Book Review: Under My Skin by Zoe Markham & Giveaway!

Title: Under My Skin
Author: Zoe Markham
Format: eBook, ARC for book tour
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US | Twitter | Facebook

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Blurb: 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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Review: I’ve literally just finished this book minutes ago and I just had to get the thoughts out of my head and into my review about it while they’re still coherent. I’m thrilled to be reviewing this book as part of the tour that I’m also thrilled to be organising for Zoe. Under My Skin is a modern reworking of the old horror story, Frankenstein. Our “monster” is teenage Chloe who’s dad brought her back from a tragic accident that killed both her and her mother. However, Chloe isn’t who or what she used to be and her desperate struggles to get a “normal” life again may all amount to nothing.

I’m a huge YA fan already and a book about a beautifully messed up character with plenty of demons is pretty much a fail safe for me. The book, written from Chloe’s point of view, captures effortlessly her struggles and the pain she’s feeling from this new, horrific world she has to face after seemingly the impossible has happened to her. I loved Chloe, I felt like I could relate to her and some of her feelings of loneliness and isolation that I’m sure everyone has felt. Despite her impossible circumstances, she actually portrays very real emotions of young adults and experiences very real events I loved that; from friendship, boyfriends and trying to fit in.

The author has mentioned a few times about the book being a bit of a “slow burner” but in all honestly, I didn’t even notice it. I was so engrossed in Chloe’s life and her new circumstances of having to adapt to her new body, lifestyle and routine. The beginning focuses very much on her developed within her new self and her and her father’s relationship which I found very interesting. From about a third onwards, when Chloe starts school she has a whole new set of problems which I thought was a nice contrast to the beginning. The ending was fantastic and I thought very bitter-sweet; I was questioning throughout the entire thing how it would end as there’s so many possibilities.

The only downside I would mention is that I really hoped there would be more scientific elements to the story; more about what her father was working on to try and “fix” her or more information about the experiments him and the “Agency” carried out. I would have found that extremely interesting but the book is from Chloe’s point of view, I guess if she doesn’t know then neither can we. This book was a real hidden gem for me and Under My Skin is perfect for any YA fans who are looking for something a bit different from the norm.

Rating:

Click here to win a £/$25 Amazon gift card in support of the Under My Skin book tour!