Powerful, intriguing, scortching, painful.  Just a few words to describe this book.
351527
Wow, where do I begin.  Avery has endured so much pain and loss in her life.  The loss of her innocence and her family when she was only 16 have caused her to hide her past and she has never really dealt with it. It haunts her. She is a struggling artist, working as a waitress in a bar when she meets Nick.  Nick is an illusive billionaire with secrets and hurts in his past also. When they meet the chemistry is scortching and they can't stay away from each other.  Avery is warned that Nick is damaged, and he doesn't let any woman close, but she can't stay away.  He treats her like a queen, takes her places she has never been, and even helps her best friend.  In this book we learn alot about Avery's past, and that past has come back to threaten her. Can Nick stick by her, and will he overcome his demons also? I am rooting for them.
1764189
Wow!  What a powerful book.  I can't believe this book was written by someone so young.  There is a depth of feelings that only comes from experience present in his writings.  Very impressive.  I can't wait for his next book.  Talking about pain is almost taboo but he makes it OK to look at our own pain and the pain we see around us and not look away.
82873
*curls up in a ball and whimpers*

This book, like many of its characters, pulls no punches. The author knows when to spin out glittering fantasies of sex and glamour and when to grab the reader by the lungs and twist, hard. The story was beautiful, intricate, thrilling, and devastating.

Few parts of this book were easy to read, especially in the current political climate, and I read it very slowly over the course of a few months. But the story and the characters haunted me even when the book was closed.

I'm having trouble coming up with more to say that doesn't include spoilers, so I'll just leave it at that. Incredibly good. I want the sequel.
167142
This is a book about relationships and trust.  One could cloyingly say it is about the human spirit but it is simply about 4 people, living in times that make trust nearly impossible.  The characters are utterly absorbing and the descriptions of life in a caste system are compelling.  It is not a happy novel, it is instead deeply disturbing.  But Mistry stunningly transports his reader to this place, inside the lives of these people where you smell the smells, feel their pain, and search for a way to find meaning in their lives.  This book is painful, but it deserves to be read.
695986
Painfully heartbreaking. An extremely strong woman telling her own personal tragedy and how  she pulled through it. Buy a box of tissues before you start to read.
3603464
Read this and other reviews at [...]

This book punched me in the gut, reached in ripped my heart out, stomped on it and left me to pick up the pieces. And I'm still not over it. I finished this book 36 hours ago, and I am only writing the review now because I think if I put it off, I won't ever be able to revisit this to write it. My emotions are still so raw, and thinking about this book still makes me have to swallow the lump in my throat. That being said, I was not at all prepared for the havoc this book would wreak on my life, but I so highly recommend it. I spent yesterday trying to re-read some parts and heal, and I couldn't. I still cannot get over it. Today, I'm at least not crying when I think about it. Yet. But that's why I'm hurrying to get this review out into the world. I need to heal. :)

I want to give no spoilers away, but just tell you to read it. Read it and experience it. And you'll be rocked.

Molly McAdams has balls. Not really. At least I don't think so. But she does because she did what not a lot of other YA/New Adult authors have the gusto to do. She pushed boundaries and made you feel like you were being stabbed - and then she took the story and continued it - and wrapped it up in a neat little package, and at the end you felt somewhat complete and ok, but deep down you know you were forever shaken. Not to say this doesn't have a HEA, it's just a long time coming and after a lot of gut-wrenching heartache. Stuff you can't ever imagine going through in life. And you live it right along with these characters. You're sucked in so completely, there's no hope of getting out. Even when you want to. Even when you finish the book. This had me snotting all over myself, with the ugly cry. It was so unattractive. And again, almost 2 days later, I'm having a hard time getting into the story I'm reading because I keep going back to Harper, Chase and Brandon. CANNOT GET OVER THIS.

This story has the feel of Beautiful Disaster, Thoughtless and even a little Double Clutch in the beginning. For that, I loved it. I loved where it was going, and even when some major twists happened, I loved it and I appreciated it. And then the twist happened, and I was so pissed, I wasn't sure I could continue, but I was hoping I'd come out okay in the end. I wanted to see these guys through. And it was excruciating. There were times I thought I got out of my ugly crying, and was going to be okay, and then she'd hit me with something else again. I was a damn mess, but am thankful for the journey I was taken on. All that being said, don't be scared. I don't want to scare anyone away by this. Although I'm sure I am. It's so wonderfully done, and I appreciate the experience Molly took me on by giving us this story. It is beyond remarkable. She challenges you as a reader, and also as a person to think differently about what you'd like in story, and how to live your life.

I give this book 4.5 stars and recommend to EVERYONE! Yes, there are some more mature scenes and language, but this story is beautiful. I'd say it's one of my favs ever, but I'm honestly not sure I could ever read it again. I think if my vulnerability to this story ever goes away, I'd be too scare to reopen that! I'm a wuss, I guess. I apologize for my lack of plot analysis, character development and everything else I normally address, but this is just one book that needs to be lived through completely. Without any real knowledge or background. It's just a must read.

  "It took a lot for all of us to get here, but I think that's what makes all of us put together, perfect."

Immediate response when finished on 9/7: There are no words right now. Review to come. Later when I can think again. Read this now.
4060367
For me, this book's greatest strength lies in the complex characters that the author has created. We see the world as they see it, we feel their pain and anguish. We share tender moments with them and we share scary ones. There is a lot of depth to this story and it stays with you long after you've read it. I would challenge anyone to walk away from this book unaffected by it. Thoroughly recommended.
949395
This book is breathtakingly painful and beautiful. The situations that Jordan goes through are so vividly explained that you can't help but feel her pain. I have never cried more from reading a book before. Yet strangely I couldn't put it down even when I was bawling. Definitely recommend.
1917361
The central character is so painful you ache with her, you want to pull her out of the book and save her from herself. The more that's revealed about her life the louder you cheer in your head for her. If she makes a positive move, you breathe out in relief. You feel for her. This book is gritty,forgiving and a story of a triumphant hero.
THIS IS WHAT READING IS SUPPOSED TO BE LIKE.
435130
This book is complex, intense, emotional, heartbreaking... indescribable. I started reading it one night, having just finished 'The Drowning of Arthur Braxton' (another amazing novel by Caroline Smailes), and had to shut off my kindle because I was crying so much I couldn't see to read. Caroline Smailes puts you slam bang into Jude's head. Jude's  words are your words. What Jude feels, you feel. And it's so hideously, horribly tangible - horrific in its weight and banality and revolting realness -  that you can't stop feeling those emotions and seeing those things every waking moment. Superb writing from a truly unique author.
3953518
This entire book hurt my heart... I can't believe that it managed to be so powerful and so well written with only 210 pages.
3091822
Three Nails is a good book. I love it. I hate it. As a father that has lost a son in the last couple of years, Three Nails doesn't really begin to touch the surface of all the pain, guilt, suffering, second-guessing and general anguish of losing an adult son and the excruciating pain that a mother suffers when a part of her flesh is gone - forever, as well as standing by her as she grieves and tries to find out what the new normal is. Her nearly every thought is of her son. The grief that grips your family manifests itself in every increasing and painful ways that can't really be predicted. It seems like a very shallow examination of a parent's pain. That's the part I hate. The part I love are the stories of the students whose lives are touched by a caring and observant adult. Also the interactions among staff members at a school are often amusing, intriguing, revealing and mind boggling. This is the second book by this author that I have read and I will continue to read his works. Maxwell's detective/crime novels are really easy to read and I love his characters. This is a different area for him and I look forward to his future output.
2747702
Whats hot: JUMP made me laugh, cry and want to hide under the bed. Its beautiful and brutal  a thing of steel wings with killer pinions. It offers more twist and turns than a torturers rack, all held in place by some seriously good writing.
The imagery was stunning, while the apocalyptic setting was brilliantly inventive. (Id love to know what The Book of Blood would sound like if I read from it!) This gut-wrenching story accelerates relentlessly, until it throws you right through the windscreen. This is a seriously bad book. It leaves you impaled on shards of withering philosophy and insightful barbs. A hell of a ride.

Whats not: Did I mention this is a deeply disturbing book? Read it at your own risk. Seriously. If you don't like cussing, or fiction that turns the Word of God on its head then steer clear. This story isn't for you.

Summary: I just wanted to wallow in this book like a hog in alphabet soup. It was a rush in every way. Its not perfect  but epic? Oh yeah.
4121472
Read it and weep. Literally. The Disappeared is a quick, meaningful punch to the gut. In 228 short pages, author Kim Echlin wastes not a word or phrase in this despairing depiction of love and loss in war-torn Cambodia. Spanning decades and continents, from the dingy blues clubs of Montreal to the killing fields outside Phnom Penh, Anne Greves weaves a mournful path of despondency and courage as she follows her lover into the darkest recesses of human depravity.

Almost immediately upon opening this book, I knew I was going to enjoy it. Of course, "enjoy" is perhaps an inappropriate term given the subject. But a book's value is not measured in tidy narratives so much as in an ability to immerse its readers wholly into the world of its characters' lives. This holds true even when dialogue between characters is written intentionally dreamily, as if the protagonist's memory has decayed and dissolved over time, leaving only mystical moments where reality once breathed.

Strangely, I couldn't escape a familiar feeling for the first several chapters: the author's literary style reminded me of something else I'd read previously. Then it suddenly occurred to me: The English Patient. "The light in Mau's eyes was a pinprick through black paper," Echlin writes of Anne's first meeting with a new friend. "...I chose him because when he stepped forward, the others fell back...The light of his eyes twisted into mine." One entire chapter reads: "I can still see a particle of dust hanging in a sunbeam near your cheek as you slept." In very short order, it becomes all too clear that The Disappeared resembles Michael Ondaatje's masterpiece in little other than descriptive syntax, however. This is not dream-sequence-turned-real; it's a living nightmare, stretched and tortured into over thirty years of searching and loving and waiting and finding and searching all over again.

It is impossible not to empathize with Anne. Her naivete, her persistent belief in a justice, or karma, that will transform wrong into right, is as admirable as it is devastating. When she asks of her captor, "How can people move on without knowing what happens to their families? How can they move on without truth?" we want to laugh at her simplicity even as we cry for her faith in humanity. It is her ever-burning fire that ignites this story and affords us all the unique opportunity, if only for a moment, of believing again with her.

[...]
1669477
A beautifully written but difficult book about a very real situation too often repeated around the world. Ultimately, and somewhat surprisingly to some of us who discussed this in our book group yesterday (I highly recommend it for book groups!), is the redemptive power of love. And redemption is the operative word here.

Clement's poetic writing allows the reader to get through, indeed not put down, a book of intriguing pain.
1841321
A meandering, ruminative book about a family's experiences with prejudice, tsunamis and Hiroshima.  These are but a few of the painful moments in a very difficult to read novel.  I can read it for only a short while, put it down and the return to it much later.  It is Not a page-turner.  Very slow, sad, tormented and tortuous.  Poetically written.
2296583
It goes without saying that books and articles about the Holocaust need to be treated very carefully and with tremendous respect.  IF THIS IS A MAN by Primo Levi is like this.  This literary experience opens in a truly remarkable manner.  It is at once incredibly moving, and immediately horrifying.  You cant read more than a handful of pages (or paragraphs, or lines of text even) without feeling overwhelmed and helpless and offended in the most extreme way possible.  Conversely, phrases of note are come across early in the book, and the reader may well find themselves thinking how well that sentence was penned and how nicely it sits in the readers mind.  And in the next heartbeat, you may well admonish yourself for finding joy and discovering anything of note or pleasure in the words that describe such a terrible, terrible place.

Chapter one is given the title, THE JOURNEY and chapter two is called, ON THE BOTTOM.  The opening salvo leaves the reader with a feeling of impending doom (bordering on terror) but chapter two has a much greater emotional impact.  Chapter three shows that some prisoners held on to hope longer than others; indeed, the books narrator appears to have lost all hope by the start of chapter four. He meets up with a friend from BEFORE who blesses the reader with this delightful quote (taken from location 635 of the kindle version) in answer to the question of why waste time and effort keeping yourself clean with soap when all signs of personal and soulful hygiene are lost within a few seconds of stepping beyond the washroom?

... We are slaves, deprived of every right, exposed to every insult, condemned to certain death, but we still possess one power, and we must defend it with all our strength for it is the last  the power to refuse our consent...

ITIAM is an extraordinary reading experience; and it is a hideous reading experience.  You don't really know what to think, and you don't really know where to look.  Truth has the peculiar habit of sneaking up on you and staring you right in the face.  All you can do is stare back.

Think.

Question.

Resolve.

-----------------------

April 25, 2015 and the book is finished.  As I approach its finale, and as Levi returns home, I come across quotes of text that approach literary highlights and significant moments of the tome itself.  I won't quote them here, but I have no doubt you will discover them yourself.  For example look at kindle locations 5492 to 5495, and also 5506.

What a book.  What an experience.  What a nightmare.