What I'm Reading: Heart-Shaped Bruise

Remember when I was all like, 'Hey, I'm totally going to read these 8 books before the 1st September!". You know, like two weeks ago. Well, here is your first (of many, I hope) progress reports.

I finally finished A Feast for Crows on Monday. After a frantic tweeting session with one of my friends, I've decided to have a break from Westeros for a little while. Actually, I didn't so much decide it, as I opened up the fifth book and as the prologue starts with a new character set the book down. If ever there was a sign to take a break, that was it.

So, what to read next?

I quickly grabbed my copy of Heart-Shaped Bruise and settled in for a fantastic, if frantic, page-turning read. Heart-Shaped Bruise is the story of Emily Koll, an inmate at Archway Young Offenders Institution who has been put away for a heinous crime. A crime so terrible that she's been dubbed 'evil' by the press. But, its also a crime that the reader doesn't know about. I'm 50 pages from the end and the big 'henious crime' reveal hasn't happened yet. I have to keep myself from flipping ahead to find out what it is. The tension in the book is great. You spend most of your time almost siding with Emily and then remembering she's an unreliable narrator.

Who is Emily Koll? Is she a monster? It's difficult to say (and I'm nearly finished!). Emily's beloved father is sent to prison for murdering a police officer (in his own home). He was only caught because Juliet Shaw, the police officer's daughter heard the commotion and stabbed him. Emily wants revenge. But not just any kind of revenge. She had no idea her father was a mobster. Juliet didn't just take her father away from her, she took away the carefully crafted lie of a life Emily had been leading.

Now, armed with a fake ID, Emily is determined to snake her way into Juliet's new life. The life Juliet has been forced to rebuild in the witness protection programme. What follows is a tense story told in diary entries that look at Emily today (locked away) and the girl Emily became (Rose Glass) in order to exact her revenge.

I can't recommend this book highly enough! I've not been able to put it down. Part fantastic thriller and part psychological study, this is a book about broken people and the terrible things they do to try to become whole again. It reminds me a lot of the fantastic Ketchup Clouds and I'm not just saying that because I worked on it in my day job! (Ketchup Clouds won the Waterstones Children's Book of the Year this Year!) Both books are told in a series of diary entries and are compelling, tense and brilliant. Both narrators are keeping dark secrets about the horrible crimes they committed and confessing to the reader the only way they can, with words on paper. Both are stories not to be missed. They will break your heart. Trust me.

Right, now to finish Heart-Shaped Bruise so that I can start another book from the pile.

Happy Reading!