Skip to main content

Blog Tour: I Hold Your Heat by Karen Gregory Book Review

*I am reviewing this book which I was gifted for free by Bloomsbury in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. *

 I Hold Your HeartTitle: I Hold Your Heart
Author: Karen Gregory
Publisher: Bloomsbury
Source: Sent by the publisher
Rating: 4/5 stars

(Amazon|Goodreads)






Book Summary:

'You make me feel like there's something good in the world I can hold on to,' Aaron says. He kisses me again, draws me so close it's almost hard to breathe. 'I love you, Gem. And I promise I'll hold your heart forever.'

When Gemma meets Aaron, she feels truly seen for the first time. Their love story is the intense kind. The written-in-the-stars, excluding-all-others kind. The kind you write songs about.

But little by little their relationship takes over Gemma's life. What happens when being seen becomes being watched, and care becomes control?

Told in both Gemma's and Aaron's words, this is a raw, moving exploration of gaslighting in teenage relationships that skewers our ideas of what love looks like.

Book Review:
Karen Gregory has been a top YA author for a couple of years now, with an army of readers by her side but I have not read any of her books so when I sawed this book to review as part of the blog tour I jumped at the chance. I Hold Your Heart is the perfect introduction to Karen Gregory's work and I can't wait to dive into her backlist. 

One of the main things that drew me to her books was the fact that they dealt with real and difficult issues. This is something that I Hold The Heart does, dealing with an abusive relationship. Karen Gregory does this differently showing both sides of the relationship which could be difficult to read at times but highlights the complexities that this causes. I think that Karen Gregory does this well and it really conveys the messages of being in an abusive relationship.

The characters of Aaron and Gemma are also well-developed characters and I felt for Gemma in the book as you do see the relationship go from good to bad. I felt like this was a strong part of the book and it conveyed toxic relationships really well. 

 Although a minor part of the plot and book, the characters are from working-class backgrounds who have jobs and I feel like this made them a lot more relatable compared to other YA stories. Overall, I did really like I Hold Your Heart dealing with hard-hitting issues with such care and sensitivity. 
The Verdict:

I Hold Your Heart is a raw and unflinching look at teenage relationships, bringing to light gaslighting which every teenage and person needs to read.

Have you read I Hold Your Heart? Do you want to? Let me know in the comments below.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Book Review: The Great Godden by Meg Rossoff

   * I am reviewing this book which I was gifted for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own. * Title: The Great Godden  Author: Meg Rossoff Publisher: Bloomsbury  Source: NetGalley ( Bookshop UK |  Hive |  Goodreads  |  Storygraph ) Book Summary: Everyone talks about falling in love like it’s the most miraculous, life-changing thing in the world. Something happens, they say, and you know … That’s what happened when I met Kit Godden. I looked into his eyes and I knew. Only everyone else knew too. Everyone else felt exactly the same way. This is the story of one family, one dreamy summer – the summer when everything changes. In a holiday house by the sea, our watchful narrator sees everything, including many things they shouldn’t, as their brother and sisters, parents and older cousins fill hot days with wine and games and planning a wedding. Enter two brothers – irresistible, charming, languidly sexy Kit a...
Post a Comment
Read more

Reviewing All Of The Books

Earlier this year, I decided that I would review all of the books that I read. For the most part, I definitely have but over the last couple of months it has definitely gone to the wayside but that is because I have been so busy. I wanted to do it because I annoyed myself that I reviewed books years after I read them and I often couldn't remember the plot. Trust me this is still the case, but I have kind of run out of books that I need to review this year which is weird for me. My backlog is getting lower and as I am not reading as much, I genuinely think I might run out. This has never happened before. This is of course quite nice because I think that it creates feelings that are much better than remembering a book from two years ago. Thinking about it at the moment does definitely make it easier as it goes into my head on a computer screen and less memory space is always a good idea. I also do think that sometimes it does take the fun out of it though but there are a lot of benef...
Post a Comment
Read more

Popsugar Reading Challenge 2021 Wrap Up

Every year since 2015, I have had the Popsugar Reading Challenge to diversify my reading. Over the course of the last year, I would like to think that I have done this and looking at did a good job considering I have been so busy over the last year. Even though I did actually have a plan of a book to read for almost all of the prompts, I did just wing it for the latter half of the year. This was because I was just reading what I wanted to and because I was not really reading at all.  So let's see what I read this year... A book that’s published in 2021    Book I Want To Read: Gut Feelings by C. G. Moore Book I Actually Read: Gut Feelings by C.G. Moore An Afrofuturist book Book I Want To Read: The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin  Book I Actually Read:  The City We Became by N.K. Jemisin A book that has a heart, diamond, club, or spade on the cover  Book I Want To Read: Heartbreak Boys by Simon James Green Book I Actually Read: Ace of Spades by Faridah À...
Post a Comment
Read more