Dead to You - Lisa McMann

Young Adult
Pages: 256
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Release Date: February 7, 2012

Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It's a miracle... at first. 
Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn't going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he'd be able to put the pieces back together. But there's something that's keeping his memory blocked. 
Something unspeakable...

So deliciously haunting and gripping that I could not make myself put it down. I stayed up reading and ended up shocked and amazed when I closed the book. I'm a big fan of Lisa's writing, because she goes to the point without being all gooey or overdone.

It's an unusual storyline, hard to relate but easy to imagine, and the fact that there's so much more going on than what we can appreciate from Ethan's narration makes it more mysterious. There's a certain point where you might predict the big twist, but it's still surprising how it's done. I loved the writing and sometimes I loved Ethan, but I did feel we had a bit of an unreliable narrator (which, if done on purpose, was amazing!) because we would be thinking so many things at once and sometimes would be wallowing on such an unimportant matters for the moment that I never felt he was being absolutely honest.

I loved how compelling it was, I loved the characters, Gracie more than any other, and I love how the resolution was so thought-provoking and will stay with me like few books can. I want to say so much more, but I feel that whatever I say I'm spoiling the book a little. What I do want to say is that, if I could inject the book with something, I would just give it a bit more emotion. Sometimes it felt that yes, while Ethan was indeed struggling, the full emotion of it didn't quite come through. I guess when you're done reading it and had time to think about it, you can understand why some emotion is lacking, but still.

Overall another amazing novel from Lisa McMann that everyone should read.

Goodreads / Amazon

Waiting on Wednesday (99)

"Waiting On Wednesday" is a weekly event, hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

Dead To You by Lisa McMann

Ethan was abducted from his front yard when he was just seven years old. Now, at sixteen, he has returned to his family. It's a miracle... at first. Then the tensions start to build. His reintroduction to his old life isn't going smoothly, and his family is tearing apart all over again. If only Ethan could remember something, anything, about his life before, he'd be able to put the pieces back together. But there's something that's keeping his memory blocked. Something unspeakable...

I am unbelievably excited for this book! Lisa is one of my favorite authors! It sounds a lot like one of my favorite movies The Deep End of the Ocean and my work in progress was based on that movie so it has a very similar premise. So I've been looking forward to this one for a while now! Eeek!

Release Date: February 7, 2012.

Goodreads / Amazon