Monday, 29 May 2017

Streets of Glass by Michelle D. Argyle (Young Adult, 10E/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

1st May 2017, MDA Books, 416 pages, Ebook, Review copy

Content: mafia life, violence, scenes of torture, guns, drugs, nightclubs,

Summary from Michelle's website
Two sisters. One drug syndicate. An epic battle to the top.

Eighteen year-old Starry is destined to take over her father’s powerful drug syndicate. But when she finds out he has kept her only sister a secret from her, she can’t trust him anymore. Furious, Starry vows to find Emma, even though she knows her defiance could lead to losing the position she’s worked so hard to inherit.

But Emma isn’t quite the sister Starry hoped for. She’s a straight-laced good girl who wants nothing more than to take down the syndicate that destroyed her family. Starry, willing to do anything to secure her place in the syndicate, accepts her father’s ultimatum to kill Emma and everyone helping her. But the more Starry gets to know Emma, and the more secrets she uncovers, the more she questions whether the price of saving the syndicate is too high—even for someone as cold-blooded and vicious as Starry.

Nayu's thoughts
This review is fangirl biased as I love most of Michelle's work, notably the Breakaway series whih is SO AWESOME!!!! Final book in that trilogy is Unbroken and I've reviewed it. 
To my horror Streets of Glass tops Breakaway (which is retitled as The Breakaway, though I always stick with the original whih I saw in draft form!!). I didn't expect that to happen, but it did. Maybe it's because I rooted for both Starry and Emma so much. Starry is hardened to the underworld life, definitely goes against some of the law, but, unlike her tyrannical father,  does have moments of compassion which made me want to cheer loudly for the seemingly impossible choices she is forced to make. I loved her self-defence ability, how handling weapons didn't entirely creep her out like they did poor Emma who had no clue what was going on. 

The reasons why and how the sisters were separated led to a very twisted plot and made me love the girls more and more. If you've read any of Michelle's books you'll see her love for Italian food woven in much of the book, like it was in the Breakaway series. It's little details like that, the great character building and wonderful plot twists that have me adoring Michelle's work. You won't be disappointed by reading it if you like novels dipping into criminal life and blurring morality. There is a bit of brutality, but it's in context and entirely necessary, adding to the danger both Emma and Starry are in. The end is just so perfect, and I understood why a sequel almost certainly won't happen, unlike Breakaway which I kept pestering Michelle for more until she wrote them! Go discover the wonderful imaginings of Michelle's head!

Find out more on Michelle's website.

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