja vu and wonder at how days are passing that you are barely counting. That feeling that time is sand running through your fingers. How much lack of sleep can rule your whole day.

So Waverly decides she needs to try some calming techniques - because running until she almost drops isn't even close to working anymore. But her sleep is when things take an interesting turn and the story gets going.

I think my favorite part of the journey was just how real and broken Waverly and Marshall felt. Their tears and struggles felt so true and raw. Marshall's downward spiral and his need for someone to see more. Waverly's need for status quo to stay put. All of their struggles were heartbreaking. As I turned those last few pages, I honestly wasn't sure how this story would end. Wonderful, lyrical writing, a story so easy to slide into I didn't want to put it down. I loved this one.… (more)

"Whatever they said, whatever they told you about yourself, it’s not true."

Wow, what an amazing book. It's about so many different things that it's hard to pin down.I do know what my favorite stuff was - and although the mystery and thriller part was pretty cool, it was not my favorite part.

I really liked Hannah. Okay, maybe not at first - because it takes a while to get to know her. But she really is great.

And Finn and Lillian - they all start to really sell me on Hannah - much more than Angeline & Jessica ever did.

I also really loved the ghost story. I thought all these elements shoved together would get confusing, but it's woven together so well that it just creates this amazing story. And I just let myself get wrapped up in it.

There were so many amazing sentences that I think I could have quoted the whole book (or at least one passage or 2 per page) but I didn't want to spoil the reading experience for others. Instead, I will post my top two least plot spoiling favorites. One is above. the other below.

“You were the brave one, not me. No matter what any of them said or did, you were the one who never had to invent yourself. You always just knew who you were."… (more)