Blog Tour Review: Thicker Than Water by Kelly (Fiore) Stultz

January 4, 2016 Blog Tour, Giveaway, Review 18 ★★★★

Blog Tour Review: Thicker Than Water by Kelly (Fiore) StultzThicker Than Water by Kelly (Fiore) Stultz
Series: Stand-Alone
Published by Harper Teen on January 5th 2016
Genres: Young Adult Contemporary
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover
Source: Publisher
Buy on Amazon
Goodreads
Rating: 4 Stars
Heat Rating:zero-flames

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Cecelia Price killed her brother. At least, that’s what the police and the district attorney are saying. And although Cecelia is now locked up and forced into treatment, she knows the real story is much more complicated.
Cyrus wasn’t always the drug-addled monster he’d become. He was a successful athlete, but when an injury forced him off the soccer field and onto pain medication, his life became a blur of anger, addiction, and violence. All CeCe could do was stand by and watch, until she realized one effective way to take away her brother’s drugs while earning the money she needed for college: selling the pills.
Soon, CeCe becomes part drug dealer, part honor student. But even when all she wants is to make things right, she learns that sometimes the best intentions lead to the worst possible outcome.
Thicker than Water is an unforgettable dark, harrowing look into the disturbing truth of drug addiction and the desperate love of a sister watching her brother deteriorate before her eyes.

ARCREVIEW PAGETURNER ya

Thicker Than WaterThicker Than Water was a read that I came away with quite surprised. It’s a story told from Cecelia Price‘s point of view about the death of her brother, her involvement, and going through treatment as she awaits trial for his death.

It was an interesting story, and even more of an interesting subject as the author takes on a challenge of tackling prescription drug abuse in a Young Adult novel. It didn’t feel for the faint of heart. The subject was a bit dark, it was scary, and at times it felt difficult to read.

As Cecelia unfolds the events leading up to her treatment, I found her journey a bit hard to follow. There had been times where I found myself stepping away from the book in order to sort out my feelings. It was heartbreaking witnessing the deterioration of not just her brother but the friendship between them. It was also hard to swallow the fact that this ended up being another Young Adult novel with the clueless absent parents who wore rose colored glasses of blissful ignorance. I won’t lie when I tell you that it was annoying the way her father had handled the brother’s addiction, or how he choose to live in denial instead of finding his own son some help. I won’t tell you how ironic it felt that Cece is the one who ends up in treatment. Thought I have to admit, that part stumped me.

But I did enjoy the book, more than I thought I would given the difficult subject. I applaud the author for bringing something like this up to attention. The writing was amazing and quite talented. The story had me hooked and wandering the entire time about what had happened and what made things fall apart. It was well crafted, but the end did kind of surprise me and I am not sure if it was in a good or bad way.

Everything I thought I knew, felt like it wasn’t. Making everything that Cece had ever felt guilty of kind of scratch my head a little. But unfortunately I cannot go too far into why, without ruining the book.

Overall, it was really well written, despite a few problems. The story line was a bit dark, parts of it made me feel bad for Cece and the sibling relationship she lost with her brother, parts of it made it hard to read it.

Giveaway Details:

3 winners will receive a finished copy of THICKER THAN WATER. US Only.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Tour Schedule:

 

Week One:

12/28/2015- Ohana Reads- Interview

12/29/2015- Here’s to Happy Endings- Review

12/30/2015- FICTION FARE- Guest Post

12/31/2015- In Wonderland- Review

1/1/2016- PLEASE FEED THE BOOKWORM- Interview

 

Week Two:

1/4/2016- Night Owl Book Café- Review

1/5/2016- Fiktshun- Guest Post

1/6/2016- Such a Novel Idea- Review

1/7/2016- YA Book Madness- Interview

1/8/2016- A Dream Within A Dream- Review

 

About Kelly (Fiore) Stultz

Kelly Fiore-Stultz has a BA in English from Salisbury University and an MFA in Poetry from West Virginia University. She received an Individual Artist Award from the Maryland State Arts Council in 2005 and 2009. Kelly’s poetry has appeared in Small Spiral Notebook, Samzidada, Mid Atlantic Review, Connotation Press, and the Grolier Annual Review. Her first young adult novel, Taste Test, was released in August 2013 from Bloomsbury USA, and her second, Just Like the Movies, again from Bloomsbury, was releasted in 2014. Forthcoming novels include Thicker Than Water from HarperTeen in 2015.


18 Responses to “Blog Tour Review: Thicker Than Water by Kelly (Fiore) Stultz”

  1. Ramona

    Oh, the inadequate parents…! Alas, it’s a trope that seemed to have endure beyond what many of us can hope to accept. Wonderful review, Lily. Happy New Year to you :)

    Reply

  5. Sophia Rose

    While I am intrigued by the situation of the heroine and the subject matter, I do hesitate b/c of that very same thing. I imagine it was good and intense. I’ll have to think about it.

    Reply

  9. Heidi

    Hmm….. I like the topic but I am not thrilled that it is dark. Still it sounds like it is worth checking out.

    Reply

  13. Wattle

    One day there’ll be a book where the parents are great and not oblivious :/ despite that trope, this sounds quite interesting (and sad!) I like dark stories, though do need to be in the right mood for them. I think this will be going on my maybe list, thank you for sharing!
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