Just add Water, Silly.: Book Review: "Made For You" by Melissa Marr

"Made For You" by Melissa Marr is a wonderfully easy book to enjoy. It's been dubbed a "contemporary YA novel" that "is a twisted southern gothic tale of obsession, romance, and murder." I, however, would say it's an easy to read and enjoyable mystery with a tiny bit of paranormal thrown in to make it interesting. The term Young Adult (YA) can sometimes be confusing. I guarantee adults will enjoy this book, I certainly did and I didn't feel like it was somehow "dumbed down" or less enjoyable because young adults would also love it.

The mysterious story centers around our main character, Eva Cooper-Tilling. She is a smart, privileged, wealthy seventeen year old who is remarkably unspoiled by her upbringing and circumstances. Eva is wonderfully self assured and self reliant, as the reader, you root for her to rise above the harrowing mess she finds herself embroiled in.

Eva lives in Jessup, a small Southern town that relies on status to keep everyone in their place. If you're from the right side of the tracks so to speak, you are worthy to be in the popular group. Eva finds these rules endlessly boring, tedious and stifling. She admits that her friends can sometimes be callus and status climbing but she's loyal to them and blames the small town for making it's young adults bow to duty, parentage, wealth and status.

Author: Melissa Marr

The mystery starts when someone runs Eva over, leaving her on the side of the road, broken, battered and with a serious head injury. When Eva awakens in the hospital after several touch-and-go days of unconsciousness, she finds she has an unusual new skill. When others touch her, she can see their deaths. Eva, because of her brain injury, is unsure what to make of her new visions. The Police question whether the accident was indeed an accident. Maybe someone deliberately tried to kill Eva. So starts the headlong rush to find out just what happened to Eva and weather there is in fact a Killer in her small North Carolina town.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I found the addition of Eva's visions easy to accept as they were so well written. I certainly am not surprised that the book was so enjoyable as Melissa Marr is "the New York Times bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely series." I loved trying to figure out who was obsessed with Eva. I found myself wishing there were more pages in the book when it ended as I loved the characters so much, I wanted them to continue. I think that's a really good sign, when you miss the characters you just read about. The one extra detail that made me want to read "Made For You" was that it was based on true events that happened to the author. Melissa Marr was inspired by her own "harrowing experiences with a real-life stalker".

I have to give this book a five out of five. No book is ever perfect but this nudges itself out of the fours and into the fives by being just so easily accessible and smooth to read. I look forward to more Mellissa Mar novels. Let's hope she continues to write mysteries along with the paranormal books she also writes.

HarperCollins is publishing this book on September 16th so check it out then!
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