What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson

When everything you love is in danger, how long can you keep running to survive?

Life can be brutal

Winter in Idaho. The sky is dark. It is cold enough to crack bones.

Jack knew it

Jack Dahl has nothing left. Except his younger brother, Matty, who he’d die for. Their mother is gone, and their funds are quickly dwindling, Jack needs to make a choice: lose his brother to foster care, or find the drug money that sent his father to prison. 

So did I

Ava lives in isolation, a life of silence. For seventeen years her father, a merciless man, has controlled her fate. He has taught her to love no one. 

Did I feel the flutter of wings when Jack and I met? Did I sense the coming tornado?

But now Ava wants to break the rules – to let Jack in and open her heart. Then she discovers that Jack and her father are stalking the same money, and suddenly Ava is faced with a terrible choice: remain silent or speak out and help the brothers survive.

Looking back, I think I did . . .

Thank you so much too Dave, TheWriteReads for reaching out about this blog tour, I’ve taken part in a few tours now that Dave has organised and they’ve been great with lots of fab books! I can’t wait for more! 

I’ll start of by saying just how gorgeous the cover of What Beauty There Is, both the final and ARC copies have such beautiful covers. 
And the writing was so lovely, the flow made it so easy to read, almost like poetry, I really enjoyed the writing style of this one. 

The story introduces us to Jack, a teenage boy whose life’s seems a bit down and bleak. His dad is in prison and his mum has gone, leaving Jack alone to look after himself and his brother, Jack is the only one who’s left to take care of Matty, and Matty depends on him. Money is tight, and Jack knows he is going to struggle to pay the bills and take care of Matty. He doesn’t have many options left. 

And then Jack meets the new girl at school, bumping into her in the middle of her getting hassled by other students. Ava not only shows up at school, but in a time of need for Jack, and Matty and she proves to be a big part of their story. The relationship becomes and important one, there’s a bond between them all.  
Jack and Ava seem to be so different, growing up rather differently, having a different sort of childhood, but it soon becomes clear that they have more in common and might be bonded in more ways than one.
I adored the brotherly relationship between Jack and Matty, I think that was my favourite thing about this book, Jack would do anything for Matty and Matty adored Jack and trusted him, no matter what. 

It made me so sad to see Jack having to grow up so quickly and take on so many responsibilities at such a young age, and to see what he seen,  he had to be so mature when he was faced with impossible decisions and dilemmas. When you don’t have anyone else  to turn to for help, what do you do? You do what you have to, to keep the person you love and the last of the family you have left safe. 

The characters are believable and well written, and you root for them from the start honestly, especially Jack, the author managed to write this with sort of a dark feeling, a feeling of dread for these boys, like I said before, I really enjoyed the writing style. 

There were so many twists and turns, and catastrophes happening that it never got boring. I will admit that I was slightly confused by the ending, but I do think a part two is in the works, which is exciting and I hope I get to read soon, because I’d really like to know for sure what that ending was all about.

This book was well written, heartwarming and devastating all at the same time. I do really highly recommend picking this one up, it was quite a quick and enjoyable read for me, thanks again to Dave for including me in this tour! 

What Beauty There Is by Cory Anderson is out in April 8th. 

'Beautifully written and superbly constructed, Anderson pulls you onto a chilling footpath of love and loss and keeps you there until you've read every last word' Ruta Sepetys, bestselling author of Between Shades of Grey

Author
Cory Anderson is a winner of the League of Utah Writers Young Adult Novel Award and Grand Prize in the Storymakers Conference First Chapter Contest. She lives in Utah with her family. What Beauty There Is is her debut novel.