The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts
Release Date: September 23, 2014
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Genre: YA Paranormal
ISBN: 978-0385754125
Source: NetGalley
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People say when you take Heam, your body momentarily dies and you catch a glimpse of heaven. Faye was only eleven when dealers forced Heam on her and her best friend, Christian. But Faye didn’t glimpse heaven—she saw hell. And Christian died.
Now Faye spends her days hiding her secret from the kids at school, and her nights training to take revenge on the men who destroyed her life and murdered her best friend. But life never goes the way we think it will. When a mysterious young man named Chael appears, Faye’s plan suddenly gets a lot more complicated. Chael seems to know everything about her, including her past. But too many secrets start tearing her world apart: trouble at school, with the police, and with the people she thought might be her friends. Even Gazer, her guardian, fears she’s become too obsessed with vengeance. Love and death. Will Faye overcome her desires, or will her quest for revenge consume her?
Wow. This is such an interesting book about so many things. About mourning. Rejection. Society’s standards and desolation. Security and loss. It’s a fascinating look at life and death and wanting. At the afterlife, the supernatural, and the in between. At acceptance and denial, hope and faith, and the cost of it all. It’s a story about how all consuming and damaging revenge can be and is. It’s a story about deception and seeing what we want to see in times of dishonesty.
I’m not going to lie, the characters are a bit of a blur to me looking back but the heart of these characters and this story really sticks with me. Yes, there is a bit of a romance going on here and we all know that I’m not moved by that 99% of the time and this was no exception. But romance aside, this story stands perfectly on its own and that is pretty darn awesome.
But this book is not for the faint of heart. This story is thought provoking in a way that almost makes it feel invasive but I love that it takes such a leap in being so incredibly vulnerable. This is vulnerability, people. Right here. It’s gritty. It’s messy. It’s such a soul searching book with such a rich, dark tone and I may have scratched my head or tilted it a bit at times but I truly appreciate every single thought in here. I’m glad I read it and I’m very interested in seeing what else this author publishes in the future. If you’re intrigued and think you’re ready to take the plunge, go get this book!
The Bodies We Wear by Jeyn Roberts is available today.