***ARC received from Blink and NetGalley in exchange for honest review, opinions are all my own. Thank you!***

This is a tough one for me because this book has a really interesting premise and there are lot of parts of the book that are very good it just never fully connects. It makes the book feel disjointed in the end.

Etta lives in Craewick, a city under a vicious ruler and memories, where the gift and ungifted live. It is in this aspect that the book really shines, the concept of the gifted. Minders and Sifters are those that can see peoples memories, not just to see but to take. The book starts strong when we are witness to an auction of memories and we get to see, not be told, what happens to those that don't fall in line. But its not just the auction, the threat of people being to take your memories or worse instill memories into you that are not your own is a threat that the author tries to weave into the book. Yet, it is done more through telling the reader as opposed to showing us. We get a very brief glimpse of the asylum, people trapped within their own memories but it is never enough to feel like a threat to our characters. It certainly had the potential to be and for a few brief pages the author does create a very riveting story. Yet, even when Etta's mother goes up for auction it feels like Etta has a ridiculously long time to fix things. Maybe thats not true, maybe its a couple of days but it feels way too long and I think that, for me at least, feel tense enough, even though the author did a good job with reminding us that Etta wasn't nothing more than to save her mother, it never felt like the pacing was as invested in it.

The mid way point is about the part where the plot begins to fall apart. The beginning was really strong, it had the threat there, the fear of the minders, the betrayal and possible consequences. Once you get to the middle part the book feels more interesting in ticking off a list of tropes than it does telling the story that it wanted to.

Maybe had it not been a stand alone and a series it would have had more time to develop into the book it has the true potential to be.

The concept behind this novel is extremely interesting: memories are a commodity that can be sold or stolen by Gifted individuals. The premise is what kept me reading, but unfortunately, some factors led me to put the book down halfway through. For a young adult book, the writing was fairly good and in keeping with YA style. The characters unfortunately felt a bit stale to me. I was hoping for something out of the norm for YA. By that I mean I wanted something different from "gifted young woman saves the country and those close to her while also falling in love with a strapping young man." Unfortunately, this book did fall into step with those tropes. My biggest gripe and the reason for giving up on this book, which I rarely do, was the relationship between the main character and her love interest. Initially, she hates him. Somehow, though, 20 or so pages later, she's in love with him. I'm not looking for realism in a YA fantasy, but this relationship was just too unrelatable and unrealistic for me.

Overall, I think I enjoyed the book. The world and the concepts are pretty cool, and I love the character development, but I felt like the writing the flow of the memories was a little off. I love the minimal romance and the growth of Etta and Reid's relationship, but the writing felt kind of mediocre. I wanted more descriptions of their surroundings, but the book was a lot more about flashbacks and action. It just didn't flow well. It was a very quick reading because of the level of the writing, but I would still recommend it based on the story itself.

3.5-3.75 Stars
Just like licorice jelly beans and cheating on your significant other and doing drugs, this is a book you enjoy while reading but immediately leaves a bad aftertaste upon finishing. It’s bones without the meat and fake friends who stab you in the back - a book with enough finesse to carry the story but not enough to make it a satisfying one.

The synopsis did too well, in my opinion, falsely creating a story full of twists and dark magic and antiheroes and antiheroines, while in reality the story is quite linear with maybe one unpredictable twist and a heroine that, despite the fact that she might have had a dirty conscience a few years ago, now makes decisions as pure as milk. Even the maze, the big mystery we are made aware of, takes up only 2% of the whole story and didn’t feel nearly as fleshed out as it could have been.

In regards to the storyline, at times, certain happenings in The Memory Thief felt cheesy and almost comical. In my experience with literature, this usually happens when the author is not quite bold enough to take risks in their story, so they rely on overused cliches and plot lines. The final battle, for example - it’s literally a battle. Like with people lining up in groups to fight and everything. Um, that’s nice, I guess, but today’s readers will find that outdated.

Not all about this book was bad, though - I quite liked the magic system. I’m pretty sure the concept of stealing memories has been used before, but certainly not in this fashion. The auctions, the asylum, the Minders, and the Shadows were done fantastically and the world feels very vivid. I wish that the author has cared to explain more about certain things, like the forest rebels, but overall I’m pleased considering this is a standalone fantasy.

The twists were also executed very well. I’m not sure how much I can say without spoilers, but one scene in the book almost made me tear up, and I feel a lot of sympathy for Etta, the main character, however, um, annoyingly good of a soul she has. Her character arc was one of the better ones I’ve seen. If the author decides to write more books in this universe, I hope it will be with a new set of characters. Etta, Reid, and the others’ storyline wrapped up very nicely.

All in all, the reader may be impressed by the exquisite world building that was given to us carefully in bite-sized pieces through show rather than tell, and the creative backstory that raises more questions than it answers, but that cannot make up for the lack of exploration and creativity The Memory Thief gave to the plot. It was good in some ways and bad in others, and did not make too lasting of an impression on me, hence the three stars. Yet, I am starving for more in this world - maybe a prequel with Cal and Joss and Penn, hmm?

Oh well, at least there’s dark magic.
eARC provided by the publisher.

What do you get when you cross Hunger Games, Divergent, The Bone Season and Forget Tomorrow? You get The Memory Thief.

The concept is rather interesting, reminding me of the aforementioned books. There are those gifted with the ability to read minds, take memories or abilities, which makes for an interesting world. But for me, the pacing was difficult and made it hard to get into the book. If anyone has read The 100, you know that you're constantly being thrown into the past which made it nearly impossible for the plot to move along. The Memory Thief does the same—it drags because you're constantly re-hashing memories. I knew the concept of the story would make things tricky to play out and SHOW the reader the past rather than talk about it, but this also slows down the pacing of the book considerably.

I enjoyed the characters, I really did, but I found it difficult to remain attached to the NOW story because we were constantly reliving things that had happened already.

The ending was where everything happened and quickly so. You learn about so much more here than what you do with the first 3/4 of the book.

It was a good read, don't get me wrong, I just couldn't get past the memories/flashbacks.

I did not enjoy this book at all. The characters were dull, the plot was basic, and overall the story was lacking. It reminded me a lot of another series I have read before. Very unoriginal.

This book is set in an interesting world where memories can be traded or stolen. Cool premise. I had really high hopes for this book, but unfortunately it fell a little flat for me. When it comes down to it, I felt the story was rushed. I wish there had been more building between the characters and the tension going on in the world. It was also a little too...well...sappy. Too much happy family feelings which took away from the grittiness of the book.

I liked our cast of characters, but, again, I wish there had been more development of them. They felt a bit superficial and the relationships a bit rushed.

All this being said, I did enjoy the book overall. It wasn't a bad read, but it could have been a better read.

Loved the premise of the book. Couldn't put it down hardly. I just felt like it was one big rush to the end though. As if the author had these ideas they just HAD to get out. Honestly, the story could've used some slowing so that the reader had time to digest the twists and turns and get to know the characters more.

Cool idea for a story. I really enjoyed it, even though it's not my usual genre. Thanks for the opportunity to read it!

The memory thief is an inspiring story of hardship, and the battle to recover from that. You follow the story of Jules aka Etta how she trapped her mother in a coma, gave her father up and killed 3 friends. I was unable to put this book down, every page inspired more ! The author does an incredible job of creating the picture for you so you feel like your right there alongside them. I loved the ending very happily ever after but it was perfect after the trail and tribulations everyone had to face. Would recommend to anyone !

Sifters. Minders. Ghosts. Shadows. Hunters. Hollows. I really enjoyed this book. I LOVED the idea behind it. Memories being used as currency, bribery, ammunition and more... what a scary thought. I like that for the most part it has a good flow and it was easy to follow. I hit a few plot twists and couldn’t put it down! The twists were well done and didn’t leave me confused or over saturate the story with useless filler.

The only thing I didn’t like was the anti climactic ending. I liked HOW it ended but I felt the way we got there was rushed.

I received this book from @netgalley in exchange for my honest review.

I can honestly say that I can’t even begin to imagine having to use my memories and experiences as currency. Or have someone use a bad memory to hurt me mentally or emotionally. This to me is worse than physical pain.

I received a netgalley copy in exchange for an honest review.

I personally was not able to connect with the writing style of this book. I felt it a bit juvenile and repetitive. I noticed on multiple occasions that certain things were repeated and it kind of annoyed me.

The story was fine. The pacing was good except the ending felt super rushed. The wrap up was too long and kind of unnecessary.

The characters also felt kind of flat. There wasn’t much character building through the story. At one point, Etta just learned something new about someone she should hate and then automatically accepted it and moved on. It didn’t quite seem realistic.

Overall I think it would be a good book for younger YA readers. The older ones I don’t think would connect the same way the younger readers might.

I received an eARC of this from Net Galley in return for an honest review.

This book was painful to read. I wanted to DNF it so badly but I stuck it out to see if it got any better. It didn’t. The writing isn’t horrible, but it uses a LOT of colloquial sayings that made it boring and unoriginal. It was also somewhat confusing, we would suddenly have flashbacks or see memories and the transition was so jarring it took me out of the novel. It was also annoying when the author would repeat the same exact memory later on in the book, seriously just give us a quick reminder of the memory if you want us to recall it, don’t give it word for word again!

This book also didn’t have much of a plot, well much of an exciting one. I suppose the main character walking around a lot constitutes as a plot right? And can I mention how everything was just handed to her?! She literally did nothing. They call her a hero because she took someone’s Gift as they died and it merged with her own to make her unreadable which her unreadability (sort of) saved the day, but it was mostly her dad’s sacrifice and her grandpa’s army. Yeah so this book wasn’t really that exciting. I was so confused at what was going on in the final fight, it wasn’t very well described because as I understand this mind fighting Sifters can just drop people with a look while most Gifted can just touch you and steal/take memories. So the final battle shouldn’t have been that bloody would it? Apparently not because somehow all the buildings were destroyed except one but we saw none of it because our amazing main character was knocked out.

Yeah sooooo I kinda didn’t enjoy this book and I basically tortured myself by pushing through. Should’ve saved myself the time and DNF’d at 40%...

"The Memory Thief" draws us into a world where memories can be bought or stolen giving their new owners different skills and abilities. The main character Etta receives a notice that her mother is up for auction and has to return to the Shadows to make a deal with her old crew and enemies.

This book drew me in with the memory auction and the desperate hunger. However, after the auction the book started to let me down and fall apart.

The biggest issue I had was the pacing. It becomes very clear where the plot needs to take us and for the first third of the book it does fine with things progressing at a steady rate. But once Etta reaches where she needs to go I felt that the pacing speeds up and doesn't make sense anymore. The romances did not make sense to me nor did the alliances. Once both of these happened the depth to the story and the characters was lost for me.

This book was average for me and I already have forgotten about it. Luckily I kept notes and I could follow them to remember exactly what happened in this book. I think the idea of this story was awesome but it just had pacing issues.


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

I really liked the premise of this book. It is a very unique and interesting concept. It was however, a bit hard to read and follow at times by the fast paced flow of the book- I feel like if some aspects of the story were more developed with further information and scenes, it would really help the reader to be follow along and get lost in this world.

Well, well, well...It’s the happiest, fairy tale-iest dystopian fantasy that you ever did see!

Seriously, it’s Disney dystopia.

There’s plenty of mayhem along the way, and a few sad moments to remind you What We’re Fighting For in this particular realm, but I do believe this is the least bleak book I’ve encountered in the genre.

And I can’t decide if that makes it schmaltzy or refreshing.

The basic concept regarding the theft and repurposing of the memories of others is actually pretty clever, and I have to admit it was nice not to have to feel as distressed as one normally does when reading dystopia.

The book reads quickly and harbors some traditional fantasy elements which, as someone who isn’t all that fond of pure dystopia, I found pleasing.

Thought the characters are largely common stock types and in many cases feel too good to be true, you’ll like them anyway, and the plot moves well enough and has decent enough twists that it’s still enjoyable even if the wins seem to come a bit too easily for our heroes.

A light, easy read for those who prefer their dystopia with a hearty helping of Happily Ever After.

This novel had a very unusual premise. It was very fast-paced. However, it was hard to understand. The world-building was not elaborated on. I really liked Etta. I liked how she is very caring especially towards orphans. The romance seemed very instant and felt added on rather than being woven in. Still, I recommend this for fans of Amy Tintara, Marie Lu, and Richelle Mead. Full review to come!

For half of the book I thought this book was really boring and maybe confusing. The second half was a lot better but it doesn't help push the boringness of the first half up.

I received an ARC of this book from Netgalley.

I loved the premise of the book and really wanted to love the book...but it didn't work for me. The relationships were too rushed and perfect. The conflicts were too easily overcome, and I never got emotionally attached to the characters.

I requested this book because I was really intrigued by the premise, memories being used in so many different ways, very unique! I found Etta to be a very likable character along with some of the other secondary characters. The plot builds up in an interesting way, but there's a lot of character introduction, terminology, and flashbacks that it makes it a little confusing to follow, it almost breaks the flow of the book for me.

There's lots of build up and action to the climax and when we finally get to that moment, it's over and done in like 2 pages and then the book ends with a nice bow and happy ending. It was a bit of a let down. This is a stand alone book so it didn't leave much room for a ton of expansion but there could have been a little bit more.

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.