Delicate Monsters by Stephanie Kuehn

Sadie, Emerson, and Miles... 3 teens interconnected in all the worst ways.  Sadie has just been kicked out of her final boarding school amid criminal charges.  Emerson is hiding from his dark and angry past.  And Miles is a sickly boy with dark thoughts.  Sadie knew the 2 brothers when they were kids, and it seems her coming home for the first time in years has ignited some sort of fuse.  In the end, only Miles (who sees visions) knows where they're all headed.... and it doesn't seem good.

















What. Did. I. Just. Read?  I feel insane after reading this book.  It's like nothing I've ever read before. I feel like I need a Dr. Call-Me-Tom (the school psychologist that Miles and Sadie briefly speak with) to explain some of this stuff to me.

Basically this book is about 3 teens who are missing vital pieces of their personalities.  Sadie is missing the empathy part.  She's a girl who does things to entertain herself, out of boredom, and just because.  Mean things.  And she doesn't care what the person she's doing it to is feeling.  She just doesn't know how.  Emerson feels more empathy than Sadie... at least he feels guilt over the things he's done.  But he has a dark side that he can't really control.  Miles is tougher to figure out.  He's this sickly kid who gets bullied constantly.  But at the same time, it's not like he's sad about the lack of human interaction.  He doesn't want any.

Of all the characters Sadie stood out the most for me.  I just kept wanting her to care, knowing she was never going to.  That's just not how sociopaths work.  They can't learn to care.  The author tried really hard to make me hate this girl, but something about her, I just didn't.  This is probably going to sound stupid, but I almost got to the giving up point on her when she went to the bathroom and didn't wipe just because she could.  I mean EWW!!!  And there were many of those random moments where I was completely disgusted with this character.  And somehow I kept on hoping she would feel bad for what she did in her previous school, and hoping she would save Miles somehow.

The ending of this book is just????  I'm really not sure what I just read.  I think the coolness of the writing and the short poignant chapters won me over.  Also the uniqueness and feel of the entire book.  But I still wished for more of an ending.  And I also wished for more from Miles.  I felt like he had a much bigger story inside of him and I wanted to hear it.

OVERALL:  This author is not afraid to tell it.  This book is creepy, chilling, frustrating, scary, (gross at times), and tries to do something out of the box.  I'm not sure it completely succeeded with me, but I could not put it down.  It's definitely not going to be for everyone, but I feel like it's worth a try to see if it clicks with you.  If nothing else, you'll get to read good writing and something completely new and fresh.

This Book Contains:

• Mental Illness
• Precognition
• An antique Mustang
• Race issues (and use of the "n" word, which was a first in YA for me)
• Homophobia
• Family issues
• Death of animals
• California- Wine Country
• Class issues
• Drinking
• Sex
• Swearing

Add it to your To-Read List!!!

My Rating: 3.5/4

Date Published: 6/9/2015
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
How I got this book: Thanks to St. Martin's Press for providing me with a copy to read and honestly review.