Heart-Shaped Bruise

May 15, 2013 Victoria rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I honestly cannot recall just how this British YA book first caught my attention. But after placing my special order to London and finishing it, I am so happy that it did catch my eye! Immediately engrossing, this book quickly draws you in and does not let go until the last page - I read it in just one evening! It is quite fast-paced and despite knowing that Emily has done something terrible from the very first page, it becomes impossible not to like her. The diary frame works very well and cert...more

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Dec 02, 2012 Paula Phillips rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book had a write-up from Sophie Hannah, boasting that it was wonderful and that fans of Sophie Hannah's books would enjoy Tanya Byrne's debut novel "Heart Shaped Bruise". When I opened the book I wasn't sure what to expect but I was soon thrown headfirst into the life of Emily Koll - one of London's most notorious gangsters daughter and learnt that she was in a Juvi Youth Home awaiting her prison trial for something that happened with a girl named Juliet. The story is written in diary entri...more

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Nov 03, 2012 Emily M rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. So I just want to start off with saying that this book utterly blew me away. As soon as I finished it (in one sitting) it resonated for so long, I couldn't sleep - all I could think about was that book, wistful of what Emily could have done with her life if she hadn't let the darkness inside her fester.
It's such an amazingly written novel, I'm in awe of the author because the prose was just so stark, so representative of what Emily was feeling and, in the end, I think she was sorry. I think she...more So I just want to start off with saying that this book utterly blew me away. As soon as I finished it (in one sitting) it resonated for so long, I couldn't sleep - all I could think about was that book, wistful of what Emily could have done with her life if she hadn't let the darkness inside her fester.
It's such an amazingly written novel, I'm in awe of the author because the prose was just so stark, so representative of what Emily was feeling and, in the end, I think she was sorry. I think she was sorry that she felt she had to kill the guy she was so in love with.
It was so interesting to read this book from an entirely different angle, and at first I was kinda alarmed that I felt I could relate to the main character, and then I realised that she was written in just that way to make you think of how young criminals can feel, or even just normal teenagers when they find that all they've ever known turns out to be a lie or a facade.
To be honest, I understood Emily's hatred for Juliet and if I was ever in that situation I would probably feel the same way - but still it was almost irrational. Juliet only stabbed Emily's dad to defend her own and, in the end, it was her parents who died not Emily's.
I think Emily also thought that Juliet was the one who corrupted her image of Emily's dad - but I think that's only because she linked the two events together, the fact is: Emily's dad was always a criminal, a gangbanger and it was only the situation that occurred that showed Emily this so I think that was the core of her hatred of Juliet.
The only thing I can criticise about this book was that I felt some of the minute details weren't as consistent as I thought they could have been - but maybe I'm only saying that because I've never really read a book a perfect as this, ever, so it's kinda hard for me to comprehend it.
Anyways, to anyone who's reading this review right now, I fully recommend this book to you as even now, hours after I finished it, I feel it's left an imprint on me and I think it's this that every author should hope to achieve.(less)

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Jul 18, 2012 Emma rated it 5 of 5 stars

"Heart-Shaped Bruise" is the diary of young criminal Emily Koll, written from her prison -- a young offender's institute in England.

This book has some balls: we've got a hard-to-categorise story (is it crime? mystery? psychological? contemporary?) with a hard-to-like protagonist who's in jail for something horrible. It's a daring book, and I love it.

I was worried that I wouldn't be able to relate to Emily, who's bitter about her imprisonment, difficult to talk to, and cold to her fellow inmates....more

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May 28, 2012 LH Johnson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult

Emily Koll is - well - she's -

she's here.

She's brittle, broken. But she's here.

She's here after -

(well, after everything she did, after everything that's been printed about her, after all the words that have been said)

She's telling her story for the first time. And oh - what a story. Emily is a glass-edged, vivid narrator full of fragile braggadocio and vicious, vicious pain.

Heart-Shaped Bruise is massively out of my comfort zone and I found it a little hard to get in to at first. It felt a...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Liz Wilkins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favourites, highly-recommended

What a beautiful and evocative first novel from this author - Having finished it a very short time ago I am attempting to write this review whilst still slightly tearful and to me that is pretty much the best compliment I could pay. In its pages you will find the "diary" of Emily Koll, a young girl currently in a secure unit awaiting trial for a crime as yet unspecified. Emily tells us her story and really, whilst doing so, tries to work out for herself the events in her life that have led her t...more

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Apr 11, 2013 Anna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary-fiction, crime-thriller, mental-illness, read-in-2013, young-adult, teens-with-issues, favourites

Firstly - Oh. My. God!

I read this novel in what was literally one sitting - several hours curled up on the sofa unable to release the book from my death-grip. When my partner came home from work, I carried on reading, practically ignoring her until I'd turned the last page.

Emily is... well actually there are two Emily's. There is the Emily that the tabloids have declared Evil and there's the Emily who pours out her heart in a diary night after night as she attempts to come to terms with what sh...more Firstly - Oh. My. God!

I read this novel in what was literally one sitting - several hours curled up on the sofa unable to release the book from my death-grip. When my partner came home from work, I carried on reading, practically ignoring her until I'd turned the last page.

Emily is... well actually there are two Emily's. There is the Emily that the tabloids have declared Evil and there's the Emily who pours out her heart in a diary night after night as she attempts to come to terms with what she has done.

Emily is a resident of the Psychiatric wing of Archway Young Offender's Institute. She is awaiting trial but everybody knows who she is and for Emily there's no doubt that she is guilty. The daughter of infamous London Gangster, Harry Koll, everybody is scared of Emily. And with reason. She was the one who ruined a girl. She is the one who did something 'Evil' and unforgiving purely to destroy 16 year old Juliet, the girl who stabbed her father.

Through a notebook found in one of the rooms after the Institute was closed, we get the chance to see into the crumbling mind of Emily as she pieces together her story, the fragmented reality of how she ended up behind bars.

The tabloids have labelled Emily Evil, the product of a Mobster family. But until the night Juliet stabbed Emily's father in self-defense after he'd murdered her own father, Emily had no idea that her dad was more than a mechanic. The tabloids however, would never print the story of how her whole world tumbled down around her ears that night, how her innocent eyes were opened to her father's murderous ways. The tabloids and the public only want to see what Emily did to hurt Juliet.

Tanya Byrne opens up the world of a Young Offenders Institute and candidly shows us the inside of a mind struggling to grasp the pain she has caused and the pain she is feeling.

We're not supposed to like Emily so much as come to understand her. But as I was reading I grew fond of this tortured teenager and wanted her to find some kind of personal resolution. I wanted her to find hope.

It probably helped that I saw a lot of myself in Emily. I don't mean that I'm capable of the things Emily did. It's just that so much of what she thinks and feels resonated with me. I wish I'd had this book as a teen. It's up there with 'Perks of Being a Wallflower' in terms of gripping, heart-wrenching, compulsive reading. I adored it.(less)

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Oct 06, 2012 Bill Kupersmith rated it 3 of 5 stars

Emily Koll is the English equivalent of what we Yanks would call a "Mafia princess"; she has been reared in ignorance of what her father actually does for a living. Perhaps that is why I did not find Emily very convincing as a member of a gangster family. Why would she to take revenge on Juliet, who was only acting properly as the daughter of a policeman? Professional criminals understand that they have their jobs to do and the police have theirs.

When I saw a quote from Sophie Hannah calling thi...more

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Jun 14, 2013 Arjun Thakrar (Excellent Reads) rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Well... Tanya Byrne is one of those authors that I've just heard so much about and about a week back I finally got round to reading Heart Shaped Bruise and I loved it. I guess it really took push for me to pick up and start the book, because It's not something I would normally pick up, but I'm so glad I did. I love finding a book so beautiful that I thought I wouldn't like and the satisfaction of that is incredible. In fact I think I would go as far as saying I honestly think, whether this appea...more Well... Tanya Byrne is one of those authors that I've just heard so much about and about a week back I finally got round to reading Heart Shaped Bruise and I loved it. I guess it really took push for me to pick up and start the book, because It's not something I would normally pick up, but I'm so glad I did. I love finding a book so beautiful that I thought I wouldn't like and the satisfaction of that is incredible. In fact I think I would go as far as saying I honestly think, whether this appeals or not, anyone could pick this up and enjoy it, thoroughly.

The plot is really different and interesting and I'm always looking out for different plots or in this case, the ways of telling the stories. When unique storytelling is mentioned Stolen by Lucy Christopher springs to mind but this will definitely be added to the list, because the whole story was told through Emily Koll who is actually telling us the story by both, telling her doctor and writing a notebook, though it's rather weird because essentially the whole thing is a notebook. The plot itself is very clever. Byrne has shown her skill in this novel and the clever and witty way in which this book has been crafted really boasts Byrne's talent for writing.

The writing in this was quite informal but definitely worked in the context. In fact however casual, the writing was laced with talent, because Byrne managed to give vivd emotions and descriptions and tell a stunning story whilst keeping the writing as though a 18 year old girl was writing in a notebook rather than going full novel on the book. Even so the descriptions built up images in you mind and forced emotions that would leave you reading till midnight.

The characters were the main focus of this novel. There was no backstory or subplot. No distraction, the main characters spun this story and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The characters were minimal and so each and everyone came across quickly and you soon knew who you liked and who you didn't. What I loved about Byrne's use of emotions in characters is the struggle between hating someone for what they have done and yet wanting to forgive because you have unintentionally befriended them. The characters really showed their true colours in this novel and Byrnes mastered the complexity of a 18 year olds mind perfectly.

Overall I really did like this novel. It provided suspense, thrill and evoked every emotion known. The book was stunning, beautiful and left me speechless. A gorgeous debut.(less)

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Apr 25, 2012 Jessica (Jess Hearts Books) rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

I adore teen thrillers particularly those that deal with mental health, a subject that is close to my heart, so I was really eager to read Heart-Shaped Bruise and had high expectations from the beginning. I was only a few pages in when I actually said out loud to myself “THIS is going to be a good book.” And I’m pleased to say that my early judgement was spot on.

Tanya Byrne, wow, I cannot believe that this is her debut novel. This is one of the most well written books that I’ve read this year. F...more I adore teen thrillers particularly those that deal with mental health, a subject that is close to my heart, so I was really eager to read Heart-Shaped Bruise and had high expectations from the beginning. I was only a few pages in when I actually said out loud to myself “THIS is going to be a good book.” And I’m pleased to say that my early judgement was spot on.

Tanya Byrne, wow, I cannot believe that this is her debut novel. This is one of the most well written books that I’ve read this year. From the first page I was totally swept into this story because DAMN can this lady write! Serious born writer here folks! This book is chock full of such gorgeous lyrical prose. Tanya’s writing, from a troubled young girl’s perspective, was so truthful and raw that my heart would skip a beat at the beauty of a sentence or my gut would clench at the brutal honesty of a phrase. I love when an author connects with me in such a powerful way with their writing and I found myself jotting down meaningful quotes and reading moving sections aloud to my family I was that touched by Emily Koll’s voice and from this debut alone I already know that I will continue to read anything that Tanya Byrne writes in the future without hesitation, I loved her writing that much.

Despite all of the terrible things that Emily did that slowly get revealed throughout the book I couldn’t not like her. Although I didn’t agree with her actions I understood them, I understood how she came to be the way that she was and I was surprised that I came to feel that way about someone who could have easily been unlikeable. I also felt so many things towards the antagonist in this book, at least through Emily’s eyes, Juliet. From an outsiders perspective I felt sympathy for Juliet but when I was reading through Emily’s point of view I felt Em’s anger and hatred towards her too. Heart-Shaped Bruise is ultimately a role reversal story where the bad guy is our heroine and the victim is our villain. This book fills in all those shades of grey in what makes a person like Emily the way they are and do the things that she does, and makes you understand what leads a normal person to make bad choices.

Heart-Shaped Bruise is the kind of book that will have you up to the early hours racing to the end. I read this book in two sittings and was constantly thinking about it in between and after reading it. If you’re a fan of teen thrillers, gritty and hard-hitting storylines, or simply just well written thought provoking books then Heart-Shaped Bruise is a must read.(less)

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Jan 13, 2013 Juana rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: regretful

Let's put things straight: this book has got a huge, unacceptable discrepancy. I confess I almost throw it out of the window when I noticed it.
I won't go through the plot - you can find it on the Internet, so let's move ahead - I will go straight to talking of THe mistake. Because I feel that, if she had no time to review her own book to adjust it, then she'd better not submit it to editor's attention at all. Or, at least, I do hope the discrepancy was due to a lack of review, because if she mis...more

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Mar 24, 2013 SJ rated it 5 of 5 stars

5. Freaking. Stars.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first, shall we? I typically hate books written in the style of a journal. They lose something for me in that if they are written too well, then they cease to feel like a journal and you can never really get lost in them because you're always reminded that it was written by the author, not by the character in a story. If they are written 'rougher' to seem like scrawls written on the fly, they can come out as more realistic, but don't oft...more 5. Freaking. Stars.

Let's get the negatives out of the way first, shall we? I typically hate books written in the style of a journal. They lose something for me in that if they are written too well, then they cease to feel like a journal and you can never really get lost in them because you're always reminded that it was written by the author, not by the character in a story. If they are written 'rougher' to seem like scrawls written on the fly, they can come out as more realistic, but don't often capture the bigger picture of what's going on. Very seldom do I feel like an author can get it exactly right. And this book, well, frankly...it doesn't get it exactly quite right. The main character is too perfect with her words and voice and punctuation, and it annoyed me as usual. But this is really a small complaint if I'm honest with you, because the story itself was just so darn good.

Emily is a long standing resident in the psych ward of a prison following a crime that she touches upon, but can't entirely bring herself to describe in any great detail. She explains her crime from the start, and yet she is unable to reflect directly on what happened due to trauma that we don't fully understand initially. She is given a notebook by her unflappable therapist and once her enclosed exterior is forced open to some degree, she finds that she is unable to keep up the walls she's built around herself intact. She begins to pour her experiences into that notebook.

The story is a psychological thriller in a clever way. You already know an outline of what she's done...but the thrill in the writing is trying to trace back the cold blooded crime to understand WHY she did it. And as you do so, you find yourself more and more believing that Emily is just misunderstood. You want to believe she couldn't possibly have done it, there must be more to the story. But no matter how many times you manage to feel sympathetic about Emily, her words swing you back and forth between the reality that she did something awful, and that people who do bad things aren't always bad to the core. The entire story felt achingly plausible to me. The way her anxieties and fears are described felt true to life to me and was absolutely beautiful.

So, even if I have been picky about the format of the book, the sparse writing style felt like poetry from beginning to end. Definitely glad I picked it up.(less)

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Oct 03, 2012 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm really torn between giving this book a 4/5 as it was amazing, but I tend to reserve 5s for the most outstanding books I read. However, this was a really brilliant book - there are few books that make you understand something from someone else's perspective quite so well and even fewer when that perspective is someone you wouldn't particularly associate with - the only two I can think of off the top of my head are Boy A by Jonathan Trigell and Spider by Michael Morley. Tanya Byrne creates an...more

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Apr 25, 2012 Ellie rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult, crime, favorites

The night that her father was stabbed was the night that Emily learned her whole life had been a lie. He was just dad to her and she was just another teenage girl. In reality he was a gangster and their life-style funded by organised crime. Heart-Shaped Bruise is told in the form of a journal that was found in the psychiatric unit of Archway Young Offenders Institution. A journal that Emily chose to tell her story in.

Emily is not the sort of character you're going to fall in love with. She's non...more

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Jun 18, 2013 Amy Wells rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites

This is the best book I have read in a ridiculously long time.
The book tells the story of eighteen year old Emily Koll who is in a Young Offender's Psychiatric Institution.
Although Emily has made some horrendous, life changing mistakes throughout the book I was always on her side and that is a testament to the way in which the story is told: through the voice of Emily that manages to be dark, arrogant, funny and vulnerable all at once.
The book is written in a diary format as if Emily is speak...more

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Dec 27, 2012 Mieneke rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, young-adult, fiction, thriller

Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne was one of the books all over my Twitter feed in the past year. It received a lot of buzz and enthusiastic reactions, so I was pleased to get a copy for Christmas. As soon as it landed on my huge TBR-pile, Wiebe made off with it – to my complete and utter amazement, as I'd never expected him to start reading contemporary YA, but that's a different story – and after finishing the book in three hours flat he came back and said: "You have to read this NOW, this is...more Heart-Shaped Bruise by Tanya Byrne was one of the books all over my Twitter feed in the past year. It received a lot of buzz and enthusiastic reactions, so I was pleased to get a copy for Christmas. As soon as it landed on my huge TBR-pile, Wiebe made off with it – to my complete and utter amazement, as I'd never expected him to start reading contemporary YA, but that's a different story – and after finishing the book in three hours flat he came back and said: "You have to read this NOW, this is something special." For a book to draw such a reaction from my quite critical husband it has to be extraordinary, so I read it I did, and he was right; it is something special indeed. Heart-Shaped Bruise is a stunning book, which just left me speechless when I finished it. I even had to take a few days to gather my thoughts so I could write a somewhat coherent review for it.

From the first pages I was gripped; as a reader, one of the things I look for in a book is a strong authorial voice and Byrne has that in spades. It didn't take long to see that this was quite a unique voice, one that I really connected with whole-heartedly. What was surprising was how much the book made me laugh. Emily is genuinely funny and wields a kind of gallows humour that tickled my funny bone. In Emily, Byrne has created a character that will be hard to forget for anyone who meets her. She's funny, hard, angry, vulnerable, insecure, broken, and ultimately very, very human. As narrators go, she's also rather unreliable as she deliberately leaves things out and tells us so. In addition, we never learn what she's incarcerated for exactly. We learn what happens, but we don't learn the charges. In the first chapter of the book, Emily says she did what she did, because Juliet had broken her, while through the narrative the Emily we get to know seems to have at least been structurally weakened even before finding out about her dad. Byrne succeeds in making the reader care for this damaged, creepy girl, despite all she does, which reminded me of this guest blog by Foz Meadows over on The Book Smugglers. Emily is like the new bad boys Foz describes, she displays all the symptoms of being seriously disturbed and dangerous. Where she differs though, is that she knows very well that what she did was wrong and even if she'll never admit it, you get the sense that she's sorry.

The other characterisations in the book are very strong as well—my favourites being Juliet, Sid, and Dr Gilyard. What I loved about the character of Juliet is how completely skewed the reader's emotions become towards her. Here is a girl, who was attacked and had her father brutally murdered, to all intents and purposes scrabbling back up and going on with her life and despite all life has thrown at her she seems to have kept her innate kindness and decency intact. And through Emily's narration she takes on a slightly petulant and spoiled cast, which seems both natural – nobody is that perfect – and slightly wrong. I also liked the juxtaposition of the two girls; Dr Gilyard draws Emily's attention to the many similarities in their background, raised by single dads, who were very successful at their chosen professions and both smart and well-educated. If only their dads hadn't been on opposing teams, so to speak, what would have happened had they met then? Sid is one of my favourite love interests I've ever encountered in my YA reading; he's slightly dark and bad boyish on first acquaintance, but turns out to be a really decent guy with a complicated past and a heart filled with good intentions. Again, it's unclear whether this shift is due to Emily's perceptions of him being affected by her feelings for him or whether it is just a case of first impressions being shallow, but I rather like that uncertainty. Dr Gilyard's tenacity and the sessions with her Emily describes were fabulous, not only did they bring out Emily's inner snark, I also loved how cool, calm, and collected Dr Gilyard remained when Emily tried to get under her skin. She really seems to care for these girls without turning into a bleeding heart. I do have to add that I think Byrne writes genius characters, even those we only encounter the once in Emily's narration. One of those was her college councillor Ms Grace Humm. Now there's a lady who jumped off the page and who I kept hoping we'd see more off as she was just so amazingly cool.

The settings are rather limited. Obviously, the parts pertaining to Emily's time on ward would be rather limited, as it's a small world they get to occupy, but even so, those few rooms we're shown are clear and I found the glimpses we got of life there interesting and Emily's fellow long-staying inmates were interesting and well-developed. The 'outside' setting in comparison felt rather flat. That part of the story is set in London and while clearly London, it didn't ooze the city as much as some of the other books I've read this year. However, I think that in the parts set in the past the emphasis is very heavily on character interaction and the relationships between various characters, so the 'stage' rather fades into the background. The plot is rather brilliant, as we're kept in suspense almost until the last page, even if from page one we know she did it. The suspense here is concerned with what and how, not with whether she did it or not. And even while I knew that there wasn't going to be a happy ending for Emily, as we know she's in prison when we meet her, I kept hoping that she would get one, that she wouldn't do whatever horrible thing she was going to do and just sail off into the sunset to a happily ever after. That is how powerful Byrne's writing is.

To convey how much I loved Heart-Shaped Bruise is hard without turning into a gabbling fan girl. It had me chuckling and laughing out loud at some of Emily's snarky remarks and had me reading with bated breath and hoping against hope that everything would be okay. Its story and characters are still stuck in my mind and they made me ponder their intent and have a long discussion with Wiebe on what had happened and why, and what did this mean etc. If you only get to pick one more book to read this year, let it be Heart-Shaped Bruise. Even if you don't read YA or non-genre books, read this one. It's an amazing story and to think this is only Ms Byrne's debut—imagine what her next book must be like. I know I'll be reading it soon as I can.(less)

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Dec 17, 2012 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

I am usually a fan of well-written Young Adult fiction and find that many books make the successful crossover, and can be read and enjoyed by Adult readers too. Tanya Byrne's debut novel is a very interesting concept - written as a diary that has been found in an old, closed-down psychiatric unit.
The author of the diary is Emily Koll - a spoilt 18-year-old who is a patient in the unit.
The short, sharp chapters work well and do keep the reader's interest, however I became pretty annoyed by the w...more

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May 11, 2012 Lindsay (Little Reader Library) rated it 4 of 5 stars

'There's more than one side to a story, and this is mine...I'll be me and you be the stranger on the bus.'

Eighteen-year-old Emily Koll has written her story in a notebook, which we are immediately told was found in one of the rooms when the psychiatric unit of Archway Young Offenders Institution was closed. The story Emily has to tell is bursting out of her, weighing heavily on her, and there is a real immediacy about the fact that she has to get it out of her, onto paper, as if to a stranger:

'I...more 'There's more than one side to a story, and this is mine...I'll be me and you be the stranger on the bus.'

Eighteen-year-old Emily Koll has written her story in a notebook, which we are immediately told was found in one of the rooms when the psychiatric unit of Archway Young Offenders Institution was closed. The story Emily has to tell is bursting out of her, weighing heavily on her, and there is a real immediacy about the fact that she has to get it out of her, onto paper, as if to a stranger:

'I need to say this, to be rid of it. I can't keep carrying it around with me; I'm buckling under the weight of it. I look at myself sometimes, at the broken lines across the palms of my hands and the creases in my elbows, and I can see myself coming apart at the seams.'

This is such a compelling, powerful story right from the word go. The nature of the first few pages, with Emily's voice leaping from the page, letting us into her deepest thoughts, the darkest corners of her mind, makes for an arresting opening which grabs hold of the reader. The letter to Juliet had me intrigued, and creates suspense regarding the plot - who is Juliet, what has happened in their lives, why did Juliet stab Emily's father, what has Emily done? Why has she turned into 'this hard, angry, miserable girl who did the most terrible things.'? Emily has to cope with the way that the happy image of her father whom she held dear was ripped apart when she discovered there was a whole other, darker side to him that had been hidden from her; 'I hate that now I look at every memory of my father from a slightly different angle so that even my fondest memories are dirty and dog eared', and with no mother in her life, she feels she has lost everything.

Emily tells us about the public perception of her, what you might read about her on Google or in the press, what other girls have said about her. And then she tells us her side of the story, and we can see the full picture from her viewpoint. But how reliable is she as a narrator, when she feels she is not herself anymore, when she herself tells one of the other girls in the institution, 'Don't believe everything you read', and then, tellingly, she voices the warning to us, the readers of her notebook, 'You shouldn't either, by the way.' In the notebook, Emily recounts her version of events, often mentioning what occurred when she visited Doctor Gilyard, the therapist she sees weekly in the institution. These encounters reveal a lot about her personality. We gradually learn about how Emily disguised herself and insinuated her way into Juliet's life, and how things developed towards the chilling conclusion, when we finally learn the infamous crime, the act of revenge that has left Emily locked away, awaiting trial.

Immediately that I started reading, I wanted to know more, and I was compelled to read on by Emily's insistence that she is not sorry, hungrily wanting more details of the plot to be revealed. This is a fairly quick read - read it in one or two sittings if you can, and feel the full force of all the emotions. The writing is, for me, very realistic in terms of the author having successfully captured the age and style of voice for Emily; I believed her, and the emotional torment she is experiencing comes across vividly, the pain she feels, her bitterness and jealously, is raw, and the defensiveness and cynicism in how she communicates is belied by the more fearful, damaged person underneath. As she writes down her story, we are party to her thought processes, and can see that as she is thinking about things, wondering how it might have been if things had been different, for example if she and Juliet had become friends without any of the other things that have happened, and eventually she comes to a realisation about her own part in her situation.

The author has cleverly integrated the imagery of the heart, and bruises of the title, and of this idea of 'blackness' and evil, at points throughout the story. Emily questions if her heart looks 'thin and burnt and black.' It's interesting to contemplate the question of whether Emily is seeking forgiveness, knowingly or not, by writing her story, in fact there is an awful lot here that could be discussed if the book were used by reading groups.

A compelling, tense young adult debut novel, which this older adult thought was a good read too.

Thanks to the publisher for kindly sending a proof copy of this novel to read and review.

4.5/5(less)

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Apr 04, 2013 M rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The problem I had with this book - and I'm basing this only on a feeling, no actual evidence - is that I could see the author's fingerprints all over it. I felt like Emily might have been like her as a teenager, she felt like a projection rather than a creation. Anyway, that aside, Emily was just too petulant, too annoying, for me to care about her. I hated her voice, and felt that this book would've worked better without all the Doctor-patient-notebook stuff and as a straight narrative instead....more

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May 20, 2012 Sharon Goodwin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Heart-Shaped Bruise is written in the form of a journal. It begins with a letter Emily has written to Juliet – the antagonist that put her where she is. The letter tells Juliet she’s not sorry, it isn’t an apology. So from the beginning, the reader feels ambivalent towards Emily’s character. However, Emily’s reaction to finding a love letter from a previous occupant throws into the mix the knowledge that she’s not unfeeling (although she is unrepentant!)

Emily journals sessions with her therapist...more Heart-Shaped Bruise is written in the form of a journal. It begins with a letter Emily has written to Juliet – the antagonist that put her where she is. The letter tells Juliet she’s not sorry, it isn’t an apology. So from the beginning, the reader feels ambivalent towards Emily’s character. However, Emily’s reaction to finding a love letter from a previous occupant throws into the mix the knowledge that she’s not unfeeling (although she is unrepentant!)

Emily journals sessions with her therapist and in the beginning she is not very compliant. As the sessions progress the flashbacks are longer and we walk alongside Emily as the picture builds of the reasons behind everything. Imagine an 18 year old who doesn’t want for anything in her life and from one incident, her identity and everything she’s believed in is blown wide apart. With her father in prison, Emily falls into a black hole until a plan forms. Even though the reader knows what she hopes to achieve, we don’t know until the very end the incident that puts her into the Institution awaiting trial. We still don’t know the outcome of that incident for sure. The intrigue of watching this unfold keeps the reader turning the pages.

I have to say I identified with Emily. Nothing is ever black or white and I love psychology – we certainly get a psychological profile for Emily … It’s quite unusual to be rooting for the perpetrator. How cleverly this story is crafted! I’m definitely TEAM EMILY!

Another thing to ponder is the media hype surrounding anything that’s thought to be newsworthy. We may not mean to but it’s so easy to make a judgement from the words of others…

The writing flows and Emily’s character carries you along the whirlwind path she chose for herself. The other characters are three-dimensional too – I fell a little in love with one of her peers myself!

A debut novel targeted at the YA/Crossover genre, I will certainly be watching for Tanya Byrne’s next novel.

I would like to thank Sam Eades at Headline, for providing a copy in exchange in for an honest review.(less)

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Feb 15, 2013 Julie Harris rated it 3 of 5 stars

This book, about a girl who's life spirals out of control and lands her in a juvenile offender's institution after she learns her father is a really a career criminal, had SUCH potential!
I loved the narrative, loved the build up, loved the originality and then bzzzzzz - the anti climactic end! I didn't really understand WHY she ended up in such a terrible institution or WHAT was so bad about Emily. It was almost like one of those "and then I woke up" stories that you get told off for in primary...more

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Jul 11, 2012 Luna rated it 5 of 5 stars

Heart-Shaped Bruise has so much going for it, the story, the writing but if I had to pick one reason why I loved it it’s because of Emily.

Emily Koll grew up attending boarding school, had a father that spoilt her and was happy. She was that girl, and then suddenly she wasn’t. You don’t have to agree with her, you probably won’t, but Emily blames one person and she has made that person pay. This is why she is where she is. But Emily isn’t sorry, the book begins: “… I have to start by saying that...more

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Apr 17, 2013 penelopewanders rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: contemporary, rings-rays-loans-traded, work-related-read

Firstly I could and gladly would have read this in one sitting, but as it was one of many rings waiting when I returned from holiday, I picked it up but had to juggle it with work-related reads. Today I gladly took a break from the one act plays I've been poring through (trying to find one to do with a class)and finished this in a gulp. I was captivated by this book and by Emily/Rose who struck me as extremely plausible. This would be an interesting one to do with a class, in fact. I'm so gratef...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Abby Hearn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Another book I just absolutely loved. I hadn't picked out this book myself, it was recommended to me by someone and I was unsure I would like it. But as soon as I read the first few pages I knew it had me hooked.

Emily Koll is in a young offenders unit awaiting her trial for her crimes. You don't immediately find out her crimes, only that everyone thinks she is evil, including the newspapers and media letting you know that it was clearly a horrible crime to be in the public eye.

It is written in t...more Another book I just absolutely loved. I hadn't picked out this book myself, it was recommended to me by someone and I was unsure I would like it. But as soon as I read the first few pages I knew it had me hooked.

Emily Koll is in a young offenders unit awaiting her trial for her crimes. You don't immediately find out her crimes, only that everyone thinks she is evil, including the newspapers and media letting you know that it was clearly a horrible crime to be in the public eye.

It is written in the form of a journal from Emily's point of view as she talks you through what is going on in the young offenders unit whilst merging in her memories of what built up to her ending up there. Emily's father is a criminal and when he goes to kill a man he is caught unawares by the man's daughter Juliet who in turn stabs him resulting in him being caught and sent to prison.
Emily blames Juliet for not only her father being sent to prison but for the illusion that he is just a normal father being shattered by her actions.

We follow Emily's story of how she slowly builds up to her revenge on Juliet and what landed her in custody. I love the way little bits are revealed at a time making it hard to second guess exactly what is going to happen. (I hate when I can predict every little story line, but this one kept me guessing.)
I can't help but like Emily's character and understand exactly what she's doing when she's doing it. She is likeable and I can't help but side with her on somethings. This does not mean I condone what she has done it just makes you think there are two sides to every story. Although because I like her so much it is so hard to read at times when she makes wrong decisions and jeopardizing herself even though you know its already happened.
In order to get her revenge Emily becomes Rose which allows her to become a totally different person for her purpose. I think everyone at some point in their lives have wished they could become someone else even just for a little while and in doing so it did allow her to be happier and freer. But because of where Emily is writing the journal from you know that it didn't allow her to get on with her life happily.

There is an element of love interest but not your loving stares across a classroom all the time and no substance story line. It only comes in half way through the book allowing you to get to know the characters themselves rather than just how they fall hopelessly in love.

The ending left me hanging a little bit because I had to come to my own conclusion about what happened but it definitely got me thinking for days afterwards about what had happened to her.

I would recommend this book to anyone and I did in fact do so. I told them to just a little bit to see if they liked it and lo and behold just like me; once they started they couldn't stop.(less)

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Apr 06, 2013 Michael rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: litexp13, ya, mystery

Emily Koll is awaiting trial at the Archway Young Offenders Institution, and she is going to tell her side of the story. They say she’s evil, they always thought there was something wrong with her, but she is just broken. Heart Shaped Bruise is Emily Koll finally telling people what really was going through her mind.

This novel is told like a diary, which explores her life in the institution with the other girls and her sessions with her therapist. Slowly you begin to uncover just what happened t...more Emily Koll is awaiting trial at the Archway Young Offenders Institution, and she is going to tell her side of the story. They say she’s evil, they always thought there was something wrong with her, but she is just broken. Heart Shaped Bruise is Emily Koll finally telling people what really was going through her mind.

This novel is told like a diary, which explores her life in the institution with the other girls and her sessions with her therapist. Slowly you begin to uncover just what happened to Emily Koll and why she constantly considers herself broken. You know from the beginning that she found out her father was a notorious gangster at the same time she found out that he had broken in and stabbed a police officer. Her father was then stabbed by Juliet but he didn’t die and is now in prison. Emily blames Juliet for breaking her and taking everything away from her, but you don’t know how she took out her revenge.

My main problem with this novel was that everything felt so superficial, she hated Juliet and wanted revenge but that was the extent of it. The book could have gone into the psychological aspects of Emily but it just skimmed the surface all the way through. There was the physiologist that could have helped explore this more but she was so annoying and only talked in questions. Nothing really happened in the form of recovery and nothing interesting happened.

I didn’t really care what she did, knowing that she got her revenge was all I needed and by the time this is revealed I’m left thinking “Is that it?”. I wasted two nights reading this book and I could have reread Crime and Punishment and enjoyed how it should be done. I could even read something like the Dexter series, since even that knows how to explore the interesting elements of being a sociopath.

This might be considered a New Adult novel since the protagonist is 18 at the time, but if you want to read a YA series that plays with the idea of a young sociopath and does it a hell of all more better, try Dan Wells’ John Cleaver series. The first book is called I Am Not A Serial Killer and the series explores a teenage boy with a very dark side.

Heart Shaped Bruise sounds like my type of book and I was hoping for something like the Dan Wells series minus the paranormal elements but I was sadly disappointed with it. It could have done so much with the story but ended up doing nothing interesting at all. I still live in hopes of a great YA novel with a teenage sociopath that doesn’t turn into a paranormal novel, but I’m losing hope fast. Skip this book, read something else, I don’t think it’s worth the effort.

This review originally appeared on my blog; http://literary-exploration.com/2013/...(less)

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Apr 27, 2013 Kat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: paperback, abc-challenge-2013, ya, mystery, updated

When Archway Young Offenders Institution is closed down, a notebook is found - the notebook of Emily Koll, one of the most notorious inmates, who was all over the news for the offence that landed her in prison - but what exactly is Emily's secret?

I was drawn to this book by the darkness of the synopsis, and also the mystery element. Being set in a young offenders institution, there is a cast of characters with dark and sad pasts, but the majority of the story is Emily's interaction with her psyc...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Beth Kemp rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ya-crime, review-books, recent-favourites

Powerful and lyrical writing questioning crime, mental illness, revenge and identity

It's taken me a while to get around to reading this book: more fool me.

Heart-Shaped Bruise purports to be the contents of a notebook found in an abandoned mental institution for young women. It's lyrical and grittily engaging, dramatic and thrilling without a shred of indulgent self pity. If you're interested in psychological thrillers or crime novels, I'd strongly recommend you grab a copy of this.

Written in the...more

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Jun 29, 2012 Andrew rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: given-from-book-publishers

Review Taken From The Pewter Wolf

On top of a wardrobe in the now-disused Archway Young Offenders Institution, was discovered the secret journals of Archway's most notorious inmate, Emily Koll. Emily who is unapologetic over what she did. Through her journals, we hear her side of the story. Through her words, we see how far she went to get revenge. But can we trust her versions of events? Is she showing us the truth or trying to get our sympathy?

This is a compelling read. It just demands your att...more

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May 16, 2012 Kai (Amaterasu Reads) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: teens, 2012-tbr-pile, arc, for-review

Review posted at Amaterasu Reads

There's a line in this book that had the most impact to me:

"Curiousity will break your heart."

I didn't believe it at first, but when I was at the last few pages, I realized it did. Because curiousity will make you want to know Emily Koll and what she has done. To herself, to her life, to Juliet. And you will wonder if she will ever get better. You will want to know her story, and that story will break your heart into a million pieces.

Emily left a mark on my heart...more Review posted at Amaterasu Reads

There's a line in this book that had the most impact to me:

"Curiousity will break your heart."

I didn't believe it at first, but when I was at the last few pages, I realized it did. Because curiousity will make you want to know Emily Koll and what she has done. To herself, to her life, to Juliet. And you will wonder if she will ever get better. You will want to know her story, and that story will break your heart into a million pieces.

Emily left a mark on my heart. She's broken. In a single moment, her world has shifted into something she doesn't recognize and she had to make sense of what was left of her life. Figuring out if she was beyond repair was one of the most heartbreaking things I had to find out while reading this book, and it wasn't easy. Never have I ever read of so much broken people before, and hearing their side of the story was a different experience.

Is something wrong with Emily? Yes. I didn't like her at all when I first met her. A privileged kid who had the rug pulled out under her due to the consequences of her father's actions. But who could blame her for realizing her whole life was a lie? They say that people find out who their real friends are during the most trying time of their lives and Emily found out she had none when her life changed. Who would want to be friends with a bad seed? People can be so judgmental and Emily turned into someone she was not in the eyes of the world because of these people. Through the pages of her diary, I felt her anger. If only people realized she was also a victim. But something is definitely wrong with Emily. She let her anger destroy her, that incessant need for vengeance, that single minded purpose to get even. She could have been someone good, someone better. Instead she remade herself into someone unrecognizable, someone so far off she couldn't go back to who she was before. What was real and what was for revenge? Was it worth trying to get even if it meant destroying your own life?

Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. However cliche that might sound, Emily goes by that mantra because of Juliet. Her existence fueled Emily's need for revenge. She was the reason Emily's life unraveled, and what happened to her? She got a second chance at life, while Emily was ostracized, shunned by the people who once were a big part of her life. But Emily was like Juliet in some ways. All of it was done for their family. Emily's revenge was for her father, and Juliet did what she had to do for hers. What makes them so different? None. Even if Juliet had a fresh start, the darkness inside will continue to haunt her, like Emily.

Heart Shaped Bruise is a chilling tale of just how far one can go in order to exact revenge. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. A life for a life. How much of a coincidence is it that this book reminds me the tv series, Revenge? The appeal of this book comes from the emotions Emily is dealing with and the reasons she has done what she did. Family, that desire to get even, that desperate want to just feel right again. Venture on to the dark side of humanity where vengeance and anger can be the sole reasons for living, where lies are a necessity and breaking a person bit by bit gives someone happiness like no other. Tanya Byrne presents us with a chilling tale of a girl and the path she chose to take in her quest to punish those that wronged her. It's filled with ugly feelings and terrifying scenes that will eat away at your resolve and your belief of what is right and what is wrong.

Tanya Byrne will take you in an unforgettable journey with Heart-Shaped Bruise. This book will stay with you for a long time. Unexpectedly dark but undeniably, a great book. Try to keep your emotions at bay as Emily tells you all about her life. It's haunting and heavy, but I wouldn't trade even a minute I've spent reading this book. If you are looking for an edgy, darker form of YA novel, then give this book a try and you wouldn't be disappointed! (less)

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Jun 01, 2012 Lucy (ChooseYA) rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012-challenge-books, ya-2012, received-for-review, made-my-heart-hurt

Juliet,

I know you’ve been waiting three months for this apology, but I have to start by saying that this isn’t an apology. I’m not sorry. I’m not. (1, Heart Shaped-Bruise, Byrne)

I approached this book with a little bit of concern; for a start I talked to Tanya on twitter and she is a wonderful person and I was dreading reading her debut and not liking it and having to tell her that, but it did sound amazing. The press release also compared it to one my favourite all-time novels, The Perks of Bei...more

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