Title: Every Pane of Glass
Author: H.B. Stumbo
Series: Stand-alone
Genre: Adult Romance Mystery(?)
Page Length: ---
Publication Date: June 1, 2016
Date Started: May 15, 2016
Date Finished: May 17, 2016
Rating: 5/5 stars
Disclaimer: This arc was sent to me in advance for review.
--SPOILER FREE--
OH MY GOD! Holy crap! Guys...this book! Wow, it was a rollercoaster of emotions that I'm ready to share with you all. Usually I don't have spoiler-sections in my reviews, but I need to talk about my feels. There will be warning before those, don't worry.
First of all, this is H.B. Stumbo's newest stand alone novel that is completely set aside from her H.A.S.H. trilogy. There is no correlation between the two, just putting that out there. New amazing characters, new setting, and new plot.
We follow a girl named Val who moves back to her hometown, Devil Town, to sell her childhood home. There, she runs into someone from her past (named Jordan) and also meets a new man (named Anderson). Throughout the novel she starts to delve into her past as it weaves itself into her present life.
It's great. I don't want to tell you more for even the slightest chance of spoiling something that you might think of as big. So if you have not read this book and don't want any semi-spoilery things about the book (not necessarily the plot) then stop reading here and come back afterwards :)
--SEMI-SPOILER FREE--
I loved loved loved how this book was written. We start off reading from a "Now" timeline, which is basically the current timeline of Val's life. It switches between that timeline and a "Before" timeline, which is the story of Val's past. I really really enjoyed that we got to see her past instead of just told about it. I always like to see rather than be told what happened.
Aside from that, part of the writing was a lot of what Val was feeling. I, myself, enjoy getting into character's minds and such. I find it to be a little bit more enjoyable than two pages describing the bedroom that we only see once throughout the whole novel. I liked reading Val's thoughts and her struggles. It was awesome.
Then we have the boys, Anderson and Jordan. Anderson is her new beau but Jordan is someone from her past, kind of the catalyst that causes her to start revisiting her past. I was frustrated with both of them at different parts in the story, but I did really enjoy both of their characters.
The ending surprised me to no end. And when I say the ending, I just mean everything at the end, not just the last chapter. Wow, I was left speechless and then I was yelling in the once-silence of my bedroom. It was fantastic.
For those of you who have not read the book, don't continue on from here unless you're prepared to be spoiler. Leave with my warning of having a isolated space to finish the book so that you can deal with your feels properly.
--SPOILING AHEAD--
Wow. Just...wow.
Okay, first of all, Jordan...
So in the "Before" timeline, I started off liking him and then he grew into this dark bad boy who Val is in a pretty toxic relationship with. In the "Now" timeline, I kind of wanted to slap him, but at the same time I wanted him to do something to prove to Val that he was different. I wanted him to redeem himself. Needless to say, that didn't happen.
Anderson frustrated me occasionally, as I stated previously. I felt that at times, he was being very unfair towards Val. Oh lord it annoyed me when he would ignore her or make her feel bad for trying to figure out stuff with Jordan.
Val herself was a really interesting character to read. She was impulsive and stone-hearted. She wanted people to think she was cold and stay away. She wanted to stay in the background. It was rather cool to read her perspective.
Let me just talk about the ending...
So a few chapters from the end we find out that Jordan is actually dead, and either Val is seeing a ghost or she is imagining him. We find out that he died on the night he and Val had a fight and she left town. It was a big shock for me. Can we just talk about how subtle the fact that he was a ghost was? Val casually mentions that he looks the exact same as he did when she left. Then nobody else has seen him with her, and he's constantly showing up everywhere and telling her things that he shouldn't be able to know. Just...wow. Round of applause to Hayley.
Then an even bigger bombshell drops in the last chapter. Val is the one who killed him. BAM! I almost threw my phone across the room when I read that... Of course, her finally remembering that is when he shows up at a coffee shop a little while later and triggers that memory. She had been repressing it all these years, but she'd finally snapped under all of what was going wrong in their relationship and killed him. Like holy crap.
But on the upside, Jordan is actually a ghost and not just a figment of her imagination...so she's not all crazy.
I really really enjoyed this story. It was very unique and a rollercoaster of emotions. I definitely recommend this novel, just as I recommend all of H.B. Stumbo's works. For more information on her or her novels, check out my "Featured" tab for links to her site or works.
FANTASTIC NOVEL. *clapping*
~
Thanks for reading
xoxo
Lauren
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