Book Review: Bleed Like Me by Christa Desir

Title: Bleed Like Me

Author: Christa Desir

Publisher: Simon Pulse

Publishing Date: October 7th, 2014
Read: January 28th, 2022

Pages: 288

Audio Length: 6 Hours 34 Mins

Genre: YA Mental Health/Contemporary/Romance

TW: Self harm, depression, suicide, gaslighting, controlling/domestic violence, drug usage, harm to an animal

Series: Standalone

Source: Audio

What it's about:

From the author of Fault Line comes an edgy and heartbreaking novel about two self-destructive teens in a Sid and Nancy-like romance full of passion, chaos, and dyed hair.

Seventeen-year-old Amelia Gannon (just "Gannon" to her friends) is invisible to almost everyone in her life. To her parents, to her teachers-even her best friend, who is more interested in bumming cigarettes than bonding. Some days the only way Gannon knows she is real is by carving bloody lines into the flesh of her stomach.

Then she meets Michael Brooks, and for the first time, she feels like she is being seen to the core of her being. Obnoxious, controlling, damaged, and addictive, he inserts himself into her life until all her scars are exposed. Each moment together is a passionate, painful relief.

But as the relationship deepens, Gannon starts to feel as if she's standing at the foot of a dam about to burst. She's given up everything and everyone in her life for him, but somehow nothing is enough for Brooks-until he poses the ultimate test.

Bleed Like Me is a piercing, intimate portrayal of the danger of a love so obsessive it becomes its own biggest threat.

What I thought:

I hate every part of this book. EVERY part. I was reading it and I was like everyone in this book is absolute garbage for varying reasons. I couldn't wait for the book to be done. This book has so any trigger warnings and that's not talked about on the goodreads page at all, the author absolutely should've mentioned it in the description of the book. Luckily the triggers didn't bother me, but once upon a time they absolutely would have. 

Cover:

It's a bit boring. I kinda see how it matches, but it's just not something I like. 

Story:

I understand what the author was trying to do with this book. She was trying to bring awareness to self harm, controlling relationships, and how messed up people can be. But the whole thing just felt too... stupid. That's not the word I want to use because it sounds mean, but I can't think of a better one. It almost feels like she's glorifying it, does that make sense? Maybe I missed something big that really shows how bad this lifestyle is, but dang. 

From the insta love, to the boy who won't take no for an answer, to the stupid girl who falls for it, it's all just so bad. So so bad. I remember pausing my book just to rant at my husband about how bad it is.

Pace: 

I was either pissed off or bored the whole book. 

Writing: 

I guess she does alright writing about the self harm. She does well in making you feel something, even if it's a bad something. But honestly it feels like it was written by a 12 year old. 

Characters: 

Literally there is not a single good person in this entire book. The parents ignore the MC and only pay attention to the boys they adopted, not only that they make her watch the boys and the boys are absolute brats. The MC is whiny and so naive and stupid. The love interest makes me want to punch him in the face and I don't feel bad at all for what happens to any of them.  

World building: 

None, none whatsoever.

Ending: 

I mean, like I said, I don't feel bad for anything that happens in this book because they all caused everything. By the ending I was literally just thinking that is by far one of the worst books I've ever read.

Narrator:

Meh, the narrator didn't have much to work with to be honest, but she was a bit whiny. I guess it fits with the character.

Overall:

I hated it, it was badly written, it had horrid characters. It was just bad. I've read so many good books about awareness for self harm, drug abuse, and domestic violence, and this just wasn't one of them. I'm sorry

A little Snippet:

“Well,” he said, dropping the can into the paper bag, “huffing wouldn’t be my first choice, but we’re in the suburbs. Sometimes you gotta work with what you’ve got.”
― Chrisa Desir, Bleed Like Me

Possible books of likeness:

Author's info:

Website
http://www.christadesir.com

Twitter
ChristaDesir

I'm a YA author who loves dark contemporary books. Novels include: FAULT LINE (Oct 2013), BLEED LIKE ME (Oct 2014), OTHER BROKEN THINGS (Jan 2016), LOVE BLIND (May 2016), and FOUR-LETTER WORD (May 2018).

I am also a feminist, rape victim activist, book seller, and romance novel editor. I live outside of Chicago with my husband and our three children.