Author: Zoë Markham
Genre: young adult, science fiction, horror
Published: March 31, 2015
Publisher: Carina UK
Purchase: Amazon
Inside we are all monsters…
Chloe was once a normal girl. Until the night of the car crash that nearly claimed her life. Now Chloe’s mother is dead, her father is a shell of the man he used to be and the secrets that had so carefully kept their family together are falling apart.
A new start is all Chloe and her father can hope for, but when you think you’re no longer human how can you ever start pretending?
A contemporary reworking of a British horror classic, Under My Skin follows seventeen-year-old Chloe into an isolated world of darkness and pain, as she struggles to understand what it really means to be alive.
Set against the familiar backdrop of everyday, normal teenage worries, Chloe's world has become anything but...
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I have no idea how to talk about the greatness of this book. I think that my words won't give it justice but I'll try. I'll try to tell you why it's so good.
{ 5 Reasons Why You MUST Read Under My Skin }
There's a life changing accident.
Don't we all find it interesting when there's a life changing event? Believe me, I was intrigued by the blurb itself. A car crash, a dead mother, a lifeless father, and Chloe? What's with her? This book kept me intrigued until it was revealed early in the story. It's very interesting, believe me. It's the driving force of the entire story. It kept Chloe paranoid, scared, and other emotions in one.
There's school drama.
I know, I know. You're like, 'what? Czai? Enjoying school drama?'. Let's talk about Markham's incorporation of school drama in this crazily amazing novel. Markham used school drama to make Chloe feel vulnerable, to remind the readers that 'oh hey, Chloe's just a teenager who wants to socialize and fall in love'. There are wrong decisions, yes. But they're there for reasons: (1) to move the story into where it's suppose to go (into that crazy and thrilling ending), and (2) to develop Chloe (that you will extremely come to appreciate in the end).
This school drama didn't annoy me. It didn't made me mad at Chloe. She tries to justify her decisions. The results were plainly there and obviously will follow. I was just there interested to see how things will go, how they will happen, and how this story will end.
Did I also mention that there's a bit of romance here? I like it. Really. At times I swoon and totally root for Chloe and Daz. I mean, they just seem cute together and Daz seems really adorable.
There are points when I can't predict it.
You know those moments when books throw a twist at the climax? This is NOTHING like it! At some point, you predict what's going to happen, that there'll be betrayal or what. But Under My Skin kept me guessing. At first I was curious at where the story will go, the blurb barely gave me anything, when all was revealed and done, I was curious at how things will proceed from there on, when a school was introduced, I was curious at how it will wrap up and end. This book kept me reading until its last page!
Chloe's voice!
Chloe's voice is a combination of loneliness and longing and teenage curiosity. With Chloe's unfortunate accident, the normal teenage life was taken away from her. Forever. Her father makes up for it though and it may not completely make her 'normal', she still tries to. Chloe's a very commendable girl. She's strong and brave in her own way.
THAT ENDING!
It's an ending that kept me wanting for more! The climax was completely breathtaking. It's a survival - running for their (Chloe and her father's) lives. And Chloe's bravery was completely tested. It was an all of nothing run and I just had to read through all of it in one go.
My only gripe for Under My Skin is its pace. Sometimes it gets completely fast and other times, slows down. There are times when I actually check how many more minutes before the chapter ends because they tend to get soooo long. But other than that, this book is really good with me :)
OVERALL, Under My Skin is a really intriguing novel that had me curious right from the beginning. It kept me wondering what will happen next and the ending made me want more of this! More of Chloe! I recommend this to those who enjoy suspenseful reads.
~I received this book from Xpresso Book Tours in exchange for an honest review~
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{ how about you }
Have you read anything completely suspenseful lately? Something that really kept you intrigued until its last pages? (okay, maybe until everything is completely revealed to you)?
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