Author: Melissa Marr
Genre/Category: Contemporary, YA, Realism, Mystery, Fantasy
See it at Goodreads
Bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely books Melissa Marr’s first contemporary YA novel is a twisted southern gothic tale of obsession, romance, and murder. A killer is obsessed with Eva Tilling. Can she stop him, or will he claim her?
When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she’s confused—who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? And why? But before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people’s deaths when they touch her. While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old flame, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva’s power to keep her friends—and themselves—alive. But while Eva and Nate grow closer, the killer grows increasingly frantic in his attempt to get to Eva.
For the first time, New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr has applied her extraordinary talent to contemporary realism. Chilling twists, unrequited obsession, and high-stakes romance drive this Gothic, racy thriller—a story of small-town oppression and salvation. Melissa’s fans, and every YA reader, will find its wild ride enthralling.
Pixie's Review
Melissa Marr is perhaps one of my favorite authors EVER. Ever. Ever.
I was a bit star-struck when I met her finally at BEA. She’s such a huge inspiration to me and my own writing, and I’ve absolutely adored everything I’ve read of hers through the years. Picking up Made For You possibly had me slightly worried in the beginning because this time around, it was a little more special. This was probably one of the books I’d been anticipating most throughout the year, or at least at the very top of that list of a short list of books, and from a reviewer’s perspective I didn’t want to give it any different treatment either. I’m not. After finishing it, I can be honest with my review, just like I can be honest when I say Johnny Depp has his ups and downs in his roles. So that’s good and a bit of a relief on my part. If I felt like I couldn’t give my full, honest opinion, I wouldn’t have even posted my thoughts.
But here I am.
Made For You was certainly a different read for me from what I’m used to with Marr. And it wasn’t the best I’ve picked up from her. Maybe it was because of the Contemporary aspects, not quite the fantasy I adore in her usual style, but I still enjoyed it. There was an addictive quality to the story that kept me flipping the pages to find out what was going to happen next--and I was held in a constant suspense. My biggest issue was I predicted the mystery pretty early on, but I’m always a good guesser at these things and so when I realized I was right later, it took so much out of the supposed twist I felt a bit of a disappointment.
I really enjoyed the presence of the parents and their interactions. We didn’t have our usual absentee parents (though I thought that was how it was going to be at first) for a teen, and instead had some interactive ones. They were obviously still trying to learn about their child. And that was pretty realistic in my opinion. A teen changes and grows a lot through those years. Communication is key.
The romance didn’t do it much for me. I liked it to an extent. It was cute. It built up nicely even, but I felt the background lacked some. I wanted to know more and had some burning questions of why’s. But there were interesting pieces put in that left me feeling like FINALLY, NORMAL TEENAGERS. NORMAL RELATIONSHIPS. So for that, I really enjoyed the realistic aspects of the story and character developments.
I felt like Marr may have wrote out of her comfort zone for this book when I finished reading. Absolutely nothing wrong with that. I rather enjoyed reading something different from her. I hope she continues to deliver work in other styles and genres and shows that she can do whatever she likes. It takes a lot of skill to do that. It wasn’t my favorite Marr novel, but I still read through it rather quickly and enjoyed it. I’d certainly recommend if you enjoy mystery and unusual contemporary with fantastical elements.
Taylor's Review
Well it's no secret that Melissa Marr is one of my absolute favorite authors! If you know me even a little bit that's a fact that is well known lol. I adore her books there isn't a single one I've read over the years that I haven't liked. But not only that, she's just an awesome person! I love her personality and she's such a big inspiration and I am determind to meet her one day in person!! That being said, I was pretty darn jealous of everyone who went to BEA this year and got to meet her. And when I say "pretty jealous" I really mean Wicked-Witch-Of-The-West green with envy lol.
But anyways, lets talk about this book Made For You!
As soon as I read the synopsis I was immediately intrigued, of course because it was Melissa Marr it went right on my TBR list and I featured it on one of my Waiting on Wednesday posts as well. The thing that caught my attention the most was the fact that it's something totally different than any of the other books I've read by Marr, I love her Wicked Lovely series with a passion and all of her other books lean more towards the fantasy realm but this one is a contemporary type, which I do happen to be a fan of as well.
I'll go ahead and say it wasn't the best book I've read by her, but even so it still strongly held my attention and I couldn't put it down because I was ready to see what would happen next in the story! And like Pixie mentioned in her review, I figured out the mystery fairly early into the book and I kept my fingers crossed that I'd be wrong when it was all said and done, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. So there was a little disappointment there because I was hoping for more of a twist and that the mystery aspect wouldn't be so predictable.
I liked the way Marr portrayed the romance in the story, it was one of the more realistic ones I've come across in quite awhile and I thought it was well paced and didn't just happen all of a sudden. I'm not a fan of the whole insta-love thing at all. But at the same time I do wish there had been a little something more to it, maybe that's just my inner hopeless romantic side coming out. But I couldn't help feeling like it was lacking a little bit, and there were some questions I would have liked to have answers to. But as far as characters go, I thought they were very well written and they grew and developed well throughout the story.
Overall I really enjoyed this book, it was a nice quick read and it was cool to see one of my most favorite authors step out and do something different. If you're a fan of mystery and contemporary I would definitely recommend giving this a read! And of course becasue I love her other books so much if you haven't read any of them I very highly recommend those as well!
Taylor's Rating:
Pixie, I didn't know you were a MM reader! Have you read Loki's Wolves yet?
ReplyDeleteI never got around to Marr's first series, with the fairies. It didn't seem like my thing. Maybe I am not giving it a shot.