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I have needed to read this for so long. So very, very long.
I love a good crime thriller. I love a good serial killer. I love a messed up police officer. This book was everything I love rolled into one. Meaning it is surprising to know how long it sat on my to-read list. Honestly, it should not have been sitting there for as long as it was. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, I could never find it in any bookstores – and whenever I did find it, the price seemed to be ridiculous. I shouldn’t admit to being cheap, but I had no wish to pay extortionate amounts when I knew I would be able to buy it at an afford price at some point in my future.
Fortunately that time came!
And by gosh, was the wait worth it.
Okay. So I need to take a deep breath. Relax. Do not go overboard on the fangirling. Okay… I cannot promise that. I’ll try to hold it back, but I’ll probably let all my fangirling out throughout this review. Don’t worry, though, I’ll make sure I prevent the review from being the nearly two thousand words long essay that my review of The Martian turned out to be.
So yeah, the good stuff.
Heartsick arrived along with a handful of other books, thanks to an offer I found online. Whilst the other books interested me, I had to start with Chelsea Cain book. I had needed this book in my life for so long. Instantly I picked it up, throwing myself straight into the world of Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell.
I’m a lover of flowery writing. Lyrical prose are my best friend. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against simple writing – I merely favour the kind of writing that screams with style. Due to this, at first, I wasn’t quite as pulled into the story as I had hoped to be. Lyrical prose pull me in quicker. Whilst there is nothing wrong with Chelsea Cain’s style of writing, I couldn’t really find any real identifiers. There didn’t seem to be anything to make it truly hers. This did not prevent my enjoyment in any way at all, yet it meant I had to wait for the story to really get going before I was pulled in as deep as I had hoped to be.
Some will probably be questioning what I mean by the waiting for the story ‘to really get going’ considering how we open with Archie already in Gretchen’s grip, with him playing the role of victim and her playing the role of torturer. Oh, that was fun. But at first the victim and torturer dynamic isn’t really anything new. It was enough to leave you interested, but it wasn’t as messed up as I had hoped it was going to be. At least not at first. At first it starts rather mundane. It lets you know things are going to be bad. You know the worst is yet to come.
Thus, I only really became pulled in once the story was going in present time. We constantly flicker back to the time in which Archie was Gretchen’s prisoner, and I loved those moments (they really did escalate in so many ways, growing more interesting with each new scene), yet the present day story is what really pulled me in. The character of Archie was wonderful. He is so beautifully broken. Quite often authors fail to show just how broken their characters are – we’re told to believe such is the case by other characters – yet in this we are shown. Archie is perfectly flawed due to the damage Gretchen caused him, and it is wonderful to see.
Whilst the story itself is nothing overly special, the mystery being nothing new, the way in which the story of Archie and Gretchen is intertwined into the present day mystery makes everything all the more wonderful. It certainly fulfilled my desires for the book. It certainly pulled me in.
I really need the next book. I cannot begin to explain how much I enjoyed it. Admittedly it was not a perfect read, but I’m well and truly on the Archie and Gretchen bandwagon!
I love a good crime thriller. I love a good serial killer. I love a messed up police officer. This book was everything I love rolled into one. Meaning it is surprising to know how long it sat on my to-read list. Honestly, it should not have been sitting there for as long as it was. Unfortunately, for some strange reason, I could never find it in any bookstores – and whenever I did find it, the price seemed to be ridiculous. I shouldn’t admit to being cheap, but I had no wish to pay extortionate amounts when I knew I would be able to buy it at an afford price at some point in my future.
Fortunately that time came!
And by gosh, was the wait worth it.
Okay. So I need to take a deep breath. Relax. Do not go overboard on the fangirling. Okay… I cannot promise that. I’ll try to hold it back, but I’ll probably let all my fangirling out throughout this review. Don’t worry, though, I’ll make sure I prevent the review from being the nearly two thousand words long essay that my review of The Martian turned out to be.
So yeah, the good stuff.
Heartsick arrived along with a handful of other books, thanks to an offer I found online. Whilst the other books interested me, I had to start with Chelsea Cain book. I had needed this book in my life for so long. Instantly I picked it up, throwing myself straight into the world of Archie Sheridan and Gretchen Lowell.
I’m a lover of flowery writing. Lyrical prose are my best friend. Don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against simple writing – I merely favour the kind of writing that screams with style. Due to this, at first, I wasn’t quite as pulled into the story as I had hoped to be. Lyrical prose pull me in quicker. Whilst there is nothing wrong with Chelsea Cain’s style of writing, I couldn’t really find any real identifiers. There didn’t seem to be anything to make it truly hers. This did not prevent my enjoyment in any way at all, yet it meant I had to wait for the story to really get going before I was pulled in as deep as I had hoped to be.
Some will probably be questioning what I mean by the waiting for the story ‘to really get going’ considering how we open with Archie already in Gretchen’s grip, with him playing the role of victim and her playing the role of torturer. Oh, that was fun. But at first the victim and torturer dynamic isn’t really anything new. It was enough to leave you interested, but it wasn’t as messed up as I had hoped it was going to be. At least not at first. At first it starts rather mundane. It lets you know things are going to be bad. You know the worst is yet to come.
Thus, I only really became pulled in once the story was going in present time. We constantly flicker back to the time in which Archie was Gretchen’s prisoner, and I loved those moments (they really did escalate in so many ways, growing more interesting with each new scene), yet the present day story is what really pulled me in. The character of Archie was wonderful. He is so beautifully broken. Quite often authors fail to show just how broken their characters are – we’re told to believe such is the case by other characters – yet in this we are shown. Archie is perfectly flawed due to the damage Gretchen caused him, and it is wonderful to see.
Whilst the story itself is nothing overly special, the mystery being nothing new, the way in which the story of Archie and Gretchen is intertwined into the present day mystery makes everything all the more wonderful. It certainly fulfilled my desires for the book. It certainly pulled me in.
I really need the next book. I cannot begin to explain how much I enjoyed it. Admittedly it was not a perfect read, but I’m well and truly on the Archie and Gretchen bandwagon!