Fuckin' A. That was an exceptional piece of writing that just knocked me on my ass and left me dazed. This isn't a book for everyone, I'll admit that but I'm just slightly twisted and a lover of creepy and dark stories. Also, she included some amazing music selections. Some of my favs. Such a fantastic book. Full Review Mackie Doyle is just like any other teenager, he’s at that stage where he’s slightly awkward but coming into his own. He checks out the pretty girls, wishes he had the guts to go up to them and say what was on his mind. He has a handful of loyal, close knit friends, such as Roswell, Danny, and Drew, who really look out for him and he’s just going through the motions. And yet, he isn’t one of them. He’s different. Always has been.He can’t stand the sight or smell of blood, and he’s deathly allergic to all things iron made. Hmmm… wonder what that’s all about. Also, most teenagers his age are all sprightly and enjoying life, meanwhile Mackie feels like he’s dying.He’s getting more and more tired as the days go by. He’s feeling sicker and sicker the more he has to interact with these things and places that make him ill. You see, Mackie – or Malcolm, as his dad calls him – isn’t one us. He’s the replacement. Some may call him a changeling, but there’s quite a few other names for what he is.“Do you really want to know where we come from?” she said. “In every century, in every country, they’ll call us something different. They’ll say we’re ghosts, angels, demons, elemental spirits, and giving us a name doesn’t help anybody. When did a name change what someone is?”Mackie was the creature that replaced little Malcolm Doyle one night as he laid in his crib. The only witness to this incident was Malcolm’s sister, Emma, who was just a child herself, but she knew that the thing that now lay in her brother’s crib was not her brother.He wasn’t supposed to survive, all the other replacements perished not long after because they are unable to survive in the above world, human world.But Mackie beat the odds. And now he’s living a life that isn’t really his own, but one he’s grown to love. His parents know that he’s not their little baby, but they treat him as if he was. His father is a preacher, his mother a nurse. They’ve done everything in their power to make his life comfortable, which includes hiding away all the silverware, cutlery, iron made items so that he won’t get sick. He’s allowed to stay home from church because he can’t step foot on consecrated land.But when Tate’s little sister dies – she’s a girl who goes to school with Mackie – his world is turned upside down. Everything that was kept secret – things that you dared not speak about, the whispered rumors that no one ever spoke out loud – comes to the surface. Emma can’t bear to see her brother getting worse and worse as the days go by so she sets out to find a way to help him, meanwhile Mackie realizes that he has no choice but to try and help Tate, whether he likes it or not. It’s like that one pivotal moment that changes your life forever, but you don’t know yet if it’s for the better or for the worse.I can’t begin to tell you how phenomenal this book is! It completely sucked me in from page one and knocked me on my ass throughout. I will say that this isn’t a book for everyone. It’s not filled with pretty little things and bright sunny days, and rainbows, balloons, candy and all that other cute shit.This is a book filled with the ugly things, it’s twisted and dark and eerie. I. Loved. It. All of it. This book gives you chills and makes you sit up and take notice. I don’t know how Brenna Yovanoff did it, but she completely blew me away with this book.I’ve read books with how ruthless and scheming and tricky the Fae are, but this… this book was fantastic and spooky, and the musical elements just played so perfectly in with everything. I loved all the characters, even the evil ones. They each had a part to play. My favorite creepy ones would be The Morrigon. Ah, she killed me. She’s so childlike with her toys and behavior but don’t piss her off.I think it was Brenna’s prose and writing style that really drew me in to The Replacement. I’ve had a hard time really getting in books. Sometimes you have to just force yourself through the first chapter, just to get to the meat of the book, but not with this. It’s like you’re just seeing Mackie’s life and struggles as you read. Yovanoff paints a very amazingly twisted, yet vivid picture with her writing. I wanna snuggle with this book of ugly, yet funny, cool characters.This book is like late October when the sun sets and the chill in the air nips at your fingers, toes and nose. That feeling you get that slightly invigorates you but also gives you the chills. It’s eerily beautiful and terribly twisted. It’s the kind of thing you’d see in a Tim Burton movie, which I actually read someone compare it to and I thought so myself. But I think that Tim’s got nothing on Brenna.I had quite a few favorite lines but I’ll just leave you with just two. They’re short and sweet, and made my chest tight with emotion and gave me goosebumps.“I wanted to tell her that I loved her, and not in the complicated way I loved our parents, but in a simple way I never had to think about. I loved her like breathing.”“The sound of her voice was painful. She screamed, sobbed, whispered Hallelujah. But she never sang it.”This review and more can be seen on Fic Talk
