REVIEW: Every Move by Ellie Marney

Title: Every Move (Every #3)
Author: Ellie Marney
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery.
Publication Date: March 1st 2015
Publisher: Allen & Unwin
Format: Paperback
Pages: 340
Rating: 5/5

The sequel to Every Breath and Every Word.After the dramatic events of London, a road trip back to her old home in Five Mile sounds good (in theory) to Rachel Watts, with her brother Mike in the driving seat. But when Mike picks up his old buddy – the wildly unreliable Harris Derwent – things start to go south. 

Back in Melbourne, Rachel’s ‘partner in crime’, James Mycroft, clashes with Harris, and then a series of murders suggest that the mysterious Mr Wild – Mycroft’s own personal Moriarty – is hot on their tail. When tragedy strikes, Rachel and Mycroft realise they’ll have to recruit Harris and take matters into their own hands… 

This book was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review, but this in no way alters my thoughts and opinions.

Oh my god. Can I just say that first? Just wow.

The Every series is one of my all-time favourite series.  I’m sure this doesn’t surprise any of you. I’ve fangirled thousands of times about these books, and about James Mycroft in particular and now the series is over.

I was terrified to read this final book. I’m already really awful at finishing series but the idea of finishing this one actually made me anxious. It sounds ridiculous but I love Rachel Watts and James Mycroft almost more than anything else in this world and I wasn’t ready to let go of them. I’ll never be ready to let go of them. The thing was I found it hard to trust Ellie Marney – I knew from past experience that she wasn’t above causing us all serious harm.

I was about to say that I got over that fear, but I really didn’t. I read this a little slower than I usually would for a couple of reasons. One, I didn’t want it to end. Two, I had class. Three, it was very heavy in parts. When I say this, it wasn’t a bad or unnecessary heavy – it was super well done, in fact it was so well done that my own feelings echoed Rachel’s at points in the book. It was actually so intense that I had to put it down every few chapters and watch something on YouTube or do something else just to calm down. I don’t think I’ve ever experienced another series that has literally sent me into panic attacks because I couldn’t handle anything happening to my babies the characters. You might think that would make me dislike this series, but nope, I can’t get enough. What can I say? James Mycroft is like my own personal torture device.

I don’t know how else to review this other than to say that he met all of my expectations. Last books in series are always a gamble – they can be incredibly disappointing, or just not quite as good, but this one. This one was amazing. I don’t know if it was better than the others – this entire series is just perfect to me. I honestly can’t pick a favourite because I love them all so much.

I loved the plot in this one, and the mystery. I honestly didn’t pick the person until Rachel and Mycroft did, which is my favourite thing about reading crime/mystery novels. There were so many twists and turns that I just did not see coming and things I expected that were completely turned on their heads while I sat there, gaping at the amazingness that is Ellie Marney.

I honestly don’t know how I’m going to move on from here. What do you do after one of your favourite series ends? In a way, I’m glad that it’s over because it means I get to reread it again and again and just sob into a cup of tea.

Thank you Ellie Marney for ripping my heart out of my chest and stomping on it throughout this trilogy. Also, thank you and the lovely people at Allen and Unwin for sending me a copy of this book to have and adore for the rest of my life.

REVIEW: Every Breath by Ellie Marney

Title: Every Breath (Every #1)

Author: Ellie Marney

Genre: Young Adult, Crime/Mystery.

Publication Date: September 2013

Publisher: Allen and Unwin

Format: Paperback

Pages: 335

Rating: 5/5

Rachel Watts is an unwilling new arrival to Melbourne from the country. James Mycroft is her neighbour, an intriguingly troubled seventeen-year-old genius with a passion for forensics. Despite her misgivings, Rachel finds herself unable to resist Mycroft when he wants her help investigating a murder. And when Watts and Mycroft follow a trail to the cold-blooded killer, they find themselves in the lion's den - literally.

A night at the zoo will never have quite the same meaning again...

You know that shaking feeling you get right after you finish a really amazing book? THIS. This right here. Not only did I shake uncontrollably after finishing this book, because I finished it at about 11pm, I lay awake for half the night thinking about it. It’s been months since a book has made me feel this way.

Every Breath first caught my attention when my favourite author, Nansi Kunze, reviewed it. Nansi said ‘If you want to see how YA crime should be written, look no further than Ellie Marney’s debut novel’ and from then I decided I had to pick up the book for myself. Admittedly, it took me a little while to buy the book for myself but (unlike every other thing I own) it didn’t sit on my bookshelf for more than two weeks before I picked it up.

It started off very differently than I imagined it would, but I found that I really liked the direction that it was going. Unfortunately, I was a little bit busy on the night I started it so I didn’t get to get very far into it at all. I managed to pick it up the next night and I read the last two hundred and something pages in the space of two hours, with a little break in between for a cup of tea. I think that probably explains my feelings about this book.

In case you don’t know, Every Breath is sort of a modern day Sherlock but we have Mycroft and Watts instead of Sherlock and Watson. Rachel Watts is our main character, she’s recently moved from the country into the city. Personally, I’ve always lived on the outer suburbs of the city so I’m sort of more used to it than Rachel is but I understood how she found it difficult to settle in. James Mycroft is insane, in a good way, he’s an ‘eccentric genius’ and he is, ultimately, just like Sherlock. I love both of them so much, so much that it’s probably not healthy or normal. I found I could relate to Rachel, she’s smart and she’s not completely boy-obsessed. Mycroft, on the other hand, well...basically, I want my own James Mycroft to love forever and ever. He’s my new literary boyfriend, and I think he’s going up there with Sirius and Augustus. That’s a big deal considering I only fell in love with him a few days ago.

Moving on from Mycroft (only briefly), my absolute favourite thing about Every Breath is that I feel like it was written for me. It’s a YA crime/mystery with a hot, intelligent boy set in Melbourne. Chami/other people who know me well, does that not sound like my perfect book? Well, it is, and I loved it more than I could have ever imagined. I don’t think I can even put into proper words or quantify how much I love this book – it’s just not possible to explain.

Even writing this review now, I still feel a bit shaky and it’s been over 12 hours since I finished the book. Wow, 12 hours, does that mean I can re-read this yet? Every Breath has definitely become a new favourite, in fact, I’m thinking it’s going to be one of my all-time favourite books for the rest of my life now. If you haven’t already, you should read Every Breath and then we can all obsess over Mycroft forever (though, he’s all mine really). In advance, I’d like to apologise for all the fangirling I’m going to do about this on the blog from now until the end of time. Also, I need recommendations, because what the hell am I going to read after something this amazing?