Kira

This is a difficult book to review. The plot has already been hashed over so I'll spare you that, but I'll explain why I gave the book two stars.If I was rating based on writing ability, I would give the author four stars. The writing was outstanding. From the first page the author invites you to live inside her character and experience her life with great depth of emotion. I had never considered before how frightening and devastating it would be to lose your hearing. Through this book I experienced it. The descriptions were well-done and the characters were extremely believable, if infuriating at times.However, when rated based on my enjoyment of the story, it gets two stars, simply for putting me through the emotional wringer without mercy for the entire book. This poor girl's life is awful from start to finish with only painfully brief moments of happiness. The first two-thirds are just sad, and the last third is kind of weird. It took a strange twist and suddenly the book became a mystery when before it was a character study. I didn't feel like that was warranted or necessary and it actually distracted me from the story.This is not a pleasure read. It is interesting, but also difficult to read at times. I didn't care for it, but you may love it. If you liked Olivia and Jai, you will probably like this book, but it was way too depressing for me.