Kelly Braffet

This story resonated with memories of a time when I was drifting along, working dead end jobs to pay bills, trying not to think about how dysfunctional my relationships were, and suffering the consequences of my bad decisions. It's a grim story, and not one for people who like a Hollywood happy ending and natural heroes in their fiction. But the characters rang true, and I was sucked into emotionally investing in them as the story developed and gradually wormed into the truth beneath their facades. And those consequences? Each bad decision across all these characters built into a tsunami of consequences, fascinating and terrible witness as it bore down on its unsuspecting victims.

Overall, a fun read, would recommend if you're not particularly in a puppies and rainbows mood.

Hardcover, picked up on a whim at Half Price Books. Already looking at other books by this author to add to my wish list.
… (més)

This was dark.

I enjoyed the ambivalence of it -- many times you weren't sure who the protagonists/allies were, who the antagonist(s) were, what the goals were, what the outcome was going to be. That's not something you really see done much in fantasy, the ambiguity of it all.

In a lot of ways, this was a very small book; the majority of it takes place inside the castle walls. In other ways, it was immense, bordering on 600 pages. I felt like it read quickly, in that when I'd stick my bookmark in at the next chapter thirty or forty pages away, I'd be there without thinking about it.

In no way is this book YA. In no way is it not full of triggers. There are people in this book who are absolutely horrible. That doesn't make it bad.

Wondering if there'll be a second book to this, though. Curious to find out.… (més)

* I received an ARC from the publisher in return for an honest review *
So I was really excited to receive a copy of this book for multiple reasons; 1) The plot seemed good 2) the author is the wife of Owen King 3) Erin Morgenstern who is one of my favorite authors endorsed it. I really expected this book to be a home run however it bombed spectacularly. This book was incredibly depressing, the atmosphere was bleak and hopeless, the was little to no character development, the world-building aspect that is key to any fantasy novel just wasn't there and it just felt like an uphill battle to continue this novel after the first 50-70 pages. In all honestly the only reason I read it to the very end was because I had received it as an ARC and I felt obligated to do so. It was just a very brutal novel from beginning to end. I almost wanted to classify this book as a really bad horror novel instead of fantasy. I also suspect from the lackluster ending that this is expected to be the first in a series. The only reason I have rated this two star instead of one is because the quality of the writing is good, I wasn't confused by the multiple point of views, by the relationships between characters was clear, and writing did evoke a lot of emotion from me (the only issue being the emotions was nonstop depression).… (més)

Patrick Cusimano woont samen met zijn broer en diens vriendin in hun ouderlijk huis. Moeder is overleden. Zijn vader heeft onder invloed een kind doodgereden. Moet Patrick zijn vader aangeven of doen alsof er niets gebeurd is?
Verna Elshere gaat naar de middelbare school, waar haar zus Layla al enige jaren rondloopt en een 'hele reputatie' heeft opgebouwd. Vanaf dag 1 wordt Verna met haar zus vergeleken, gepest en vernederd. Uiteindelijk sluit ze zich aan bij een groepje outsiders waartoe ook haar zus behoort.
Layla ontmoet Patrick en langzaam aan raken de levens van deze jongeren met elkaar verweven.
Intrigerend verhaal van jonge mensen in een treurige leefwereld; gebroken gezinnen, werkloos of slecht betaald, alcoholisme, pesten. Ze verlangen naar een beter leven, naar liefde en aandacht. Ze willen ergens bij horen, maar ten koste van wat?
De hoofdstukken wisselen elkaar af; de ene keer vanuit de kant van Patrick, de andere keer vanuit Verna gezien. Maar naar het einde toe komen de werelden in een apotheotisch hoofdstuk bijeen.… (més)