A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

“Every form of art is another way of seeing the world. Another perspective, another window. And science –that’s the most spectacular window of all. You can see the entire universe from there.” 

I really wanted desperately to like this story. As soon as I saw that cover I knew I needed it in my life. I had been anticipating its release for so long. And you know what? I went out and bought it. 

And now I'm just disappointed. I am pretty much going to rant in this review. I did like it...but there are many things I would like to complain about.

I tried so hard to like it, just as this book tried so hard to be good.

Stats:

Genre: Wanabe sci-fi. Romance.

Feelings: Sadly, no.

Happiness: A few bits I liked.

Cuteness: No, not for me even though this whole book is a romance.

Fast pacing: Eh.

Series: Yes.

Read if you like: Romance, super romantic lines, places all over the world.

Content: Swearing.  Some scenes and description that REALLY did not need to be there.

In one sentence... A romance between two teens criss-crossing alternate universes trying to solve a mystery. 
Thoughts: Russian buildings and silken gowns

Overall:

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

This review has VERY LIGHT SPOILERS. 

The Lovely Bits:

Obviously the cover is the best part of this book. I seriously think this is one of the most gorgeous covers of 2014. I love city-scapes on covers, as well as watercolors, so this cover really did it for me.

The changing settings and atmosphere was really very lovely. I loved the Russian setting, and the peek into different lives. I also appreciated the fact that this is one of the few books I have read that acknowledged real things, like girl stuff. Very few books actually have that as an event in a story.

Really... Meg was a fine character when you saw her with her family and friends. I like her little sass-offs with her siblings in the different universes. I liked watching her talk with her parents. I /liked/ her when she wasn't being defined by her relationship to Theo and Paul. 

The Less Lovely Bits:

The romance. Okay. I am a huge hopeless romantic. I love romance. A lot. I thought for sure I would like this. A romance taking places in different dimension? Yes!

No.

This book tried so freaking hard.

It tried to be funny. It tried to be cute. It tried to be epic sci-fi. It tried to have a strong willed main character. It tried to be eloquent and have lovely passages describing grief and pain. It tried...too hard. And I think after I've read so many more books that have beautifully described pain...this one did nothing to me. 

The prose was so lacking it made me want to cry and steal to cover away to give to a different book. But what made it worse is the prose was trying not to be lacking.

The romance was gag-worthy. They were the type of couple I really should like. But after so many attempts at little cute couple catch-phrases,,, I was done. They weren't real to me. I simply did not care about their relationship.

Meg. When she was talking about Theo and Paul, I was so done with her.

 To begin with she was so gullible. Barely halfway through the whole synopsis the book talked about was over and we find out that Paul IS NOT the killer. And Meg gets all "OMG good because I love you!"

Cringe. 

Meg was so cringe-worthy at times. Of course, yes, she is flat chested and -not like other girls-. What's wrong with other girls? Why must every character be categorized as odd duck to be liked? 

And I really wasn't buying her whole art thing. Her hobby should have been endearing but it was not. And all the scenes when she goes on about how guys are all over her and she thinks Paul or whoever are impressed? Ugh.

And certain scenes. The swearing. The objectifying of woman in certain scenes. The sex. The extent of the tongue-kissing descriptions. See, normally scenes don't bug me that much. It's annoying, but it's a thing that happened. Unless its explicit, it normally doesn't bug me. But in this book it did.

See, here is what happened. When I saw that cover, I went into the book expecting something whimsical and eloquent story. 

I didn't get it. 

In the end, I did like it. It was far from perfect, but I don't think I regret reading it. While I don't see myself recommending it to many people, I don't think I will be too upset over buying it. There were scenes and moments I loved, and the cover will look amazing on my shelf. 

And yes, I will be reading the next books. It is unlikely I will buy them, but I will hold on to the hope that the stories will get better. 

Either that, or I hope the covers get ugly so I don't feel so distraught at the waste.