Tori's Review: Through to You by Emily Hainsworth

Through to You by Emily Hainsworth
Series: None
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal
Rating: ★★★★
Pages: 272
Published by Balzer + Bray on October 2, 2012
Date Finished: August 2, 2013
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Camden Pike has been grief-stricken since his girlfriend, Viv, died. He’d give anything to have just one more glimpse of her. But when Cam visits the site of Viv’s deadly car accident, he sees an apparition. Her name is Nina, and she’s a girl from a parallel world. When Cam follows her there and makes an unbelievable discovery, it’s as if all his wildest dreams have come true. But things are very different in this other world. Nina is hiding a secret, and the window between the worlds is shrinking every day. As Cam comes to terms with the truth, he’s forced to make a choice that will change his life forever.

The first thing I thought when I finished this book: whoa--just whoa.

Seriously thought. This book was so much more than I thought it was going to be. Honestly, it took longer than a week for me to get into it. I read about 20 pages or so and then didn't pick it up again until a week later--today. I wish I just pushed through it last week because this book was so amazing! There were some things that I disliked about it, but that's okay. In the end, I think this was a brilliant debut novel, and I will definitely be reading the next novel that Hainsworth writes!

Anyway, the first thing that I disliked about Through to You was the way it started off slow and then rushed through the ending. I feel like the overall plot was very unbalanced, but maybe that's just my opinion. I'm usually into the fast paced novel. But I feel like the beginning should've started off with him going with Nina to the parallel universe opposed to it starting off with Cam moping around because of Viv being dead. (Sorry if that was a spoiler. If you've read the summary, it shouldn't be too much of a spoiler, though.) I just feel like 30 pages is too long to go without the real plot kicking in.

And then at the end. I just feel like it jumped to one thing to the next too quickly. There's a section in the middle of the book where you don't really learn anything about Nina and Viv's secrets, and I feel like the endings should've somehow been eased into. I feel like the middle and the end should've merged together more than it actually did. I don't know. Maybe it's just me.

The other thing about this book was that there wasn't much explanation on Logan. I understood that Logan hated Cam because Cam was a better quarterback and got the girl...but I'm not sure if I just glazed over this particular part of if the author never actually elaborated on their relationship. Maybe I was just oblivious to that part though. Who knows.

But despite all my issues with this book, they were very minimal, and they're easily looked over. (Plus, I'm tired of giving half stars in reviews.) I just couldn't give this book three stars nor could I give it five.

Other than the wonky plot and the flat side characters, I do recommend this book. Although I recommend it for people who like meaningful books. As for myself, I like a book that's meaningful but has a steady flow. This book was kind of jerky until around page 150.

Also, I liked Cam's character a lot. I understood why he was conflicted about Nina's intentions. In his world, he didn't even know Nina, but in her world, they were "best friends". Naturally for him it was difficult for him to accept what was actually going on. And I felt as thought for a female author she wrote the point of view of a male character quite well. In the beginning, I didn't think that the depression that he was in was overplayed like I usually do in books like these (books dealing with depression and other world issues at the moment). It was all very real.

I loved Nina too. She was just...awesome. And the ending. Dear god, the ending. That's exactly how I wanted it to end. It was so perfect. Oh and while I'm at it, I hated Viv. Even before I found out the truth about her, I hated her. She just seemed like the girl I'd hate in school.

In conclusion, it's safe to say that I'll be reading Emily Hainsworth's upcoming novel Never is a Promise when it hits the shelves next year! And I don't even know what it's about! The title just sounds intriguing, and I quite like her writing style despite my issues with Through to You.