Review: The Book of You by Claire Kendal

The Book of You

by Claire Kendal

Publisher: Harper

Pages: 368

Format: eARC

Buy the Book: Amazon

Goodreads:  His name is Rafe, and he is everywhere Clarissa turns. At the university where she works. Her favorite sewing shop. The train station. Outside her apartment. His messages choke her voice mail; his gifts litter her mailbox. Since that one regrettable night, his obsession with her has grown, becoming more terrifying with each passing day. And as Rafe has made clear, he will never let her go.

Clarissa's only escape from this harrowing nightmare is inside a courtroom--where she is a juror on a trial involving a victim whose experiences eerily parallel her own. There she finds some peace and even makes new friends, including an attractive widower named Robert, whose caring attentions make her feel desired and safe. But as a disturbingly violent crime unfolds in the courtroom, Clarissa realizes that to survive she must expose Rafe herself. Conceiving a plan, she begins collecting the evidence of Rafe's madness to use against him--a record of terror that will force her to relive every excruciating moment she desperately wants to forget. Proof that will reveal the twisted, macabre fairy tale that Rafe has spun around them . . . with an ending more horrifying than her darkest fears.

Kritters Thoughts:  Clarissa has a stalker and she spends the book trying hard to gather a book of evidence to help present her case to the police.  At the same time as she is gathering her things, she is called as a juror on a case where a woman was brutally beaten and raped and her validity is called into question, a coincidence but a stunning one at that!

I am not a literary person, so I am going to try to explain something here - the author wrote parts of this book from the mouth of Clarissa, the victim writing to her stalker (you) and these parts were so powerful, but the narration would switch at times and it made it a little confusing and hard to read.  Because of this, it took me awhile to read the book, but I loved the "you" parts so much and found them to be utterly unique that they made up for some of the confusion.

I liked this book for its uniqueness and the ending was more than satisfying.  I just wish the middle had picked up a little more speed.

Check out the book trailer!  http://youtu.be/Olh5l4jfUjw

Rating: definitely a good read, but can't read two in a row

Ebook 2014  Challenge: 26 out of 100

Disclosure of Material Connection:  I received one copy of this book free of charge from TLC Book Tours.  I was not required to write a positive review in exchange for receipt of the book; rather, the opinions expressed in this review are my own.