A review by cielosiluminado
The Blood We Crave: Part One by Monty Jay

dark mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

i wanted to know more about these two psychos when they debuted in The Lies we Steal and what we learn in The Truths we Burn had me wanting to know their story even more.

this duet. book three in the series. the slowest of slow burns. oh, but so worth it.

the first part of the book gave us an in-depth look inside their heads and their awful upbringings. we learned how these two characters think and (not) feel.

MJ knew what she was doing by breaking their story up into two parts because after the half way mark, i ate it all up and wanted so much more.

the story of these two, thatcher and lyra, starts off when they are seven years old. on the night thatcher's father killed scarlett's (lyra) mother. what we discover is that scarlett's mother was in love with thatcher's father, but she discovered what he really was — a sadistic killer — and was going to report him to the police which lead to her being murdered. but just before she was killed, she hid little scarlett inside a closet, unknowingly giving her daughter a front row seat of her murder.

that same night, little thatcher was there. with a task: find and kill scarlett. in an attempt to get him away from her mother's corpse, she comes out of the closet and throws a shoe at him, making him bleed. the first person to make thatcher bleed. he saw something in her which didn't allow him to kill her; instead, he told her to hide, become a ghost. survive.

“Be a ghost, Scarlett. Don’t let him see you, ever.”
“If I become a ghost, how will you see me?”
“I won’t.”

and so she became his ghost. and he never saw her again... or so she believes.

The girl who floats through doors and hallways without a second glance. The ghost. The ghost who haunts the only person who ever saw her. The only one who made her feel not so alone. The one she’d killed someone for.

scarlett lyra abbott, bug queen. his darling phantom. most sane, insane person ever. quirky goth girl. what no one knows though is that the night her mother was murdered, she became obsessed, infatuated with the boy who spared her life: thatcher alexander pierson. in his presence, she stops feeling alone and her obsession hyperfixates on him, so much so that her traumatized mind thinks of him as her angel. she stalked him for over ten years, but now she was done being his ghost. she wanted him to see her.

Contrary to what people believe, the apple did fall very far from the wicked tree.
Because I never wanted to be my father.
I never wanted to be like him.
I wanted to be better.
And I am.

thatcher alexander pierson, the psycho. her angel. i loved him, he didn't disappoint. morally gray. this was man trained since childhood by his father to become exactly like him, a serial killer; but instead, thatcher kills the killers, not because he wants to play hero BUT to prove he's BETTER THAN his father. thatcher is sophisticated and sarcastic, narcissistic and cold, to everyone. but when it comes to his little ghost, his darling phantom, who he pretended to ignore, he hates her. for what she represents to him: the first person to make him bleed and the only person he couldn't kill. oh, and he also hates and refuses to admit how much he has looked out for her.

I love being his ghost. But now, I want him to see me. It’s not enough to haunt him. I need more from him.

the slow shift in their relationship felt as "natural" as an obsessive, chaotic, unhinged, toxic relationship can be. there was no sudden switch flipped when it came to thatcher's feelings for lyra. she was still the same obsessive stalker and he was still the same annoyed, cynic, tired of his stalker who he hates and mostly ignores.

“Death will have to wait for you. You’re mine now.”
“He can’t have either of us,”

seeing the progress of him starting to become jealous and possessive while still fiercely hating her... *chefs kiss* and somehow, slowly but surely, lyra burrows herself deep under his skin... freaking him the fuck out. he doesn't do emotions so he begins to question his beliefs and the way he functions as a person, all because of her and how she now makes him feel.

i must admit that my favorite part of the book was thatcherlyra, their relationship. but i also have to commend the already-existing storyline that has been there since the first book. vengeance for rosie.

the outcasts starting to unearth the web of deceit, corruption, and wickedness that lies within ponderosa springs is so jarring and thrilling. coupled with the fact that towards the end of the book, the storyline of vengeance the hollow boys were living transformed into a story of survival. the hunters became the hunted.

AND THE FUCKING CLIFFHANGER. AGAIN, WHAT THE FUCK!!!

it could've done with more proofreading for inconsistencies and grammatical errors BUT! nonetheless, i loved it and this has become one of my all-time favorites.
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