Published by Carina UK

Synopsis:

Inside we are all monsters…

Chloe was once a normal girl. Until the night of the car crash that nearly claimed her life. Now Chloe’s mother is dead, her father is a shell of the man he used to be and the secrets that had so carefully kept their family together are falling apart.

A new start is all Chloe and her father can hope for, but when you think you’re no longer human how can you ever start pretending?

A contemporary reworking of a British horror classic, Under My Skin follows seventeen-year-old Chloe into an isolated world of darkness and pain, as she struggles to understand what it really means to be alive.

Set against the familiar backdrop of everyday, normal teenage worries, Chloe’s world has become anything but…

This book is a fresh take on Frankenstein, if the monster had been a 21st century teenage girl.

Chloe is a brilliant main character, she’s kind, compassionate and clever but not annoyingly so – she’s having to start her life again and in hiding after almost dying in a car crash, she has to struggle between the dangers that await her outside her house and the crippling loneliness of total isolation. Above all, she’s a teenager so she has to deal with all the usual frustrations and insecurities, as well as some extra-special ones.

The book is a bit of a slow burn during the first half and I felt like it could have been a bit snappier, dwelling on Chloe’s loneliness and reading her progress as she finds her confidence again is incredibly effective in terms of building atmosphere but it’s a trade off on the pacing of the novel. The second half found its footing and had me so gripped that I struggled not to skip ahead to see what was going to happen

The synopsis is nice and vague, so I don’t want to give anything away… all I can say is that this book has a fantastic protagonist, some very sweet romantic interest and brilliant dialogue. The sci-fi element really worked for me though I’m hoping that any forthcoming sequel will lay on a bit more sci to my fi!