Name: My Brother's Spare
ISBN: 9781734174564

Shira Behore

Valeria's secret investigation to find her mother's murderer leads her to Alias Black, the most infamous hitman in the kingdom. As the unlikely pair slowly crack the case, they unravel a truth they never could have imagined.

My Brother's Spare

r o s i e 🏳️‍🌈

First of all, a huge thanks to @lostislandpress for giving me this digital ARC, in exchange for a honest review! 

I just finished it a few minutes ago, and I feel like I might cry. THAT ENDING.

While it definitely took me some time to get into it, I grew to be so invested in this book and these characters, and ended up loving the book a lot.

At this point I also have to honour the GORGEOUS cover, and that incredible prologue! 

I'm definitely in love with the author's writing, which was fast & easy to read, but nonetheless had such beautiful & elegant phrases at times, which fitted the setting & atmosphere of the book perfectly. 

The story is set in the (fictional) city of Nieve, which is divided into 7 districts, the First being the wealthiest one in the center, and the Seventh being the poorest one on the outskirts of the city. I loved the setting a lot!

Now, the characters. 

Valeria is our MC, the Viscount's daughter. 
Her mother was killed when she was younger, and she watched her being murdered, so ever since, Valeria has been trying to find the killer, but she's never found a solid lead. Until she meets Rowan Marrow, the most famous assassin of Nieve. A hitman. The two strike a deal, and start hunting the killer together.

VALERIA
While it definitely took me some time to love Valeria and get really invested in her, I definitely did in the end. She was SUCH a well written, independent MC. I thought her struggle with wanting justice at all costs (& how that also affects her relationships), but at the same time having to find out what justice really is, was extremely well portrayed. I loved to follow her on her journey, as she "realizes" that no one is inherently evil.

For me, that's also the true message of this book, that no one is inherently evil. People grow to do horrible things, but even though for example Rowan kills for a price, he's got good in him too. 

ROWAN
I was intrigued by him from the very first second they met. I do always love myself a dark-haired, sarcastic guy with a questionable job-choice. No, really though, from the first moment on I was very invested in him & the mystery of his past. In the beginning he sometimes felt more like a "character act" than a real person, but since we read the story through Valeria's eyes, I actually really liked the fact that we only grew to know his more human side + his backstory later on in the book.

I loved their relationship so much. SO MUCH. First of all, I want to thank Shira for NOT TURNING THIS INTO A LOVE STORY. While it can be very enjoyable to read, we have enough stories where there's a love story with a shady guy who grew up poor & a girl who grew up privileged. So THANK YOU for not turning this book into that. Besides, Valeria is a person who values her morals over almost everything, so them getting together at some point while they're working together would've just been VERY unrealistic.
I loved to see their relationship develop, loved to see them learn more about each other and 'grow more comfortable together'. Both of their conflicts with the other and also with themselves were so very well portrayed, and seeing them learn to work together & care about each other over the time, during their investigation, was just so much fun. 

For the side characters, some were definitely more interesting than others, and I wished a few of them (= Lou) would've had some more personality, which would've made them feel a little more 'real' (I'm talking about Valeria's friends here). But I did like how her brother Victor was portrayed, and everything that happened with him later on... I'm not gonna comment on another very relevant side character here, so I don't spoil anything...

Now finally, the plot. WOW. While it (as I said) took me a while to get invested, because it felt rather a little slow-paced at first, IT DEFINITELY PICKED UP PACE LATER ON. At first, just their investigations got way more exciting, but them SO MANY UNPREDICTABLE THINGS HAPPENED. I was honestly just internally screaming the whole time while YET ANOTHER plot twist happened. It was such a wild ride. But SO GOOD. 
The plot (in the second half of the book) was just so well written and exciting and got me SO INCREDIBLY INVESTED, which I really didn't see coming. I'm seriously impressed by all the twists in the 2nd half of this book. 

Now I was VERY torn between giving this 4 or 5 stars, but I ended up deciding on 4, because (this may just be a personal thing) it took me some time to get invested in the story. 

Does this offer completely new ideas, that we've never seen before in YA fantasy? Definitely not, but the plot grew to be SO WELL WRITTEN, and in the end it became such an exciting read, so I would definitely recommend it to anyone out there who loves a good, thrilling murder mystery!

@Shira, such a great read!

My Brother's Spare

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