Thank you NetGalley for an advanced copy of "What Beauty There Is" by Cory Anderson. This book was so lovely while also being dark and sad. Honestly, I was hooked basically from the first page and flew through it much faster than I have been getting through any books lately. I love the middle of nowhere Idaho feel of it, the references to White Fang and Invictus, the brotherly love, the narrator's inserts at the start of chapters that led to a big twist at the end, the determined protective brother willing to do anything for his loved ones against all odds, the intense fight to survive—seriously it was amazing. The writing was beautiful, but also streamlined and simple and it just sucked you right in. Basically it was both an enthralling and wonderfully written thriller that I would highly recommend, especially if you're a fan of Courtney Summers.

It's fine. I'm fine. This just gutted me. No big deal.

This is an evocatively written tale. It is dark, painful, but difficult to put down. From the first few chapters I knew I was reading an 5-star book. The storytelling here immediately draws you in and the characters jump to life off of the page. It is difficult to paint characters that real so immediately, but Anderson is able to do so. I bought who these characters were after just a few sentences.

This book feels like it is supposed to be a gritty television series and I mean that in the best possible way. It is so vividly written that it is easy to picture the tale. While this is YA, it also borders that line of feeling like a novel that would be comfortable sitting on "adult" bookshelves as well. It tows that line of sitting comfortably in both worlds.

I would say prepare yourself before reading this one. You might need to be in the right mood, but don't miss this one. It is beautifully written and full of unforgettable characters. It is a story about survival, protection, and what that means in families and relationships. Jake, Matty, and Ava are all characters that you will wish you could just reach through the pages and protect. I am glad that there is a sequel it seems because the book does leave some questions unanswered. However, this is the kind of story that could easily work as a standalone as well.

Anyway, if it was not clear from my usual rambling review, read this.

What beauty there is by Cory Anderson is a emotional powerhouse!
From the very beginning these kids have been through more than any kids should ever have to endure! The heartache and emotional pain is so real is rips you to your core. You feel so many different layers throughout this story that is almost too much to bare. I am trying to keep this as spoiler free as possible.
Somehow even with all that pain and suffering love and friendship are found blossoming into something extremely beautiful. You root for these kids and want them to succeed when all the odds are against them at every turn. This is a heavy and dark read but if you push through it really pays off in the end and you will not be disappointed. There is something extremely beautiful when people find a way to excel in the face of complete hopelessness.

This book brings you right into the heart and soul of Jack and Ava. They are so different but connected in so many ways. The loss they have both endured and has molded them both into strong stoic teens. They lock everyone out until they meet each other. Jack only cares about taking care of his little brother.

Wow. Wow. Wow.

Your heart will be get wrenched, twisted and torn as Jack, Matty and Ava navigate this story but it's so worth it.

It's so heartfelt. And heartwrenching. And heartwarming. And hearttearing. And heartstopping. And heartstomping. Just all the heart things. 💙💙💙

You need to read Jack, Matty & Ava's story as they navigate family, death, a drug investigation and the brutal Idaho winter.

Thanks to NetGalley & Macmillan for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

What an absolutely breathtaking debut!! I was fully gripped from the very beginning.

This was a heart wrenching thriller - packing a major punch - about family and the lengths Jack must go in order to protect his little brother Matty from things totally beyond their control.

Their father is in prison and their mother is an addict who has barely been holding it together. Now, with her gone too, Jack is in the verge of losing his little brother to the foster care system. Instead of that, he decides to search for the drug money his father hid... but someone else is on the trail of that money as well, putting the lives of Jack and his brother in mortal peril.

With the help of a mysterious and compassionate girl from his school, Ava, the three of them fight to survive. But, she has her own secrets that could possibly put them in more danger, or at the least, push Jack away from her...

This was such a beautiful story! Jack is one of the most amazing literary characters I have had the pleasure of reading about in a long time. He goes to great lengths (even to the brink of death) to protect his brother. They have nothing, living in a ramshackle home with little to no money, but Jack does whatever it takes and it was incredible. The sweet budding romance between Jack and Ava was a wonderful addition to an already great story.

I am so thrilled to learn this is just the first book and there will be a sequel. I will be anxiously awaiting an news to come.

I received an e-arc of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Okay. I’m a sucky for a pretty cover, and I love the blue and the rest of the design for this cover. But honestly, it was the title that caught my attention first. Something about the title alone felt like the book would feel raw, and it was.

I had no expectations going into this story, but it somehow still surpassed any possible expectation. Everyone from the writing to the characters to the tone and so much more. Breathtaking. There was justos much worth loving in this book. I honestly can’t think of a starting point.

When it comes to this story and it’s characters, you have no choice but to feel. You just feel so much. It was breathtakingly real and honest and raw. It leaves you feeling exposed and even vulnerable. I have no idea how to explain it. There wasn’t unnecessary fanfare, just straightforward, brutal rawness. The story is amazing, but these characters are everything. They are so unbelievably real. It’s as if they were here with me. I could feel them as if they were in my own life. Jack. Matty. Ava. They were with me, and I was with them.

I could feel their struggle and their hurt but I also could feel their strength and see their resistance. These characters had layers and struggles and the right amount of complexity.

It was so intense. I feel like I’m being repetitive, but what more can be said? It was just stunning and it tore me apart so beautifully. It was stunningly hurtful. I really want a really good beautiful word to describe this book because it deserves it. The titled is so perfect for this book.

Forever grateful I got the chance to read and review this, and I’m hoping others gives this book a chance. In the meantime, I’ll be waiting for the potential sequel.

When Jack’s mother finally succumbs to her addiction and mental health problems, he vows to take care of his younger brother himself and stay away from agencies. In order to survive, they need money. His father is in prison but allegedly left a suitcase full of drug money. Unfortunately, Jack is not the only one after the suitcase.

I loved the bond between the two brothers. Jack’s entire purpose is to keep his younger brother safe, and sure keeps hitting difficulties along the way. I like books where the main character is a teen, but the teen has been forced to become an adult quickly due to circumstances. The story was pretty dark.. the ambiance reminded me a bit of The Familiar Dark. At times it was hard for me to follow what was going on because it jumped narration and time periods.

“He’ll make you hurt, I said. He’ll take what matters most. He’ll do it with a smile and then he’ll smoke a cigarette. Jack didn’t listen.”

What Beauty There Is comes out 4/6.

I apologize I guess I’m the only one who has read this and was left with a giant question mark over the entire thing?

“What Beauty There Is” finds Jack desperate to look out for his brother when the odds are stacked against him. In a final move he reaches out to his father and soon finds himself in more trouble than he expected as he’s not the only one chasing what was lost.

I can on one hand understand everyone’s love for the writing style but for me it didn’t exactly work. We are given multiple POVs and this italicized omniscient narrator with each heading and that for me ruined a lot of what was to come. There is something to be said about good foreshadowing or even when an author makes it clear that this is not a happy story by going that route but here it felt like it weighed down the story in a way that sort of ruined it especially when you factor in the final chapter which I’m not quite sure I understand at all.

The characters themselves where interesting yet hollow at the same time. A lot of praise goes to Jack who really carried the book so for that I am satisfied but everyone else felt like a good starting point for a character that would have been better served with more time fleshing out. Everyone from the detectives to the bad guys remained two dimensional leaving me wanting for more and not in the good way.

This appears to be the starter for a series and other than the big loose end I’m unsure as to why when it would have been better served as a stand alone but either way this is a one and done for me but I wish all the best to the readers who enjoyed it.

**special thanks to the publishers and netgalley for providing an arc in exchange for a fair and honest review**

This book was such a page turner. I love a good plot driven story and this had me roped in all the way through! This book has a lot of characters and perspective changes and I had trouble getting my bearings a couple of times since there wasn’t a lot of character development from the beginning but I still loved this book. I was reading various reviews after finishing the book and saw that it is part of a series and I look forward to that! I was hoping for some more development of the redemption that comes at the end since it happened so quickly so I hope to see more from Doyle and Midge!

4.5 stars

Wow. What a novel. The comparisons to _Winter's Bone_ hooked me, and I think they are fairly drawn. This is gritty, to say the least.

Jack, the m.c., is in a tough spot. His father is incarcerated, his mother is absent in more ways than one, he is living in abject poverty and without the ability to meet basic needs, he is caring for his young brother (Matty), his reputation prevents him from being treated reasonably in his small town, and he is in high school. Think of a barrier. Add five more. He has those times three.

Somehow, despite the wild circumstances against him, Jack is determined to care for his brother and himself. This requires his involvement with some truly frightening individuals and situations as well as the exact opposite: his surprise joining up with Ava, whom he meets at his school.

What these characters experience is utterly horrifying. There is a lot of action and angst here, and if you are sensitive to injuries and descriptions of wounds, you've been warned. That noted, I found myself unable to put down this book. I was dying to know what would happen next and extremely invested in at least some of these characters the entire read.

This book is referenced on Goodreads as the first in a series, and I NEED to read the next installments now. Recommended.

Do you ever read a book and know that it will be on your mind years from now?

Full of intense emotion and devastating beauty, this book swept me off my feet. This story grabbed me and did not let go as soon as I began reading.

This is the tragic tale of Jack, his little brother Matty and Ava. Jack and Matty are facing desperate times, poverty and worse, when Ava enters the picture and becomes the closest thing to a friend Jack has ever had. There is so much love between these three characters that I felt the true loneliness of their situations, sadness and heartbreaking sentiment. The love between two brothers and then Ava's love that simply permeates throughout the whole book.

I highly recommend this incredible read, and possibly a box of tissues on the side!

Riveting story with a fast moving plot, though I wished there had been more exploration of these kids' lives and families.

This book was out of my comfort zone. I normally don’t read books like What Beauty There Is because I don’t usually read mystery/thriller. I’m so glad that I read this book. What Beauty There Is kept me on the edge of my seat wanting to know what happens next. There are a lot of things that happen in this book, but they’re easy to keep track of. The things and events that occur are all interconnected. There are quite a few characters in this book, and the new characters were introduced perfectly. While there are questions that were unanswered in this book, I’m very excited to read the sequel to see what happens next.

Immediately drawn in from the cover, the story was equally as enticing from the first page. In a family where his father is in prison, his mother has no desire to better their situation, Jack is the only hope for the survival of himself and his brother Matty. Does he take the path his father did or forge his own?

Absolutely stunning and heartbreaking. I was hooked from the first page and could not put it down as much as I tried to. A fantastic mix of crime, teenage love, heartbreak, hurt and more. The ending was perfect too, no matter how heartbreaking it was.

What Beauty There Is.

Oh goodness where do I start with this one? What originally drew me into this one was the beautiful cover. I mean just look at that!

This was quite the heavy and dark book. There are a lot of heavy content triggers in this one. I felt the pain with each and every character. It was a little hard for me to rate overall since there were things I loved about this one and things that I wasn't a big fan of.

I struggled with the first half of the story. The writing style was good but felt that more then half of it we were dealign with the same issue over and over. I feel like it was also a tad over the top with drama, violence, and action.

I did enjoy the different perspectives of the characters but was left wanting more feeling. Overall, it wasn't bad it just wasn't the best YA I've read.

Overall, thank you so much to Netgalley and Macmillian Children's Publishing Group for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

3/5 stars

Pub date: 4/6/21
Published to GR: 2/28/21

This is not a happy book. It is, however, very well written.

The characters are compelling and likeable. You root for them throughout. However, the amount of terrible things that befall them were triggering for me, and made it incredibly hard to keep reading at times. It took me far longer to read this than I thought it would, because I kept having to take breaks to read other books and give myself time to process.

I kept reading because I was hoping for a redemption in the end...and found the ending disappointing--highly unsatisfying.

To be honest, I would not have continued reading this book had I not been reading and reviewing via an ARC from NetGalley and the publisher. My sincere thanks for the opportunity to read. Just, fair warning to all--this book is hard.

TWs: suicide, opiate addiction, Child Protective Services/foster care, neglect, child abuse, child abduction, (Possibly) child molestation

This is a title that I was invited to review, and I gave it a try but I just could not get into it... The writing style was stark, the characters felt oddly flat to me, and I just couldn't get into it. Many other reviewers seem enraptured by it so take a look for yourself before judging, but I personally couldn't find my way into this one.

What an unusual, memorable story! It's hard to describe this book, but while it had bleak aspects, it also felt strangely hopeful. The writing was elegant and the story flowed easily. I will be thinking about this book for some time to come.