Archive Book Review: What’s Left of Me

I should not exist but I do.

Eva and Addie started out the same way as everyone else — two souls woven together in one body, taking turns controlling their movements as they learned how to walk, how to sing, how to dance. But as they grew, so did the worried whispers. Why aren’t they settling? Why isn’t one of them fading? The doctors ran tests, the neighbors shied away, and their parents begged for more time. Finally Addie was pronounced healthy and Eva was declared gone. Except, she wasn’t… For the past three years, Eva has clung to the remnants of her life. Only Addie knows she’s still there, trapped inside their body. Then one day, they discover there may be a way for Eva to move again. The risks are unimaginable — hybrids are considered a threat to society, so if they are caught, Addie and Eva will be locked away with the others. And yet… for a chance to smile, to twirl, to speak, Eva will do anything

This book was fantastic. The premise was awesome. The writing was beautiful. I thoroughly enjoyed the unique POV that, while I could imagine must have been tricky to write {I’m sure grammar check in Word would have had a field day on the manuscript}, felt completely natural and totally possible. As usual, I was drawn to the title. And this was a special case because normally I am not a fan of faces on the cover, but this cover actually drew me in. It was so well done — so apt for the story — it actually fit what was inside. Which isn’t often the case. Anyway… this was a great book. I’m sad I read it so fast.

• I wanted twenty thousand more sunrises, three thousand more hot summer days at the pool. I wanted to know what it was like to have a first kiss. The other recessives were lucky to have disappeared at four or five. They knew less.
• But understanding a thing and accepting it are so very different things.
• It was like trying to brainstorm next to a thrashing bird.
• He gave us a smile, a threat wrapped in a promise. Tied with a bow.
• The stairs were mountains. Our heart dragged down our feet.
• My pain, my guilt — My anger. I wrapped myself around the last one, feeling it heat the hollow space inside me like a sun.
• The silence was like an unwelcome child, pulling at our hair, running its fingers over our lips.
• I felt the scream bubbling in our chest even as our lungs seemed to collapse, our airways crumbling shut.
• We’d been born with our souls’ fingers interlocked. What if we’d never let go?
• We pulled each breath like a saw from our lungs.
• …and every moment I just wished for death because the fear and the unknowing were making us so sick we couldn’t breathe.
• I’d never heard our voice sound so hard and fierce and cold.
• Everything was cold sweat and hot fear and the inability to breathe.
• It might have been real. Or it might have been my wishes manifesting themselves into dreams.
• He had a smile like a match…
• A woman full of angles.
• I forced our voice to be strong and demanding and powerful when I could barely breathe, could barely keep our body upright and our words clear.
• I’d thought I was mastering power over our body, but then the tears came, and I wasn’t controlling them at all. They seemed to be controlling me.
• The halls were still half lit, but empty. Our footsteps echoed, our shadows trailing us like burnt ghosts.