Grimm Hearts by JD Fitzegerald is the story of a 471 year old reaper, named Jonny, who is dissatisfied with his un-life. Unfortnately, because reapers only experience the emotional gamut of morose to merely annoyed, he's not entirely sure what to do or how to fix this situation. There are rumors in the reaper world of a reaper dying twice, by falling in love, you become alive again. But these are only rumors. The most he remembers of his life before being a reaper are flashes he gets when he eats food that would kill a living person. Then he sees a woman who makes the world around disappear and whose life force he cannot read. She is his polar opposite. And in this case, opposites attract.
I'll admit, I picked up this book because I thought it would be more comedy than love story. I was proven wrong, but I still managed to get several good laughs. I finished this book in a matter of hours because I didn't want to stop reading. Admittedly a lot of it was more out of fascination for the reaper world and rules than to figure out what happens next; but if the story hadn't held together, the mechanics of the world wouldn't have been so interesting.
The characters in the story are well developed and feel real to me. We all have this time in our lives when we feel like something is off, but we don't know what. Some people, like Jonny, go searching for answers. When we find our answers, the transition can be painful, but finally knowing helps to make peace with the pain of becoming alive again.
That being said, I did come across a bunch of typos. But as the book is still in production, it's not too surprising. Other than that, I have no problems with this book.
It saddens me to hear that the publication of this book has been stalled. I get that Cat's Southern accent wasn't well represented, but to hear that people didn't like the ending? It was one of the most beautiful endings I have read in a contemporary book. It was not a surprise. No aspect of this ending came out of the blue. I LOVE this ending and shame on people for demanding a different one. Fitzegerald did a masterful job on bringing the book to a close in a beautiful, peaceful way. I give it 5 Hoots. And I recommend getting yourself a copy when it becomes available.
Hoot!
Hoot!
Hoot!
Disclaimer: E-Book was provided by the publisher.
I agree totally with you about the characters and the ending. It's silly when people get angry because they didn't get what they wanted at the end. Just because it's not what they wanted or expected doesn't mean it's not good. As for Cat's accent, it didn't bother me because accents are so different throughout the south. And when you take someone out of the south, they start losing the accent.
ReplyDeleteThank you. People need to see the serenity of endings like this. And the only reason Cat's accent was a bit of a problem is because my brother-in-law's accent is so different. I don't have a lot of experience with the diversity of the southern accent.
DeleteHmm. *Adds to TBR* This sounds interesting, and I love great characters...who doesn't? :) While I'm a total freak when it comes to typos (so I basically have a conniption every time I peer edit in class), I suppose they'll be ironed out later.
ReplyDeleteIt's stalled?! Wow, that stinks.
Thanks for the review! :)
Like I said, the typos are probably because the book has not yet been published yet. If the ending had been something stupid or out of left field, I wouldn't mind the book being stalled. But since the ending is so very beautiful and perfect, I find the stall aggravating. :)
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