Review Detail

A compelling and original story that although I found engaging to begin with left me somewhat disappointed.

For the first four years of her life Elizabeth was a normal girl, but then the accident happened and everything changed. She could no longer feel emotions, and her family knew something was different about her. So now her mother keeps her distance, her father is an abusive alcoholic, and although her brother makes an effort he lives in denial, and acts like everything is fine.

Elizabeth doesn't have an easy life, she is faced with many hardships and challenges. Her one and only friend, Maggie has cancer and is away in hospital, Sophia her ex-best friend is always out to get her, and her family all but ignore her. The story isn't just focused on relationships, though. Elizabeth is having strange dreams, and this along with Fears curiosity about her past lead her to investigate what really happened on the day of the accident. How did she turn into the girl with no emotions?

The romance between Fear and Elizabeth was beautiful and enrapturing. They had a complicated relationship that really tugged at my heart strings. Fear was by far one of my favourite characters, complex and protective he was definitely a swoon worthy male lead.

There is a love triangle, but it's not the typical kind because it's obvious Elizabeth's heart truly lies with Fear. The third member of the triangle is Joshua, a kind-hearted boy from her high school who is just as intrigued by her as Fear. While I appreciate the fact that she wasn't torn between the two guys I kind of wish that Joshua had just been a close friend instead of a love interest. Because as Veronica Rossi's Under the Never Sky and Jana Oliver's Demon Trappers series have shown a guy and a girl can just be friends without any meddling romantic feelings coming in the way. The love triangle was just unnecessary.

So exactly was I disappointed with? The big revelation relating to the accident. It wasn't that it was predictable, far from in fact. I just didn't like the idea of the revelation. And if you haven't read the book that probably doesn't make much sense, but unfortunately I can't go into why without actually spoiling it, so I'll leave it at that.

Although there is potential for a sequel I'm quite happy to treat it as a standalone. And despite not being satisfied with the revelation I'd still recommend this book as it is unique and ironically brimming with emotions.

Rating: 3/5