A review by aceartemis7
Cuts & Bruises by Kelly O'Flaherty
4.0
This is an ARC review for NetGalley.
Massive suicide, self-harm trigger warning.
The first 3rd of the book, the pacing was a bit slow. Time was confusing at the beginning of the book too. You can see that it's been days/months since something has happened, but it, everything seemed smudged together since there's no time headers. The setting does feel like high school all over again, every day is mostly the same.
If you're even slightly predisposed to self-harm, this book is so relatable! What one feels, what one thinks, what one hides, they're all true. At first, when Samantha was trying to explain her condition, it sounded like the usual classic definition of it, but as time goes on, it all starts to make sense. The author describes everything perfectly, shows everything through Sam's eyes and you start to feel how she feels too.
Around halfway mark, things picked up fast. First, something happened to Sam, everything finally peaking and spilling over.
Then when everything comes back down to normal again, another thing happened to Michael this time. And it just peaked even higher than the first time. I couldn't put the book down after the halfway mark, I was on the edge-of-my-seat and mostly crying as I'm reading since every lesson here, every thought, are exactly what someone in Sam's/Michael's position would have thought too. It's all so relatable!
I really love what Sam & Michael have together. Yes, they enabled each other, but they also help each other out. They both learned from their mistakes and became better because of it. I'm really glad it's a happy ending, though a vague happy ending. I would have liked to see something about Sam & Michael meeting up in college together as a bonus story or another epilogue for example.
Another note: this book was made in Ireland, so there's a few terms that was a bit confusing to American readers, for example: guards vs police, leaving certificate vs diploma, etc.
Massive suicide, self-harm trigger warning.
The first 3rd of the book, the pacing was a bit slow. Time was confusing at the beginning of the book too. You can see that it's been days/months since something has happened, but it, everything seemed smudged together since there's no time headers. The setting does feel like high school all over again, every day is mostly the same.
If you're even slightly predisposed to self-harm, this book is so relatable! What one feels, what one thinks, what one hides, they're all true. At first, when Samantha was trying to explain her condition, it sounded like the usual classic definition of it, but as time goes on, it all starts to make sense. The author describes everything perfectly, shows everything through Sam's eyes and you start to feel how she feels too.
Around halfway mark, things picked up fast. First, something happened to Sam, everything finally peaking and spilling over.
Then when everything comes back down to normal again, another thing happened to Michael this time. And it just peaked even higher than the first time. I couldn't put the book down after the halfway mark, I was on the edge-of-my-seat and mostly crying as I'm reading since every lesson here, every thought, are exactly what someone in Sam's/Michael's position would have thought too. It's all so relatable!
I really love what Sam & Michael have together. Yes, they enabled each other, but they also help each other out. They both learned from their mistakes and became better because of it. I'm really glad it's a happy ending, though a vague happy ending. I would have liked to see something about Sam & Michael meeting up in college together as a bonus story or another epilogue for example.
Another note: this book was made in Ireland, so there's a few terms that was a bit confusing to American readers, for example: guards vs police, leaving certificate vs diploma, etc.