Jamie Canosa

Welcome to cryfest 2015. My name is Sympathy, and I’ll be your host for the festival.

Pieces of my Heart is an emotional story that continues the Pieces series (and the book that made me weep like a little baby, Falling to Pieces). I had only just finished reading the prologue and I already found myself crying. It wasn’t as bad as it was when I finished reading Falling to Pieces, but it definitely showed me that this was not going to be good on my emotional sanity. It is a wonderfully amazing story that gripped my heart and wrenched it every which way. Enough so that it got me crying multiple times throughout it... (Read more via website)… (más)

POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD.
I won't use the HTML code since I'm not sure if they're really fully 100% spoilers.

Please excuse the impending rants and know that I'm writing this review with tears still in my eyes... Oh, and the fact that my eyes are sore and I've got a headache from crying.

Falling to Pieces happens to be my favorite book outside of my normal YA Fantasy genre. Several reasons to include as to why this is happens to be the following: The main character's personality and way of life is much like that of my own. The more I read through this book, the more I felt as if the author was stalking my life for her own muse. Much like the character, I strive to do everything I can to make other people happy, even if that means to put aside how I feel. She and I both felt unloved and uncared for (though my mother is not like the mother in this book).

What I really liked about the writing style, was the fact that, again, much like me, the character hears things differently than how they are said to them. This is signified in italics (see below for an excerpt to describe what I'm getting at):

I stood there for several long moments that bordered on eternity, staring down at it, terrified to lift my eyes and face my teammates. Could I be a bigger loser? Finally, Jeff--one of Doug's football teammates--stepped in, scooping up the ball and tossing it to the other side.
"Nice try."
Why don't you do us all a favor and play for the other team?

Another reason I started to believe the author was stalking my life was because Kiernan's brother, Cal, calls Jade, Angel. My boyfriend calls me Angel, and I've had people tell me I was one and provide the same explanation Cal gave to Jade when she asked him why he called her that.

"As far as I can see, nothing about your life is easy, at all. And yet here you are."

All in all, the book basically made me love it, slapped me, pushed me down, spit on me and watched me curl up in a ball and cry. You want to know what happened when I reached the end? I sat on the edge of my bed with my hands in my head and wept like a little baby. I then proceeded to take my ass downstairs to my mother, and wailed loudly about how I never read a book that could make me cry like this, and how I can't read another book like it for some time if I wanted to keep my sanity. Basically, if you loved The Fault in our Stars, read this... Seriously. Read it. Love it. Cry.… (más)

I am not sure where to start with this review. Overall, this is a good book. It is full of the things I look for in a book. It has a lot happening, many turns of events, characters that fit with the story, some suspense, some gut-wrenching parts.

However, with that being said, because of the above mentioned, I feel that this book was forced. Everything happened too quickly. I didn't have enough time to digest everything that happened. I feel this book should have been a two book series. At every turn, is should have happened a little slower. There should have been a little more going on at every turn of events. This story has the makings of a five star read for me, but it should have be more than what it is.

Jamie has such a good imagination when it comes to this story. I just would have liked her to have expanded this story, and given me more, stretch it out, give me more time with each situation, let is simmer in my head and heart a little more.

I think many are going to love this book. I am one for more of the things that people don't usually like, and that is why I think many will like it. They don't want too much of some things, certain situations, and they won't get too much of them in this book. They happen and the story moves on to the next. For those who don't like too much of hard to swallow situations, this is definitely a read for you.… (más)

4.5 stars

Jade and Kiernan... This is an emotional tale. One of love and loss. One of insecurities and bonds formed. Jade has never thought she was good enough for anything or anyone. So she has accepted her leper of a life. A life of loneliness.
Kiernan is everything Jade has never wanted yet always wanted. He makes her feel... feel everything. He has taken an interest in her and has opened up a world of emotions she never thought possible. But he has a secret. A secret that will break Jade. A secret that could cause her walls to go back up and for her to retreat back to her old self.
The building of new relationships in this story is endearing and heartfelt. My emotions were all over the place in this story. I wanted to hit someone. I wanted to hug someone. I wanted to cry. I wanted to laugh. And that ending!!! Definitely tissue-worthy! I cannot wait for the next book in this series. There are things I would love to see happen, but after you read it, you may not agree with me. But I think a more close relationship with Caudler could be in the cards?… (más)