A review by novelheartbeat
Vicarious by Paula Stokes

4.0



Before I picked this book up, I was in a massive reading slump. (No seriously, I'd picked up like 5 different books in succession with no luck, I didn't finish any of them.) Perhaps all I needed was to step outside of my genre comfort zone!

I love Paula's writing, and this one was no different. And such a cool concept, too! I loved the idea of ViSE - Vicarious Sensory Experience - basically, you can live vicariously through someone else's experiences! Skydiving, bungee jumping, swimming with sharks, you name it - you can experience it like you were actually there. Awesome, right?! Our main character, Winter, is a recorder; which basically means she does all that crazy shit so that people can experience it vicariously. (I SO WANT THAT JOB.) I loved the concept of it!

The mystery aspect was pretty awesome, too. I was curious about the murder mystery, and it kept me intrigued. Even when there was a lull in the plot I was still interested in the endgame.

"Fingers to fingers and thumb to thumb, a pair of sisters like matching gloves."


What struck me the most about this book is that Winter is a very tragic heroine. She's got a very dark past, so she carries a lot of that darkness within her. She's damaged and she has issues. I liked that she wasn't perfect. Throughout the whole story I was very curious about her past. There's hints at hospitalization, and therapy for PTSD, but you only get snippets. I couldn't help but wonder, what the heck happened to her? Did she try to kill herself?
SpoilerThe truth was even crazier! I started to suspect that Rose was a figment of Winter's imagination when she stumbled on her recording with Jesse and thought it was her sister. So I had already guessed the twist by the time it was revealed. But that didn't make it any less crazier!


Also, MISO. I loved him so much! I love that there was a cat character in the book. (And that Jesse called him Moo!)

The only complaint I have is that I didn't connect to the characters as much as I'd hoped. I didn't have much of an emotional response to things that I should probably have made me cry.
SpoilerI mean, Gideon died and I didn't even bat an eyelash. Eeeek.


This review was originally posted on Novel Heartbeat. To see a breakdown of my assessment, please visit the full review here.