Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher

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Genre:

Contemporary Romance

Summary on Goodreads:

When reclusive novelist Senna Richards wakes up on her thirty-third birthday, everything has changed. Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat…and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her survival hanging by a thread, Senna soon realizes this is a game. A dangerous one. Only the truth can set her free.

RATING:

***REVIEW***

"She bought me with words; beautiful, promising and intricately carved words..."

I'm a masochist reader. Dark, raw & emotional stories which cut you deep are my guilty pleasure, then why didn't I love this book, why didn't it buy me with words? It had potential, the beginning was intriguing and gripping, but above all it was written by T. Fisher whose Love Me With Lies Series are one of my favorite masochist reads, but in the end I just didn't see the point behind this story. Aside from being a masochist read with a heart-breaking story, this one has nothing in common with Love Me With Lies Series.

It is a mixture of psychological thriller/ drama, I'm not even sure. I won't go deep into the plot, because it's impossible to talk about it without spoilers and the mystery behind is the thing that will keep readers reading just like it did me. The main character is a famous writer Senna Richards who wakes up one day kidnapped, in a stranger's house in middle of nowhere, together with her ex friend/ love interest Isaac. They are both confused, frightened and have no idea why would someone kidnap them together and leave them locked in a house with clothes and supplies which could last them for months. As I said, the beginning was gripping. Just like the characters, you have no idea what is going on and that's what drives you to keep turning the pages, but then again, I couldn't help but find the idea of a kidnapper who  never shows up and who left you with supplies and everything a little bit lame, but I still hoped that there's some bigger and awesome story behind everything, just waiting for me, so I kept reading and waiting and waiting and waiting.

"You can't fix me," I said, looking at his knees.

"I don't want to."

"I'm mangled," I said. On the inside and the outside."

"And yet I love you."

Another thing I couldn't connect to no matter how hard I tried was the main character Senna. She is one of the most depressing, negative and complicated characters I've read about and to tell you the truth it was exhausting from time to time to be in her head. She has huge trust issues and therefore she has no friends and runs from everything and everyone she comes close to and as if that wasn't enough life keeps throwing tragedy after tragedy her way. I felt sorry for her at the beginning, but at one point I just stopped caring anymore after she just kept on crushing every possibility for happiness.

After the 1st half of the book the story became too dramatic with too many wtf-moments, the writing style was also little bit over-descriptive for my taste this time and I felt (read: wanted) that the book could have been shorter for a lot of pages. The biggest wtf-moment being the way it wrapped up and when we finally get some idea about what is actually happening. The part I actually liked was when Isaac is reading Nick's book and the story how them two met which was really touching, emotional and heart-breaking at the same time, but that's where it stops.

For me, the story ended up being some weird, confusing and lighter version of the Saw movies with you know *who* in the role of Jigsaw and also, regarding the cabin and mommy issues, it reminded me a little bit on Precious Little Things by M. Hart, another book by one of my favorite authors that I didn't like. It did bring me to tears, how could it not after so much pain & tragedy, but in the end I was also glad that it was over, because I got bored with all the never-ending drama. I mean, I get the message the author is sending through it- don't waste your life and possibility of love and happiness because of fear of getting hurt and ending up heart-broken, because life is too short and unpredictable to be wasted on "what ifs", I just don't like the way she delivered it.

I still think that T. Fisher is a really talented author and I'm looking forward to her future work, but this story just wasn't for me. Read it and decide for yourself.

XOXO