Sam Hawken

So much emotional goodness in such a tiny little package.

I swooned at every aspect of this story. From the sick-kid start, to the happily ever after fairy tale-esk tone of it. Accepting family rep, ride or die friendship rep—all of it was perfection. I loved the way this retelling took the source material and wove it throughout to make a new tale. It paid homage while pointing out the flaws in the best way possible. Toss in a little science and you've got a adventure fit for any Sleeping Beauty enthusiast. (No, you don't need to be familiar with any of the source material to enjoy this story.) Not to mention the lesbian rep. ugh. This novella is soo good.

With a terminally ill child in our household it definitely cut deeper. Alix E. Harrow is one of my favorite authors, and this book is another must read with it's poetic word choices, and life themes woven into it. I am so excited to see where the next installment will take us.

I recommend this book to anyone who loves retellings, and enjoys stories where the heroine takes control of their own destiny.… (more)

I think I picked this up at my local Waterstones just after christmas, I was drawn in by the cover, the story sounded interesting and it has been short listed for a prize. I hadn't heard of Sam Hawken and I didn't realise that the story is based loosely around a real life phenomenom of women going missing and turning up dead in Juarez, Mexico.

The book starts with Kelly Courter who is a likeable character who is down on his luck and an ex drug addict trying to make ends meet by boxing in matches he has no chance or desire to win. Kelly and his back story is developed a little as the book goes on but I would have liked to know more about him. By the end of the book I felt pity but also dislike towards him and like all the charcaters in the book there just seems to be something missing from him.

Hawken seems to repeat several things throughout the book, he like vomit and urinating blood it would seem. There is also some sex in the book which seems graphic for the sake of being graphic and not much else. I suspect he was trying to make the story edgy and gritty but in these places it falls down. This is a shame because the descriptions of the places and the dusty, dry oppressive atompshere is got across very well and sets a really effective tone.

Overall its pretty easy to read and I kept picking it up to read whenever I had a spare 10 or 15 minutes. I found it to be ok, the story is predictable in a lot of places and I feel Hawken missed a trick in one part of the story when he went in one direction where another would have been better. I also couldn't help but feel that it was being set up for a sequel.… (more)