5 stars

Mud Vein is a life changing book. It is a book that you don't read, you absorb it. You savor it. Tarryn Fisher's words spoke to me, the deepest part of me. After I finished this book, I couldn't even move on to something else. Instead, I immediately reread it. Mud Vein left me with this indescribable feeling that I don't want to wash off with other words. Instead, I want to keep swimming in the sea of Senna Richards and her darkness. Mud Vein is one of my all-time favorite books.

Tarryn Fisher's intention is for the reader to go into this book completely blind, which is why the synopsis is somewhat vague. I will keep my review spoiler-free so that you have the best reading experience.

"Maybe the chances that you'll find each and every one of your soulmates is slim. But sometimes you're lucky enough to stumble across one. And you feel a tug. And it's not so much a choice to love them through their flaws and through your difference but rather you love them without even trying. You love their flaws."

Mud Vein is a story about a woman's journey to find the truth, her truth. On her thirty-third birthday, Senna Richards awakens in a mysterious room. It doesn't take long for her to realize that she's been drugged and kidnapped. Peering out the window, she sees "all the snow in the world," tipping her off that she's far, far away from her Seattle home. And she is not alone. She's trapped in the cabin with the one person from her past that painted her black and white world with color, the one person she fought so hard to push away.

Senna Richards is one of the most heartbreaking yet captivating characters I have ever read. Her past holds her prisoner. Bound by hurt, abandonment and self-destruction, she holds the reins to her emotions, to her surroundings, and to all people she chooses to let in and out of her life. She writes to the tune of white and black walls, to music with no words, and boxes away any feeling at all so that she doesn't have to feel pain.

"Things distracted me. Or maybe they complicated me. I didn't like to live with color. I wasn't always like that. I learned to survive better."

I fell for Senna Richards. I fell for her darkness and the shards of light that peeked through her cracks. I fell for her vulnerability and her strength. Perhaps most the most tragic thing about her is that she was blind to the truth that was right in front her. Fisher takes you on an emotional journey through Senna's past, through the pain and through her hurt.

"You've been silent your whole life. You were silent when we met, silent when you sufferent. Silent when life kept hitting you. I was like that too, a little. But not like you. You are a stillness. And I tried to move you. It didn't work. But that doesn't mean you didn't move me. I heard everything you didn't say. I heard it so loudly that I couldn't shut it off. Your silence, Senna. I hear it so loudly."

Her life of isolation is put to the test when she is reacquainted with the one person from her past that fills her with color, sound and feeling. Isaac Asterholder holds onto a piece of Senna's past that she tried so desperately to bury deep, lock away, and forget about. Isaac is Senna's fellow captor in the cabin in the middle of nowhere. Senna met Isaac at moment of time in her life when she was falling in every sense of the word. He carried her burdens for her.

"Birds are the only things that grow wings. We're just left to muck through the mire like a bunch of emotional cave men."
"Now if you have someone to carry you."

Fisher's intentional style of storytelling gripped me from the very beginning. The way in which she reveals Senna's story was perfectly executed and exquisitely timed. The most incredible thing about this book is what it does to your heart. I could feel every fear, moment of anger, intense feelings of love, painful hunger and sadness that Senna felt. This book made me feel not only for the characters but for myself. Mud Vein made me look at myself and my life. This book has words on the surface but it has a pulse and it has a heartbeat. It is living and breathing and its veins hook straight into your heart.

If I had to recommend one book to you this year, it would be this one. This book is an experience you need to have.

* I received a copy from the author in exchange for an honest review

 



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✥ MUD VEIN was one of my most anticipated books of 2014!!

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4/6/2014 - Mud Vein is not only a top favorite of 2014 but an ALL-TIME favorite read. Everyone needs to experience this book!!! Review to come!!

SYNOPSIS:
When reclusive novelist Senna Richards wakes up on her thirty-third birthday, everything has changed. Caged behind an electrical fence, locked in a house in the middle of the snow, Senna is left to decode the clues to find out why she was taken. If she wants her freedom, she has to take a close look at her past. But, her past has a heartbeat…and her kidnapper is nowhere to be found. With her survival hanging by a thread, Senna soon realizes this is a game. A dangerous one. Only the truth can set her free.



I can't wait! I can't wait! I will read anything Tarryn Fisher writes because she is a word magician!