Reviewed by Liz: Made for You by Melissa Marr.

Product details:  
Publisher: Harper Collins Children's.
Paperback, 336 pages.
Release date: March 26th 205.
Rating: 3½ out of 5.
Ages: 13+
Source: Received from publisher for review.
Reviewed by: Liz from Planet Print.

 Eva Tilling wakes up in the hospital to discover an attempt has been made on her life. But who in her sleepy town could have hit her with their car? And why? 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 friend, 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 the killer is obsessed and will stop at nothing to get to Eva…

Eva Tilling is walking home from a party when she’s hit by a car and left for dead. After she wakes up in a hospital with no memory of the crash, she realises that broken bones and scars aren’t the only thing she’s been left with. Eva has developed a morbid ability - whenever someone touches her bare skin, she sees how they will die. And it seems that several people in the town of Jessup are going to end up dead - soon. All the deaths seem to be connected, which means a killer is out there, and they’re obsessed with Eva and the people surrounding her. And while Eva maybe be able to see how the people close to her will die, there’s one thing she doesn’t know - who will be next.

Made for You was a lot creepier than I thought it would be. Some chapters were told from the killer’s point of view, and a few scenes were fairly disturbing, which I did not expect. I have to admit the killer’s POV was interesting, because it really gave insight into how messed up this killer was. Seriously. If you thought the killer POV in The Body Finder was creepy, you should definitely give this book a go. I do think two POVs would have been enough though (Eva and the killer’s) - I don’t think Grace’s POV was really necessary - it didn’t add much and I’m generally not a huge fan of multiple POVs. It wasn’t too bad, however, and at least each person had a fairly distinct voice so I wasn’t getting confused as to whose chapter I was reading.

Eva was a pretty decent main character, but she started off as a little bit of a walkover. She didn’t really express her opinion much, and she let people treat her badly. She became more assertive later on though, and I like how she was able to confide in Grace and Nate about her ability and ask them to help try and find the killer (though I think Nate believed her way too easily when it came to the whole seeing people’s deaths thing). Grace was probably my favourite character, she was such a great friend and was always there for Eva. She was the first person by her side at the hospital, the one who brought her a change of clothes and snacks and all the other stuff she needed. She was also really funny (probably one of the only truly funny characters in the book) and was generally just lovely!

Nate had to grow on me a little bit. To be honest, at the beginning he really seemed like an idiot, and his behaviour toward Eva was never really explained. But he seemed to care a lot about Eva, and was willing to help her and listen to all her theories in regard to the killer. They were kind of sweet together, but the romance was probably not the highlight of this book. Nate did also seem to be really close to his brother, and I actually really liked the way families were portrayed. Eva’s parents were shown originally to be a bit aloof and absent, but after Eva was hospitalised, they (and Eva’s mum, especially) realised they weren’t the best of parents, and actually tried to be better, which I think was great, and not something you really see in many YA books.

Plot-wise, I was actually kept guessing for a while as to who the killer was. I did sort of suspect the person, but they weren’t my main suspect until the last third of the book. And wow, some of the things that happened I really did not see coming at all. Made for You really is not for the faint-hearted, because the kind of things this killer did were just horrible (though you might disagree with me if you are a regular watcher of crime shows/horror films and are used to this kind of thing, which I am not). I do think some things were a bit unrealistic at times (I can’t explain what without spoiling, but I wanted to mention it) but it didn’t detract from the story too much.

Overall, Made for You was a good thriller, and while I didn’t love it, it was worth reading. If you’re in the mood for something creepy, definitely give this a go!

--Liz.