*~*Marrow by Tarryn Fisher Blog Tour – Review & Giveaway*~*

In the Bone there is a house.
In the house there is a girl.
In the girl there is a darkness.

Margo is not like other girls. She lives in a derelict neighborhood called the Bone, in a cursed house, with her cursed mother, who hasn’t spoken to her in over two years. She lives her days feeling invisible. It’s not until she develops a friendship with her wheelchair-bound neighbor, Judah Grant, that things begin to change.

When neighborhood girl, seven-year-old Neveah Anthony, goes missing, Judah sets out to help Margo uncover what happened to her.What Margo finds changes her, and with a new perspective on life, she’s determined to find evil and punish it–targeting rapists and child molesters, one by one.

But hunting evil is dangerous, and Margo risks losing everything, including her own soul.

Marrow by Tarryn Fisher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

*ARC Given to Blog for Honest Review*

3.5 “eating house” “And shit.” “murderess” Kisses

I can honestly say that I have never read a book like Marrow before. I went into it like I’ve gone into most Tarryn Fisher books…with no preconceived notions that I would be able to predict or expect anything that was going to happen and what I got could possible redefine the concept of the ‘mind-fuck’ for me. I REALLY don’t know what I want to think…was it good? Was it bad? I don’t know…because as much as I feel like my brain has been chewed up and spit out, I don’t know what I want to think because I have too many thoughts and not all of them make sense, but…I can say that it was compelling enough for me to never want to put it down. It made me feel…a lot…and think way too many things…and I accept it for all of the weird and awesome craziness it brought into my brain.

Margo Moon…now here’s the million dollar question, do I like her? Strangely enough…I do…I don’t know if I should, but I couldn’t help myself…she’s one of those characters that there is just something about her that doesn’t make you let all your guards down, and yet she’s still endearing. The entire process and journey of understanding Margo and who she is was…different, eye opening…the transformation of who she is at the beginning to who she becomes by the last page is like night and day. It was really hard for me not to be drawn to Margo after all that she has been through…her life has pretty much been utter shit since she was eight years old and was forced to grow up too quickly. In spite of her mother, Margo did not grow up to be a product of her environment. When your neighbors are crackheads and recently released felons….the prospects of growing up to be intelligent and successful aren’t normally in your favor…but Margo defies the odds. I think that’s what she does best…she’s very unassuming – not many people would look at her and think much, she doesn’t stand out in the normal ways, so it’s easy to see how she could just blend in and be forgotten. But nothing Margo does is forgettable.

“I read,” I say. I look at him out of the corner of my eye to see if he’s judging me.
“I do too,” he says. I remember the book he was holding, the day I walked up his pathway. “Mostly biographies.”
“Ew,” I say. And then, “I get enough of real life in the Bone. I want to go somewhere good when I read, not into someone else’s crappy life.”
“Good lives aren’t worth reading about,” he argues. “I read about the struggle. Other people’s growing pains.”
“I like happy endings,” I say. “Real life never has a happy ending.”
“God, you’re depressing. I don’t know why we are friends.”

Judah Grant…he’s like a superhero in a wheelchair, which now that I’ve typed it, sounds incredibly strange…but that’s how he is in my head. Judah is…special…he’s kind of like Margo’s life line, he’s her best friend and they’re the most mix-matched pair ever, but they just work in this crazy, nonsensical way. Something Margo thinks about Judah early on really stuck with me… ‘He wears his wheelchair. His wheelchair never wears him.’ …and the more I got to know him…the more true that statement was. It’s a strangely simple…but the affect it had on me and how I viewed Judah was startling…it wasn’t even that his handicap was brought up constantly, but it was enough to make me never forget – but Judah’s presence and spirit are enough to make you see him for who he is, rather than a crippled boy. Judah has a very open personality…as different as he and Margo are, the way he just kind of gets her and accepts her is deeply comforting…he was the one solid part of her life, the person she could always go to and seek solace in…their relationship was unique but I have no doubt that Margo would not be who she is without Judah.

‘The chair is wearing him tonight, I think. I go to him, kneel down, and put my hands on his knees. I’ve never touched him before. Never dared. His knees are frail, thin. Not like the rest of him. Judah was born to be big, and tall, and powerful, and life stole that from him. How heavy is that burden? His head comes up a little, just so we can exchange looks. He seems…tired.
“Judah,” I whisper. “Why were you waiting for me?”
He blinks slowly, like he’s in some kind of trance, then he looks back out the window.
“I always have.”’

There is no way to really talk about everything that happens in Marrow without possibly spoiling something and honestly…with some of the things that do happen in the book, I think the only real way to base how you truly feel about them, is to read it for yourself. There are a lot of scenes and parts of books that people can describe, that you can instantly know what kind of emotional reaction you will have to them – good, bad or indifferent…it doesn’t have to be experienced first hand to perceive that reaction. With Marrow…you need that firsthand knowledge. There are details that can’t be left out because they translate to how you brain and emotions react and it’s all very necessary…at least IMO. So…how do I describe Marrow…was there romance? Ehh…kind of? I mean…very minimal, but that’s not the point of the book, so that was fine by me. Was there suspense? Well…I always had this nervousness simmering in my body the entire time I was reading. I never felt like it was safe to let myself think everything was going to be okay…cause it was never going to be okay…nothing is ever truly simple or calm or at a point where you can let your guard down for what could possibly happen. I really wouldn’t even want to classify it as anything…because this book does not deserve limits…I cannot be placed into one specific category because it doesn’t fit any mold. It’s a deep, dark, complex journey of a girl who believes in justice.

‘“I have legs, Judah, and I don’t know how to use them. Your life walks, and you’re going to walk out of the Bone and be something. The rest of us, and our working legs, are going to live and die in the Bone.”
“Margo…” his voice cracks. His chin dips to his chest, and I’m not sure if he’s crying until I hear the sniff. He grabs me, before I can grab him, and he holds me tight.
“Margo,” he says into my hair. “I’ll save you, if you save me.”
I nod, the words caught in my throat, sticky with emotion. That’s the best deal life has ever offered me.’

I’ve already said that Marrow is like nothing I’ve ever read before but that’s both the good news and the bad news because…nothing can compare to the thoughts that are running through my mind. Like…does it make me weird that I want to like someone who is possibly/probably a little dark, twisted and may or may not be crazy? Cause…I do like Margo…I don’t know if I want to, but I can accept that overall as a character, I understood her…whether what she was doing was right or wrong isn’t really the point because I got the thought process behind her actions. I kind of envied her conviction…the strength it takes to know what you’re doing is not necessarily legal or morally right…but know that it needs to be done for justice to be served is in its own way, kinda kicks ass. And once again for me to say these things, almost makes me feel like I am stating something that I should be ashamed of…but I’m not. It’s like Margo is an extension of the vigilante part of all of us…being able to do all of the things that we wish we could do but can’t. Seeking to hurt those who hurt others just because they can…giving them a taste of their own medicine…to feel the pain they inflict on the innocent…there is something very deep and powerful about that.

‘I can’t stay the way I am. I don’t remember what it’s like to be free. To be wide open without fear. I need something to break me. Just enough so that I have new pieces to work with – make them into something else. I don’t want to give anyone the right to treat me like a loser. I don’t want to be fat, I don’t want to live in the Bone, I don’t want to be without knowledge. I won’t be the girl who people laugh at. Not anymore.’

Marrow is dark in a way that I’ve never read…and I’ve read some pretty dark books…I’m not afraid of stuff that will make me cringe or the unpleasant side of life – bad stuff happens to good people every day and just because I’m reading about it in a book won’t change that. I don’t read to have the sugar coated version of life, I read to feel and Marrow definitely made me feel….not always good emotions, but once again, that wasn’t the point of the book. If you need a book that is going to be sunshine and rainbows…then this isn’t the right book for you. I’m not saying positive stuff doesn’t happen…but there’s not a lot…and for me it was also how I absorbed the events that were happening as they unfolded. If you need clear cut answers to everything…then this definitely isn’t the book for you. There are things that aren’t explained…at all, that we never get definitive answers on and…it is what is. In my opinion…there isn’t a lot in Marrow that is black and white…it’s a lot of grey and messy and it really has a lot to do with how you interpret things. Whether the way you perceive events is based on fact, emotion or a little of both…I can see a ton of different ways for what happens in Marrow to be construed. I should know because I’m feeling a least 32 of them right now and have been since I finished. But I’m strangely okay with that…or at least I’m getting to that point.

‘I told myself that I was the one pretending to fit in, but life has taught me that we are all pretenders. Every single one of us. We are born ready to cultivate ourselves, find a place where we feel comfortable. Whether that is to fit in with the geeks, or the jocks, or the cold-blooded killers. There is nothing new under the sun. Nothing new we can invent or make up. We grapple with our likes and dislikes, who we want to please, what we want to wear and drive. Our interests, whether they include drawing Italian sunsets, playing video games, or thumbing our way through erotic novels, they are all handed to us by a society that produces them. No matter how hard we try to invent ourselves, there have always been druggies, and tattoos, and ambitious men who take over the world. There have always been artists, and hippies, and meatheads, and that beautiful, single Mother Teresa, who lights up the darkness. There have always been murderers, and mothers, and athletes. We are all pretenders in life, finding a patch of humanity that we related to, and then embrace it.’

The beauty of all of this is that I truly don’t know if any other author could have written this book and made me enjoy it as much as I did. Tarryn’s writing is flat out brilliance…every time I read one of her books I feel unworthy of words. She can take the most mundane and simple things and describe them in a way that blows me away…every single time. I know not every book is for every reader…but I don’t know if every reader is ready for Marrow. This book doesn’t fit into a mold…it doesn’t do what is right or normal or predictable…it tells it like it is and I don’t think it exists for your to love it or even necessarily to like it, because it’s not even that kind of story…you just have to accept it….and that’s exactly what I’m going to do. Marrow provoked me…to think, to feel, to understand…it’s grown roots and planted thoughts in my mind that I’ll be thinking of for years after this. I’ll never forget Margo’s dark and twisty tale.

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Tarryn Fisher is the New York Times and USA Today Bestselling Author of six novels. Her newest novel, Marrow, just released in April 2015 and she is currently working on the second installment of Never Never. She is the co-founder of Clothed Caption, a fashion blog she runs with her friend, Madison Seidler. Tarryn resides in the Seattle area with her family. She loves rainy days, Coke, and thinks Instagram is the new Facebook. Tarryn is represented by Amy Tannenbaum of the Jane Rotrosen Agency.