Review: Made For You

Made For You
Author: Melissa Marr
Publication Date: September 16th 2014                                   
Publisher: HarperCollins
~A copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review~
 

Bestselling author of the Wicked Lovely books Melissa Marr’s first contemporary YA novel is a twisted southern gothic tale of obsession, romance, and murder. A killer is obsessed with Eva Tilling. Can she stop him, or will he claim her?

When Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital, she’s confused—who in her sleepy little North Carolina town could have hit her with their car? And why? But before she can consider the question, she finds that she’s awoken with a strange new skill: the ability to foresee people’s deaths when they touch her. While she is recovering from the hit-and-run, Nate, an old flame, reappears, and the two must traverse their rocky past as they figure out how to use Eva’s power to keep her friends—and themselves—alive. But while Eva and Nate grow closer, the killer grows increasingly frantic in his attempt to get to Eva.

For the first time, New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr has applied her extraordinary talent to contemporary realism. Chilling twists, unrequited obsession, and high-stakes romance drive this Gothic, racy thriller—a story of small-town oppression and salvation. Melissa’s fans, and every YA reader, will find its wild ride enthralling 

Now, the psychology behind the process of the killer in Made For You was perfect, spot on. It's the main thing I loved about it, and that's what kept me reading. Usually when it comes to serial killers/killers I usually have issues with the development behind it- they usually don't add all up or are adapted for the convenience of the story. Even when they do have the killers perspective, never really gave me the creeps as much as I thought it would, because they always had this line that they wouldn't cross because of YA, but it always made it unrealistic

Not that you'd count the killer in Made for You as a serial killer- it's complicated.



On one hand, you could say yeah,  he is a serial killer, right amount of victims, gets excited at the concept of it and revisits the crime scene as a way to get off. But, the killer also feels empathy for one of the victims (so he's not a sociopath- not that all serial killers are sociopaths anyway), he also knew all of the victims. It's more of an obsession killer,  he's obsessed with Eva, thinks that she loves him, that when she makes eye contact that it's 'secret looks'. He kills the people he thinks are in the way of their love. The killer also uses religion as a way of vindicating what he's done. That God's sending him messages.

I would've loved to know if there was a trigger. Well, in a way, one is kind of revealed but it wasn't exactly confirmed, though it does make sense.

My main issue with Made For You was with two of the characters, and an unresolved relationship. I'll get to the relationship part in a minute, but I'll start with why I couldn't connect to our main character, Eva. She's an average character, there wasn't anything wrong with her, she was nice, not a bitch, maybe a little bit judgemental at times and a little vain, but there's nothing that makes her stand out, unless you count her idiocy at times. Yeah, I'm counting her idiocy.  So, someone just run you over and scarred your pretty little face, the police think it might not have been an accident. Then another girl you know gets killed and that they think it may be connected. They want you to stay in, take precaution. Do you A) do as they advise, or B) whine that you can't go anywhere?

Guess what she does? You got it. B.

Because you know, when someone maybe trying to kill you, you want to go outside and not protected.

The unresolved relationship between Eva and Nate. They used to be best friends, she's in love with him, one day he just stops talking to her, avoids her, doesn't make eye contact, she even walks up to him at a party and he blanks her. Yet Eva's feeling's never change though he's been a dick for whatever years. Once she gets hit and he starts talking to her again because he's worried, she just forgives him. Like that. I could deal with that, but there wasn't exactly an explanation of why, okay, he had a lot of shitty things going on at that time, but it's not an excuse and it's not a reason why. So nope, I didn't like their relationship. And I didn't like the romance.

I also don't get why there was a third perspective.. We have Eva's perspective, obviously. And we also get the killers perspective under Judge, which was actually quite disturbing and gritty- and again, spot on. But we also get Eva's best friend- Grace's. It felt more like a filler chapters than anything else and didn't add to the story that much.

Some aspects of Made For You were great, and what made me keep reading, but when it comes down to characters, I need a connection otherwise it doesn't work for me- and they didn't work for me.

 

Rating: 4/5

 

 

 

 

 

 

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