Just Finished Reading...Every Word by Ellie Marney

Every Word (Every #2)
by Ellie Marney
Published on September 8, 2015
by Tundra Books

Source: ARC giveaway at Book Expo America

Synopsis from Goodreads: James Mycroft has just left for London to investigate a car accident similar to the one that killed his parents seven years ago...without saying goodbye to Rachel Watts, his 'partner in crime'. Rachel is furious and worried about his strange behaviour - not that Mycroft's ever exactly normal, but London is the scene of so many of his nightmares. So Rachel jumps on a plane to follow him...and lands straight in a whole storm of trouble. The theft of a copy of Shakespeare's First Folio, the possible murder of a rare books conservator, and the deaths of Mycroft's parents...Can Watts help Mycroft make sense of the three events - or will she lose him forever?

My take:  All the Sherlock inspired YA that I've read this fall have been really great. I read Every Breath, the first book in this series, and liked it a lot. I'm a huge fan of Aussie YA and the fact that this is set in Australia was a big plus to me. And then there was the romance -- between a troubled guy and a tough, no-nonsense girl -- perfection!

At first I was a tiny bit wary of Every Word, because it seemed to be headed into cliched YA territory -- the second book trope of the love interest pushing the girl away for her own good. But before long, that got worked out. Every Word does everything a second book in a mystery series should do -- it has a self-contained mystery (a carjacking with some connection to a missing rare book) but also adds to the overall series plotline, which revolves around the murder of James Mycroft's parents.

I often complain that YA mysteries and thrillers are a little too PG to be truly thrilling, but Every Word was gritty and suspenseful while still seeming like YA. The mystery -- involving a suspicious carjacking and a missing rare book -- was really well-crafted, with all the clues laid out for analysis. And there was a pretty gruesome autopsy scene that was both poetic and disturbing -- the writing in these books is really excellent.

I should be filled with excitement about the next book in this series, except that it's already been published in Australia and early reviews say that there's an Out of Nowhere Love Triangle that pops up in the third book. Seriously? I really want to read it, but I'm not so up for that. Stay tuned.

Also, I'll be doing a roundup of Sherlock inspired YA, if you're a Sherlock newbie who wants to know what's out there on the YA front.