Novel Review: The Becoming of Noah Shaw (The Shaw Confessions, #1) by Michelle Hodkin

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance with Dark Themes

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Release Date: 2017

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

In the first book of the Shaw Confessions, the companion series to the New York Times bestselling Mara Dyer novels, old skeletons are laid bare and new promises prove deadly. This is what happens after happily ever after.

Everyone thinks seventeen-year-old Noah Shaw has the world on a string.

They’re wrong.

Mara Dyer is the only one he trusts with his secrets and his future.

He shouldn’t.

And both are scared that uncovering the truth about themselves will force them apart.

They’re right.

The Cover:

I love these covers. They're very pretty and eye-catching, dark and ominous, and I appreciate that it's not embarrassing or cliche with a girl in a dress. It also works with the previous series, and each book in the series follows the same imagery, which I love.

Review:

I was surprised to hear that this series was continuing, as I didn't really think it needed to be, originally. I also didn't really consider not picking it up—I really enjoyed the first trilogy, and had no qualms about reading more. I was intrigued, but a tiny bit wary.

Upon starting this book, I had no idea so many people disliked it. I understand some of it, though—it does play with a lot of problematic themes (suicide, drugs, sex, self-harm, to name a few), and it has a lot of really awful, unapologetic characters, including the protagonists. But... I never minded those things. I even liked the story because of those things. One of my favorite things about the first series was how violent and bad Mara could be.

Now, to confess—it has been such a long time since I originally read the series, that I remembered very little of it. I barely remember how it ended, or any of the big reveals, or much of it at all. I don't think that hindered my reading of this book too much, though. (Re-reading would have helped clear up some topics, but oh well, my copies are in a box somewhere.)

This series is in Noah's point of view. His father has just died, he's moving to New York with Mara and some of their friends, and suddenly other Gifted people are committing suicide all over the place, only he doesn't think it's by their choice.

It's interesting being in Noah's head, instead of Mara's. They're both very dark characters, and they've experienced a lot of bad things. As the story progresses, we learn more about what his father was up to, what the Professor might have been doing, and what each character knows and hasn't been honest about. And Noah starts discovering, and accepting, some things about Mara that he didn't realize before this.

There are several surprises in this book. Following Noah as he discovers things is surprising, and a little rough at times. He doesn't want to deal with things, and he has his own moral code, but he's forced to make some decisions here. A big reason for why I want to continue this series, not only to discover all of the secrets and find out who is behind all of this and what they want, is to see Noah do something about it. He understands how The Game works, but he hasn't wanted to be a part of it. He's always wanted to kind of give up, to not be the Hero everyone claims he is. But now he's being put in a position where he might have to do just that.

I do really love Noah and Mara's relationship, and I enjoy how dark and rough and gritty, and psychological, this series can be. But I might actually want to know how the plot line wraps up more than anything else. It's surprising to me, but I want to know where this is going to go next.

Novel Review: Break by Hannah Moskowitz

Genre: YA Contemporary

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Simon & Schuster (Simon Pulse)

Spoilers?: No.

Available at: Amazon.

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Jonah is on a mission to break every bone in his body. Everyone knows that broken bones grow back stronger than they were before. And Jonah wants to be stronger—needs to be stronger—because everything around him is falling apart. Breaking, and then healing, is Jonah’s only way to cope with the stresses of home, girls, and the world on his shoulders.

When Jonah's self-destructive spiral accelerates and he hits rock bottom, will he find true strength or surrender to his breaking point?

Review:

I was a little bit surprised by this book. I rather enjoyed it, but it wasn’t fully what I expected.

Jonah, the main character, is determined to break all of his bones. His parents are always fighting, he has a new baby brother who is always screaming and crying, and his one-year younger brother is allergic to everything, plus there are some girl problems added to the mix.

Before reading this, I hadn’t taken into account all of the casts and disabilities and hospital visits and actual breaking of the bones that go with what Jonah is doing. I don’t know why--it seems pretty obvious--but I didn’t think about it. But jesus, Jonah is constantly in a cast, and after only, like, a week or two, he’s ready to break another bone. He’s addicted to it, and it’s horrible. I was even wincing and wanting to skip ahead (I didn’t, but I wanted to) at one scene, when he was getting ready to slam a door on his hand (just thinking about it is making me grimace). It was horrible. But I’m squeamish, and there wasn’t even quite as much description of blood or anything, so other people could probably handle all of that better than me.

I felt bad for all three of the kids because of their parents. Their parents need some freakin’ counseling or to separate or something. They are not good together; I wouldn’t be able to stand it. I also felt bad for and because of the baby, what with it always screaming for no reason (that they can find).

I really liked Jesse, Jonah’s younger brother. Jesse was sweet, and I felt bad about all of his allergies. That would suck. And not only for him, but everyone around him. And it would suck having to have someone, like Jonah, to take care of things that he can’t be around when it’s constantly around him. I would have liked seeing more of Jesse, actually, and liked the stand he took at the end of the book.

A couple of things happened with Jonah that I wasn’t expecting. Some good, some not. I do feel like he had grown a bit by the end of the book, and that’s good. I like what happened with him and the girl by the end of the book.

I don’t feel like the ending was very good. There’s just… not enough closure or something. I feel like there should have been more with the parents, with what they’re doing next, with maybe them separating or trying to work through things. And then there’s the fact that Jonah broke out of this place, and I don’t understand how they wouldn’t be looking for him or wanting to send him back in. I feel like there are a couple of loose strings that I wanted finished.

I liked the writing style, and most of the chapters were rather short, which helped in making this a pretty fast read. There were a lot, and I mean a lot, of short sentences in a row all the time. It made the reading feel a little choppy, which is sometimes good, and it did grow on me, but it bothered me a bit at first.

Overall, I did quite enjoy this book, and am looking forward to reading Moskowitz’s other books.