I Am Made of Death
Kelly Andrew
From bestselling author Kelly Andrew comes the most electrifying dark romance of the decade... Following the death of his father, Thomas Walsh had to grow up quickly, taking on odd-jobs to keep food on the table and help pay his gravely ill mother's medical bills. When he's offered a highly paid position as an interpreter for an heiress who exclusively signs, Thomas -- the hearing child of a Deaf adult -- jumps at the opportunity. But the job is not without its challenges. Thomas is expected to accompany Vivienne wherever she goes, but from the start, she seems determined to shake him. To make matters worse, her parents keep her on an extremely short leash. She is not to go anywhere without express permission. She is not to deviate from her routine. She is, most importantly, not to be out after dark. A selective-mute, Vivienne Farrow hasn't said a word in years -- not since going missing in Red Rock Canyon when she was four years old. No one knows quite what happened to her out in the dark. They only know that the sound of her voice is now as deadly as a poison. Anyone who hears her speak suffers a horrible death. Ever since that fatal family vacation, Vivienne has been desperately searching for a way to regain control of both her voice and her body. Because the face staring out of the mirror isn't hers. It's something with teeth. Thankfully, Vivienne has a plan. She's finally found someone who claims to be able to perform a surgical exorcism. She just needs to find a way to get rid of Thomas first. But Thomas can't afford to walk away, nor is he willing to abandon the mysterious girl he's quickly falling for, no matter what dark powers threaten to swallow them both whole.
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Proper review after this but first I just want to say: this is not really a standalone, any more than Your Blood, My Bones was. Both are part of the same universe as The Whispering Dark, both feature characters from TWD, and moreover both require *knowledge* of TWD - its world, its characters, their powers/abilities - to make the deus ex machina endings make any sense or have any narrative satisfaction. It is doing both of these books a disservice not to mention their interconnected nature in marketing. I read all three in order and yet I'm still mad, a second time, that I feel like I was duped again. (Even though I think it's better integrated here than in YBMB.) Anyway, I guess my real review here is - if you like ~*~vibes af~*~ horror-y/dark fantasy + romance, Kelly Andrew's books are here 4 u. Like the two preceding it, I Am Made of Death sometimes sacrifices narrative cohesion and, you know, plot throughlines for the sake of a moment - a visual, a line, just...a vibe. Which clearly is working for a lot of readers, but is a little hit or miss for me. Some cool stuff going on here with the idea of possession, and I do love the mutism element; plus Thomas and Vivienne are fun characters, as dramatic and intense as you could possibly hope for in a story like this. (Did I expect more ballet? Yes. That feels like something that was left on the cutting room floor, and it's a bit of a shame, but that's such a tiny nitpick, really.) But it's a fun read in many ways, and Kelly Andrew really does nail the vibes every time. I just hope her next book truly stands on its own (or admits the series situation upfront), and has an ending that feels earned and belonging to this book itself. Thank you to the publisher for the advance copy in exchange for an honest review.
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